The Word Made Flesh

Before the first bird sang, before the first wave broke upon any shore, before time itself had drawn its first breath, there was the Word. John does not ease us into his Gospel with a birth story or a genealogy. He takes us somewhere older than all of that. "In the beginning was the Word," he writes, "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). If you are new to the Bible, hear this slowly: John is telling us that Jesus did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem. He was already there at the foundation of everything, and everything that exists came into being through him.

For those who have read these verses a hundred times, sit with the word "with" for a moment. The Word was with God, the Greek carries the sense of being face to face, in intimate fellowship. Before creation, before angels, before anything we can name, there was a relationship at the heart of reality. Love was not something God invented when he made us; love was already the very nature of God, the Father and the Son in eternal communion. That is the one who stepped into our world.

And step in he did. Verse 14 is one of the most staggering sentences ever written: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." The word translated "dwelt" literally means he pitched his tent among us, a deliberate echo of the tabernacle in the wilderness, where God came to live in the middle of his people's camp. The eternal, uncreated God did not send a message or a messenger. He came himself, wrapped in skin, subject to hunger and cold and grief, so that we might see "his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

What does this mean for your life today? It means you are never dealing with a distant, indifferent God when you open this book or bow your head to pray. The God who spoke the stars into existence chose to become findable, touchable, knowable. He came to where you are. Whatever you are carrying this morning, doubt, grief, wonder, or simply a quiet Tuesday, the Word made flesh is not far off. He has already made the longest journey imaginable, just to be with you.