The Word Became Flesh

Mark began his story at the River Jordan, when John the Baptist appeared to prepare the way. But John, the disciple who was close to Jesus, begins his Gospel from a point much further back, before there was any river or sea or mountain: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Why “the Word”?

A word is the way a person reveals what is in their heart. You can sit with someone for hours and not know what they are thinking until they speak. John says that God did not stay silent, but revealed himself through his Word. And this Word is not an idea or a sound that passes away, but a living person: he was “with God” from the beginning, that is, in relationship with him, and “the Word was God”, meaning he is not one of the created things.

Then he says: “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). The mountains surrounding the valleys, the sea that raged against the disciples, the stars we see on summer nights: all were made through him. That is why it was not strange that the wind obeyed him in the last lesson; he was commanding a creation he himself had made.

The Word Became Flesh

Then comes the most astonishing thing in this chapter: “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” (John 1:14). The one through whom all things were made did not stay far away. He became a real human being: he was born, he was hungry, he grew tired, he slept on a cushion in the stern of the boat (Mark 4:38), and he wept at his friend’s tomb (John 11:35).

The word translated “dwelt” in this verse carries, in Greek, the language in which the Gospel was written, the picture of a tent. It is as if John were saying: he pitched his tent among us. We know what it means when a dear guest comes to stay in our home, eating what we eat and sitting where we sit. The Bible says that God himself came this close to us in the person of Jesus.

Notice the two words John uses to describe Jesus: “full of grace and truth”. Grace alone, without truth, might go easy on evil and leave it as it is. Truth alone, without grace, might crush a person under the weight of their wrongs. But in Jesus the two come together: he tells the whole truth about the human heart, and at the same time he holds out a hand of mercy to anyone who comes to him. You will see this clearly in the coming lessons, as we hear his words and see how he treated people.

Why did he come?

John says: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). In other words, Jesus came to make God known to us. If you want to know how God looks at the weak, the sinner and the grieving, look at Jesus: how he spoke, who he sat with, and to whom he reached out his hand.

When the Bible calls Jesus “the Son”, it is not speaking of anything physical or human. It is speaking of a unique relationship between the Son and the Father, a relationship of love and complete knowledge that existed before the world began (see John 17:24).

Paul writes about Jesus in the same way: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). The word “firstborn” here does not mean that he was the first to be created, because the very next verse says that “all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). It means first place and authority over the whole of creation, just as the firstborn holds the place of honour in his father’s house.

Paul ends this passage with what Christ came to do: through him God would reconcile all things to himself, “making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). The one who came to make God known to us also came to open the way to him for us. The cross is at the heart of the Gospel message. If you have a question about it right now, we would be glad for you to write to us through our contact page, even under a pseudonym, and someone from our team will answer you from God’s Word when they can.

Light in the darkness

John says: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Then he honestly records that many did not receive him when he came: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). And he adds: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

This lesson is not asking you for a decision today. It is enough to notice what these witnesses are saying: that Jesus is not just a wise teacher or a good man, but the Word who was with God and was God, and who became a human being to make the Father known to us and to reconcile us to him. These are big claims, and you have every right to think about them quietly. In the coming lessons we will hear Jesus speak about himself, and see what he did.