12/24/2007
1 In
the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He
was with God in the beginning.
3 All
things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.
4 Life
was in Him,
and that life was the light of men.
5 That
light shines in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome it.
…
10 He
was in the world,
and the world was created through Him,
yet the world did not recognize Him.
11 He
came to His own,
and His own people did not receive Him.
12 But
to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be children of God,
to those who believe in His name,
13 who
were born,
not of blood,
or of the will of the flesh,
or of the will of man,
but of God.
14 The
Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the
Father,
full of grace and truth.
In the town of Nazareth stands a basilica over the traditional site of Mary’s (the mother of Jesus) house where the angel announced to her that she would bear a son, Jesus.
In 1998, I visited Israel and had the privilege of visiting this site. The current building is the fifth having been built on the site. The façade bears several inscriptions, but the largest is: “Verbum caro factvm est et habitavit in nobis”. It is a Latin phrase meaning “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” In the Greek, the word “dwelt” is derived from the word for “tent”: skaynos. (It is our root for the word “skin” as tents were made of animal skins.) In the middle-east, to pitch your tent among a people was to join with them as community.
The four Gospels present Jesus in 4 different ways. I intentionally wanted to present John’s introduction to Jesus on this day. We usually think of Jesus the Baby on Christmas. And this is not a bad thing, but, I was strongly moved to present John’s Gospel this Christmas.
John, the writer of this Gospel, was one of the third and fourth persons called as an apostle. Jesus first called Simon(Peter) and Andrew, then James and John. We learn from the Gospels that John was one of Jesus’ closest friends and apostles. This is a man who walked with Jesus and knew him in ways that few others could have.
What John sees in Jesus, I believe, is something the world needs.
“In the beginning…” This phrase is familiar to most of us, but would have been particularly familiar to the Jews as the first few words of the Torah.
“In the beginning was the Word.” John introduces Jesus as the “Word of God.” This is a fascinating description. What is a word? Do we consider what words reflect about the person? If we could hear God speak what would that reflect about Him and His character? John tells us that this Word was with God and indeed, was the very nature of God. And this word came to us.
Here we are. We have the opportunity to look God in the face, to understand the nature of God based on His Word. That Word came to us in the form of Jesus. He walked among us, taught us, healed us, died for us, and rose from the dead for us.
Let us never fall into the sin of reducing the very God of the universe to a mere cute baby on a greeting card. Yes, he came to us as a baby- and we should not forget that He came in human form and experienced even childhood, acne, puberty, and so forth. But we must never - ever trivialize the fact that even as a baby, He was God With Us.
Let us adore Him as child, yet revere and worship Him as Lord of all.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2007 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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