Unlike the other Gospel accounts, John doesn’t open with Jesus in the manger, a village, or even with Mary and Joseph. He begins before the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word.” Before creation brought shape and order to the chaos, before light filled the darkness, before humanity drew its first breath, the Word … was.

John wants his readers to understand just who had entered the story, and His Jewish readers would have known exactly what he meant! This isn’t just another messenger from God or a good teacher with uncanny powers of insight. He is the Eternal Word. The same Word of the Lord who showed up from time to time throughout the Old Testament. He wrestled with Jacob, ate lunch with Abram, and encouraged Joshua, among many others.
 
The light and life of all humanity had come into the darkness, but the darkness could not overtake Him.
 
Then John drops the hammer of all hammers … he says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Creator OF humanity stepping inTO humanity. The One who spoke the sun into existence had come near enough to be seen, touched, followed, loved, and rejected.
This is the center of the incarnation chessboard. God doesn’t rescue us by abandoning the world He made or shirk off human flesh as if it were beneath Him. He takes it on … fully. In Jesus, God becomes human to reclaim humanity for Himself. All that is wrong with the world is being confronted in person by God Himself … in flesh and blood.
 
John says, “we observed His glory.” But this glory doesn’t first appear on that wondrous night in a way the world expected. His glory came clothed in humility, full of grace, and Truth. The King came in quietly, but decisively. Once again, the light has pierced the darkness. The reclamation of humanity had begun.

Where are you tempted to think of God’s rescue as distant rather than near? How does John 1 help you understand the dignity and importance of Jesus taking on real human flesh?

Father, thank you for Jesus, God in real human flesh. Teach me to behold the glory of Jesus with reverence and awe. Help me receive His grace and truth as the light that overcomes the darkness. Amen.