Jesus Preview

John 1:1-18

It’s all about Jesus.

The Preview

Ever watched a movie preview that spoiled the whole movie? Either a comedy and the funniest parts were in the trailer, or

Ender’s Game. In the trailer, a planet blows up! That is the absolute pinnacle of the movie! Why would you show that?

In a world where the Hobbits throw the ring in the volcano and get saved by eagles at the last second.

In a world where Bruce Willis is actually dead the whole time.

The Prologue

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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Word (Logos) has a rich history in all of the cultures with which John’s readers would be familiar. In Greek philosophical thought it could represent all of reason, our very ability to think and process, synonymous with the expressions of those thoughts. And John could be including that.

Some Jewish writers of the time equated Logos with Wisdom, Wisdom personified as we sometimes see in the Old Testament writings.

But, most notably, especially if John is writing to those with a deep familiarity of Scripture, especially the first 5 books, the Torah, the Word of God appears over and over again.

And echoes most directly with Creation.

In the beginning God created… the earth was formless and empty, darkness over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God..

And God said. God “Worded”. God spoke light.

John makes this incredible claim. He probably has Mark which starts his gospel with John the Baptist. And John the Evangelist is going to get to John the Baptist in a few verses. But it is as if he chimes in with the other gospels to say: not just with John the Baptist… not just with Jesus’ birth… not just with his genealogy and history even…

In the beginning.

In fact, literally, while the beginning was becoming, the Word already was. Jesus already was. And the Word was God.

So in the very first sentence, John makes the full claim for Jesus preexistent nature and unity as God. Not tiptoeing around.

It is the Preview: “In a world where Jesus is totally God and has always existed and everything is made through him.”

Everything else John says is going to give color and substance to this idea.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the self-revelation of God. Jesus is the reason.

It really is all about Jesus

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Echoing again the words of Genesis where there was darkness or nothingness, and the light replaces that darkness. Also introducing a bit of the duality we will see in John of good vs. evil, light vs. dark.

And then, in a world where it is all about Jesus, steps our first character: John the Baptist.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

But John can’t shut up about Jesus.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

We get a little taste of the drama to come. There is conflict. The light is coming… but the world did not know him. And John introduces this other great comparison, the world, and the world is never used in a positive sense. Maybe neutral, but never positive. Stupid world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And there’s the whole plot. You know it is a rescue mission, to save those, that some will receive him and believe and become children of God.

But he hasn’t yet revealed who this Word is.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Or grace instead of grace. Grace on top of grace. And what this means is explained in the following verse. There was the law and that was grace, but Jesus laid grace on top of that grace:

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

And there it is. Jesus Christ. Not his last name, that is Jesus, the Messiah. And this is not the crescendo moment, that was verse 1, starting with a crash, this is the fall to the hush, and then the great reveal. Maybe the screen fades to black.

Who is it??? Who is the Word???

Jesus. The Messiah. With everything that Messiah means to the Jewish reader.

John picked up this earlier word “Logos” the Word which had all these connotations and meanings and he pours meaning into it and shapes it. But this word Messiah. They all knew what that meant. Or thought they did. They all had expectations and understandings of the Messiah, and their expectations did not fit with what they have heard so far about the Word.

So begins the great ongoing misunderstanding. We expected… we thought… but Jesus taught us and showed us. Because that is who He is.

Jesus is the self-revelation of God. Jesus is God. It really is all about Jesus.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

No one. Every encounter in Scripture has some exception, some reason why they didn’t quite see. Moses saw the back-side of God’s glory, and he had radiation glow for days. Isaiah saw the hem of his robe and it almost melted his bones.

But no one had ever seen God, no one could and live. Until, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory…. Full of grace and truth.

It’s all about Jesus

Sounds like a Squirrel

In Sabbath school a teacher played a game with her students. What has beady little eyes, a bushy tail, eats nuts and climbs through trees?

A student shoots her hand up “Sounds like a squirrel but I’ll guess ‘Jesus’!”

Jesus is always the answer. It’s all about Jesus.

Are You All About Jesus?

Are you all about Jesus?

In a sense, yes you are, in a way you don’t have a choice about it. You are part of creation and everything that has been made is made through him. So were you created? Yes. Than you are all about Jesus.

But God has given you life, some measure of choice, a moment by moment experience of choosing what to focus on, what to work at, who and what to serve, what to make your life about…

Are you all about Jesus?

Not “all about church”. I understand that’s a different question. It isn’t totally unrelated, but it isn’t the same thing.

But we could ask it about church to. Are we all about Jesus… really?

How much of what we do here is social, habitual, or even entertainment of a sort? Is it all about Jesus, really?

John says so much about who Jesus is. And he doesn’t dive into the deals. He doesn’t really challenge specific issues yet. There is no easy life application here. It is a Prologue and the purpose is to raise a question.

Who is Jesus? And it gave a lot of answers… but the answers are scandalous. They are inflammatory. They only don’t sound that way to us because we are so used to it.

We have heard the name Jesus so many times… it can lose its meaning to us. Or worse, become trivial and obvious. Sounds like a squirrel… but I’ll guess Jesus.

It is about the person of Jesus. The great question of your life is asking: who is Jesus? And you don’t answer it with a one-time confession. You answer it with your life.

Not because you do all the right things. And so you should try to do all the right things and then everyone will know how in you really are. Who is Jesus? What is your relationship to him?

Everything else proceeds from your answer to that question.

The Prologue raises the question

The Prologue raises the question, Who is Jesus. But failing to answer that doesn’t mean you throw up your hands. The purpose of this question is to keep you reading. To make you curious. To offend you even. To scandalize. But to wonder. Who is Jesus… really.

I’ve heard a lot of things. I know a lot of things, maybe. I live some things. I declare with my words that Jesus is something. I declare with my life that he is something.

And so Jesus says to us “Do you know who I am?”

And then throughout John he is going to say: “I Am. I I Am. I

Jesus we continue to study these words about you. Your inspired Word about the inspiring Word. Meet us. Be the revelation of God to us, each of us, all of us. Not just to learn about you, but to know you.