John 1:14-18
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
When God Pitched His Tent Among Us
In a world searching desperately for truth, where even leaders calling for moral values cannot explain the foundation on which those values rest, we find ourselves at a crossroads. A student once asked a prominent government official speaking about restoring cultural values: “On what base do you build your values?” The speaker’s response was heartbreaking: “I do not know.”
This is the crisis of our age. We live in a time when information flows endlessly through search engines and artificial intelligence, yet we struggle to discern what is actually true. People hunger for meaning but lack any solid ground on which to stand.
Into this confusion comes the most profound statement in human history: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
The Incarnation: God’s Radical Approach
The incarnation represents something absolutely unique in all of existence. When we say “the Word became flesh,” we’re declaring that God himself became a man. Not a temporary appearance, not a vision or a phantom, but real flesh and blood. Born of Mary, yet without sin. The only being in all creation with two complete natures—fully God and fully human.
To grasp the magnitude of this, imagine if royalty decided to live among ordinary citizens—not in a palace, but in genuine proximity. It seems impossible, doesn’t it? Yet God, infinitely higher than any earthly monarch, chose to do exactly that. This is what we celebrate at Christmas: God came to live among us.
Pitching a Tent in Our Neighborhood
The phrase “made his dwelling among us” carries a beautiful depth of meaning. In the original language, it means “to pitch a tent” or “set up camp.” This wasn’t about temporary accommodation—it was about intimate, ongoing interaction.
Consider the difference between someone who builds a mansion surrounded by high walls versus someone who sets up a tent in your backyard. The person behind walls remains distant and unknowable. But the person with a tent next door? You’ll share meals together, have conversations, truly know one another.
This is precisely why God came in flesh. He wanted relationship, not distance. He wanted interaction, not isolation.
For Jewish readers, this tent imagery would have immediately recalled the tabernacle—the place where God met with Israel in the wilderness. But in Christ, something far more intimate occurred. God’s interactions became deeply personal. Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’s home. He engaged in conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well, breaking all social conventions. He touched lepers, dined with tax collectors, and welcomed prostitutes.
A Church That Throws Birthday Parties at 3 AM
There’s a powerful story about a preacher who found himself in a café at 3 AM in Hawaii, unable to sleep. Soon after he sat down, a group of prostitutes entered, finishing their night’s work. One named Agnes mentioned it was her birthday the next day. Someone sarcastically asked if she wanted a birthday cake. Her response was heartbreaking: “I’ve never had a birthday party.”
The preacher arranged with the café owner to throw Agnes a surprise party the following night. Word spread, and the café filled with almost every prostitute in Honolulu. When Agnes entered and saw the cake and decorations, she was overwhelmed with emotion.
After leading the group in prayer, the café owner said, “You never told me you were some sort of preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”
The response was inspired: “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3 AM.”
The café owner replied, “There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it.”
But there is such a church—or at least there should be. This is exactly how Jesus pitched his tent among us. In a broken world, he came to be with society’s outcasts, the forgotten, the rejected. This is what we’re called to as well: to take Jesus and share him with those around us, especially those who need him most.
Full of Grace and Truth
Jesus didn’t just come to be near us—he came full of grace and truth. These two qualities define his nature and his mission.
Grace is unmerited favor. It’s the opposite of what we deserve. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Every blessing we enjoy—our health, relationships, knowledge, even our next breath—comes purely from God’s gracious nature, not because we’ve earned it.
Consider John Newton, who ran away to sea, deserted the Navy, worked in the slave trade, and lived a life of debauchery. One day, drunk, he fell overboard and was saved by a harpoon. Later, when his ship nearly sank in a storm, he cried out to God while manning the pumps. He was transformed and later wrote “Amazing Grace.” He didn’t deserve anything, yet God’s grace found him.
But Jesus also came full of truth. In our relativistic age, where truth is considered merely a matter of perspective, Jesus declared himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life.” He called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” and described God’s word as truth.
There are two essential truths we must grasp: the truth about humanity (that we are sinful, selfish, and rebellious) and the truth about God (that he is love, justice, and willing to die for us to bring us back to himself).
The One and Only
Jesus is absolutely unique. He existed before time began. While every human’s history starts at birth, Jesus lived eternally as part of the Godhead. He is the source of every blessing, the channel of grace and truth, and the only one through whom we can truly see God.
No one has ever seen God directly, but in Jesus Christ, God came to us in a way that enables us to know him. On Calvary, we see God’s love displayed in its fullest form.
Making the Invisible Visible
This Christmas season, we celebrate the nearness of God. He pitched his tent among us for close interaction. He came in flesh to show us truth, to demonstrate grace, to reveal love and mercy.
The question for us is simple yet profound: Will we take our interactions with Jesus and share them with others who don’t know him? This is how we make the unseen Jesus visible to a watching world—by living out his grace and truth in our daily lives, by throwing birthday parties for the forgotten, by pitching our tents among those who need hope.
In a world still asking “On what base do you build your values?” we have the answer: Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth. He is the foundation. He is the answer. He has come.