Read
The Word of Life
1In the beginning was the one
who is called the Word.
The Word was with God
and was truly God.
2From the very beginning
the Word was with God.
3And with this Word,
God created all things.
Nothing was made
without the Word.
Everything that was created
4received its life from him,
and his life gave light
to everyone.
5The light keeps shining
in the dark,
and darkness has never
put it out.
6 God sent a man named John,
7who came to tell
about the light
and to lead all people
to have faith.
8John wasn't this light.
He came only to tell
about the light.
9The true light that shines
on everyone
was coming into the world.
10The Word was in the world,
but no one knew him,
though God had made the world
with his Word.
11He came into his own world,
but his own nation
did not welcome him.
12Yet some people accepted him
and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right
to be the children of God.
13They were not God's children
by nature or because
of any human desires.
God himself was the one
who made them his children.
14The Word became
a human being
and lived here with us.
We saw his true glory,
the glory of the only Son
of the Father.
From him the complete gifts
of undeserved grace and truth
have come down to us.
15John spoke about him and shouted, “This is the one I told you would come! He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.”
16Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another. 17The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.
Reflect
As I have been writing these notes, and “living” in the world of Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, I have been totally caught up in all the anticipation of Jesus’ coming into the world. It reminds me of the excitement of the days before Christmas that I experienced as a child. But in these notes we’re not quite ready for Luke’s Christmas story. There are two other gospel stories to look at first.
The apostle John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” writes from a different viewpoint. This is much more philosophical, and sees the story on the ground from a cosmic viewpoint. We have zoomed out.
John begins his gospel like the beginning of Genesis: “In the beginning.” Jesus did not begin when he was born in Bethlehem. He had been with God all along, from the beginning, and was active in creation. This is hard for us to understand, and ever since Jesus was born in Bethlehem people have struggled to understand it. But Jesus was no ordinary child; he was the son of God. Similarly, he is alive today. We can know this in experience if we trust in him, even if we can’t bend our minds to understand the Trinity.
John calls him “the Word.” He uses the Greek word “logos,” which means not just “word” like a word in the dictionary, but “word” as communication, as in “Can I have a word with you?” God communicated from the beginning. “Logos” also implies order, the kind of order that makes the world knowable and scientific experiments repeatable. The world is not capricious.
When Jesus was born lots of people didn’t recognize him or accept him. It’s no different today. But if we accept him, look what he gives us (vv.12-13). John the Baptist pointed the way. Jesus, who is himself God, has made God known.
Respond
Lord Jesus, I pray to you as God. Thank you for becoming one of us so that we can know you. Thank you for the grace and truth that you give us. Thank you for giving me the right to be called the child of God.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.