Monday, 9th. June 2008
John 1: 1-4
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In a Nutshell John decisively opens His gospel by announcing that the coming of Jesus has fulfilled God's purposes for His creation from the beginning, which includes the lives of you and me. |
John was writing to tell the story. John had been one of Jesus' first disciples. The other John, John the Baptist, had pointed him to Jesus. This disciple knew that He was loved by Jesus in a special way. That's indeed how he writes about himself (John 20:20).
This fellow had been very particular about following Jesus. He had urged Jesus to repudiate a man who was using Jesus' name to liberate people from evil spirits. Instead he found himself listening to Jesus correcting him for his presumption.
He and brother James, were so dedicated to Jesus that they willingly put themselves forward as Jesus' 2ICs (Mark 10:35-45). That caused murmuring in the camp and Jesus took the opportunity to teach them about true leadership, the servanthood He expected from His disciples. As Jesus teaches us, true leadership doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with ruthless, career-oriented goal attainment.
The two brothers burned with anger when a Samaritan town refused to offer hospitality as Jesus travelled up to Jerusalem. Jesus doused their thunderous zeal by teaching them about the divine patience that had brought Him into their midst (Luke 9:51-56).
So we can say that Jesus' impact upon this writer of this much loved gospel was profound. This prominent and godly leader of the early church had been changed from the inside out. He was now on a path that he, with his well-trained Jewish instincts, would not have expected.
He became a leader among Jesus' disciples, but it was not because he and his brother had volunteered for front-line duty. His confrontation with Jesus had transformed him into a servant, a servant of God, a servant of his fellows, believers and non-believers, those who would hear from his lips, or read from his penned words, the good news, the word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
These opening sentences are nothing less than a remarkable confession to begin the account - it is a confession about God's revelation of Himself; this is about that same promise that has been given with God's creation from the beginning. It is about that Word becoming flesh which John had witnessed face-to-face dwelling "next door", living with him as they learned what this Rabbi was teaching. This is about Jesus Himself, the One, John tells us, who 'brings it all together', altogether in a relationship which is deeply personal with God's own revelation of Himself, the One in whom God's purposes are fully exhibited and completely made known. This is the Person who fulfils God's own purposes for our lives.
So the stupendous meaning of these first few sentences is that this One, the Word, is the One who had put John on the path to life because He is the Way. This is the One in Whom is life, the One in Whom God has always intended to make Himself known. This is no abstract thought; as if the purpose of life is feeling good when we find the right formulae to control our feelings. This is no formulae. This Word is a Person. This Person, the True Image of God restores me as a child of the Heavenly Father who is now my Heavenly Father.
John's gospel tells how it came about that the grain grown in the fields prepared by God's promises to Israel, had been sown far and wide, each grain falling into the earth to die and to take root and to bring forth fruit, a great harvest to be experienced by all peoples everywhere. Light and life to all He brings; that is what this Word does. And so all people everywhere, all engaged in a great diversity and variety of activities within God's handiwork are now invited to become part of the ongoing and glorious fulfillment of God's promises.
In the beginning was the Word and now this same Word had compelled John to write his account of Jesus' life in their midst. This is the account of how God Himself fulfilled His purposes for us in Jesus Christ.