be governed by the same rules? For example,
galaxies and atoms spin. From our backyards we deal with
the paradox of having the starry universe so close as to see
it with our unaided eye, and yet so far away that if crossing
it after a million years we would barely have begun our
journey. How can anything like this operate? What keeps
it from disintegrating? How can there be any order to the
universe's constant change with unimaginable masses
hurtling through trackless space?
force, some irresistible law that allowed this to even be. They called that
something logos, meaning "reason or word." Although they struggled to
define it much past that, they knew there was a word, a logos, that com-
manded all of creation. To the
Greek, John shares that the
Logos, the Word you have known
and has yet been elusive to you,
is here in Jesus Christ.
powerful in the concept of a word.
Words were not bits of ink on paper but living, vital things that had their
own life. That is the reason they were so careful in naming places of signifi-
cance, why the naming of children involved more than finding something
that had a rhythm or sounded pretty. The names were the words that not only
described but were a vital part of the object named, like the heart or the lungs.
His name was of vital importance because it spoke of His mission and His
message. As He began His ministry, He spoke a word and the lepers were
cleansed. He spoke and the dead were raised. He spoke and the churning
sea stilled. He spoke and the masses were moved. To the Jewish reader,
John explained that this hint of the power of a word finds its ultimate
readers with what he said next. This
Word "made His dwelling among
us." This made no sense to either the
Jews or the Greeks. The Greeks
believed that the gods manipulated
people for their own purposes. While
a god might disguise him or herself
as a person, no god would ever
become
exalted that He would never sully
Himself by taking on human flesh.
It would be like asking a human to
become an amoeba. Unthinkable.
Yet as staggering as this statement
was, John proved with the rest of his
gospel that it was absolutely true.
showing His glory. John said, "We
have seen His glory..."
The theological term for this glory
the visible appearance of God's
presence. As such, it is both spectac-
ular and indescribable.
brought the glory with Him. It was
no legend or parable but something
that unfolded every day in the most
common of settings among the most
common of people. John saw it when
Jesus healed people, fed the thou-
sands, raised the dead, had a private
lunch with the despised tax collector
Zacchaeus. He saw it when Jesus
hung on the cross, when He died
and then when His glory was on full