5 Jesus: Dwelling among us
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1: 14 [NIV]
This is one of the most extraordinary statements in the whole of the Bible. It tells us that the creator of the Universe came to our world and entered it as a baby.
Literally, the first part reads ‘The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us’. Eugene Peterson in The Message gets it right when he translates it as ‘The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood’.
Have I got it right? God in all his fullness came to this Earth, this insignificant planet at the edge of an insignificant galaxy – one of 100 billion that we know of? And he was born not in a palace, not to riches, but in a stable in a poor region at the edge of the Roman Empire. And he did this for me?
Martin Luther wrote, ‘When I am told that God became man, I can follow the idea, but I just do not understand what it means.’ We, too, marvel at the thought.
We have seen his glory, John writes. He is thinking back to the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness, and how the cloud of God’s presence covered the tent and his glory filled it. And now Jesus has come – the God of Israel himself, full of grace and truth.
Grace – God’s undeserved love for us. Truth – God’s absolute reliability.
And Jesus has come to show his love for us in redeeming us and in showing us the path of salvation; Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote,
It is only because Christ became like us that we can become like him.
Father, thank you for sending your Son to this world to save me. Fill me with your Spirit today and help me to become more like Jesus. Amen
David Long
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