The Word Made Flesh

John’s gospel is different to the other three.

John presents to us a view of Christ from up-close.

It’s an intimate description from the memory of an apostle who paid attention to the details: he recounts exact weights and measures, and shows an intimate memory of the streeys of the citiy of Jerusalem even though it was destroyed decades before he wrote down his account.

It’s an account which focusses on a different part of Christ’s ministry. Whilst Matthew, Mark, and Luke gave an account of a ministry based primarily in Galillee with a final closing journey to Jerusalem, John’s account shows us that in fact over three years Jesus spent considerable time in Jerusalem.

It’s also the most spiritual and theological of the gospels. John writes to a a primarily Greek and Roman audience. One which is not familiar with concepts such as the Messiah, which does not know the significiance of King David. Which needs to recieve the gospel in terms that make sense to their culture.

Where opening with a long list of genealogies connecting Christ to David and to Adam may make sense to create a context for a Jewish audience, to the Greeks it will be meaningless. Instead, John takes a different approach.

“In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God, and the Word was with God.”

Or in Greek, in the beginning was the Logos.

John takes a concept popular amongst Greek philosophers, the logos - the impersonal force of reason which holds the universe together, often viewed as the “mind” or “soul” of reality - and he connects it to the Jewish faith in a way that is immediate and relatable.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos WAS God.

God, and the divine reason. Eternally existant, together and one.

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory”

The divine reason that hold the world together, through which all things are created, the word that was with God and that IS God, became a man. And John says that “we” - by which he means he and his companions, have seen his glory. And the Greek makes it clear, he means physically saw with their own eyes.

What a radical, perhaps even offense, concept this was to the Greek readers. John claims to have seen with his own eyes the Logos who had become a human.

And to the Jewish readers, John claims to have seen with his own eyes God become a human.

This one radical, unbelievable, even offensive statement is the core of John’s Gospel. It’s they key message. Everything that follows, is an explanation of what happened when they saw with their own eyes the glory of the Word made flesh.

The True Light

Let’s look at Genesis. As we all know, creation begins with three words from God: “Let there be light.”

And there was light, and it was good. And the light was called day.

But in John we see that there is another light. “The light of all people.” The Logos.

The light that we see in the day, which comes from the sun, is a created light. It’s finite. When the sun sets, it is gone for a time and darkness comes.

But the one who created that light came to dwell among us! Not a finite light, but the true light which the darkness of the world cannot overcome.

And when John talks about darkness in his gospel, he gives it a very specific meaning. He talks about those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. He depicts Christ declaring not once but twice that those who believe in him will not walk in darkness. And this theme appears again in John’s epistles.

Darkness in John’s writings represents a mental or spiritual darkness. An ignorance of what is good, or perhaps the reality of all which is opposed to God - God the provider of light.

Indeed this word that’s translated as “overcome” more literally means to grasp or aquire, or to sieze. This phrase from John can be understood in a sense of warfare. The darkness failed to capture the light, in the same way that an invading army failed to capture a fort.

But it can also have the meaning of understanding, or comprehending. The darkness couldn’t even begin to intellectually grasp the light.

The values of the world are so utterly alien to those of God, that it’s like bringing a on their first day of school into a university lecture.

Now to be clear, this is not neccesarily to say, as some people would, that God is incomprehensible. Certainly though, it’s saying that God’s ways are utterly countercultural: he promises a justice to and an empowering of those on the margins of society, who popular opinion would often dismiss as a nuisance beyond help or pity. He promises mercy and the possibility of forgiveness to even the worst offender, who the world might dismiss as deserving of nothing but potentially violent retribution.

There’s also an undeniable truth that yes, sometimes God’s ways are beyond our comprehension. There are occasions on which we cannot understand why He allows things to happen as he does. Why He doesn’t seem to intervene when we wish He would. There are things we might read in the scriptures and question, because what is revealed of God doesn’t match how we believe things should be.

Sometimes we can find ourselves stumbling in a metaphorical darkness, as we fail to understand what’s happening. As we cry out for help, and ask “why?”

But in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the very first thing He said was, “let there be light.”

And in the beginning the word was with God and the word was God, and in him was life, and that life was the light of all people.

Do you see what that’s saying?

Christ, who created all things, is the ultimate source of life - it is Him who gives us life. And just as He gives us life, He gives us light.

“And the True Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world”

Christ is not just the Light, but the True Light. The light which casts aside the darkness and reveals to us the truth.

In other words it is through Christ, through his ministry and through his words and through his actions, that we understand God.

The first act of creation was light.

And the one from whom the light was created, is the true light who gives us the light of truth.

And the message here is that even though there are times of darkness, times when we can’t or won’t understand, times when God may feel hidden from us,

even though there are those times, when there is darkness God sends light.

And so the darkness is only temporary.

And when we’re trapped in the thinking of the world, and we’re confused by cultural expectations, and we desire those things that the world wants,

Christ offers the light which points us back to God.

Which means that we can turn to Him when we’re unsure, and find an answer to our questions.

Which means that we have an example to follow to bring us closer to God’s will.

Which means that when we follow Him, and when God sends us His spirit, we’re led to move away from those things that are of the world, and towards those that or of God.

And that when we do fall into the darkness, we know that there is a light. That the darkness will end.

And that is just the beginning of the glory which John tells us he saw.

A glory which itself is just a sample of the true glory of God.

And so the reader is left with a simple question.

Do you walk in darkness, or in the light?

When the world’s values surround and entice you, do you cling to them? Or do you follow the bringer of life and light, who the world cannot begin to understand?

When things go wrong, and you cannot understand why God would allow these things do you despair or do you remember that the night will end?

Do you trust in your own instinct or turn to the Word made flesh, the one who points the way to the Father and who reveals to us the true nature of God?

Will you be numbered amongst those who reject the Word, or those who recieve him?

Brothers and sisters, over the last couple of months we’ve seen the ways in which the gospel writers have presented different aspects of Christ.

The New Moses.

The Suffering Messiah.

The Great Reverser.

And now as we enter the final week of this study and approach the time of advent, John reminds us that all of these things matter because of Christ’s true nature: the Word Made Flesh.

The God who entered His creation

And the one who shows us the way in the darkness

Because the darkness cannot overcome him.