John 1:(1-9), 10-18
[1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning
with God.3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing
came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the
life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He
came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through
him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The
true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.] 10 He was
in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not
know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to
all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become
children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will
of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his
glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John
testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, "He who
comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' ") 16 From
his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.17 The
law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one
has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart,
F6 who has made him known.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his
glory
·
It is possible that the prologue to
the Gospel of John is one of the most recognized and least understood portions
of the New Testament. From a literary viewpoint, it is sublime poetry. In fact,
there is a good chance at one time it was a hymn.
·
Theologically, it is an example of
what is called a “high Christology”, which means that it looks at Jesus as a
more divine being. I doubt you can get a much higher view of Jesus than to say
that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
·
With those words, John the Evangelist
places Jesus at the creation of all reality: All things came into being
through him, and without him not one thing came into being. Jesus,
the Word of God, is the expression and the revelation of the Eternal Almighty,
by whose power all things were made.
·
The chaotic darkness that was before
the act of creation had no hold on the Word; this darkness cannot overcome the
light that is the Word and that is found in the Word.
·
John switches back and forth from his
descriptive praise of the Word and his telling the tale of John the Baptizer. I
can’t tell you why this was done. It might be an author’s device to carry the
narrative. It could be a way of building dramatic tension or even a way of
weaving the events leading up to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with the
eternal and creative work of God. Your opinion on this would be as good as
mine.
·
John carries on to say that Jesus
came to the world and to his own people… and was rejected. He was in the world, and the
world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He
came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
In a particular way, John is outlining the entire story of Jesus’ work on
earth, including the teaching that those who did receive him were reborn as
children of God, born not of blood or of the will of the flesh
or of the will of man, but of God. In this, we are
all “born again” in the best sense of the phrase.
·
Then comes one of the most amazing
truths of the Christian revelation: And the Word became flesh and lived among
us… To hear that the creator of all that is and all we could ever
know became flesh and lived with us is beyond imagining.
·
Our present language fails to convey
something very interesting about this phrase. Both English and German (I looked
it up) say that the Word became flesh and lived among us. First,
John uses the word “flesh” which in the original language carries a sense of
the unredeemed body with all its physical flaws. That being so, Jesus took on a
real body with aches and pains and sweat and hunger, just like every last one
of us experiences daily. Jesus was not exempt from what we deal with.
·
Second, John’s words are translated
as and
lived among us and that is true. Once again, the original language
carries a further, even poetic meaning that invokes a reference to God’s
dealings with God’s people.
·
And lived among us is rendered in the original language as “and he pitched his tent
among us.” This is not just poetry, but a reference to the Exodus. God presence
during the Hebrew’s wandering in the
desert was to be found in the Tent of Meeting, a tent were Moses continued to
meet God face-to-face once the Hebrews left the area of Mt. Sinai. It was the
place where God’s presence with the people remained – “dwelt”.
·
Going beyond that, that tent was
where God’s presence remained no matter where the people traveled. Through their
troubles, their doubts, their sins, their wandering, God remained among them.
·
For us as Christians, these word of
John contain a promise – God in Jesus Christ remains with us despite our
unworthiness and our un-readiness. Jesus remains with us in the Word, for when
we hear the Gospel, we hear his voice. He remains with us in his Word made
flesh, that is to say, the sacraments, where the saving Word is to be found in
the very fleshy elements of the earth and of human life – water, bread, and
wine.
·
His tent of meeting, the place of his
abiding presence is still with us where-ever we “pitch our tents.” As Jesus
says in Matthew’s Gospel For where two or three are gathered in my
name, I am there among them. (Mt. 18:20) Jesus remains with us in
the community of the church, “pitching his tent” among all of our tents as we
continue our journeys in life.
·
John’s Gospel may remain as hard to
understand as it ever was, but it certainly is filled with the Good News of
salvation and new life. As difficult as it might be, it is worth reading and
studying, because it was written for a church in a time of struggle. Through
all that, John’s Gospel reminds us that And the Word became flesh and lived among
us, and we have seen his glory
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