Lent 2020 Day 6

Scripture Reading

John 1:1-15

The Gospel of John starts out differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Instead of beginning with the genealogy of Jesus, John begins with pronouncement of the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. The importance of this passage can be realized when we remember what Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It is essential to our Christian faith that we understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is a doctrine that is complex. It is difficult to understand all the details of it nevertheless, it must be boldly confessed by members of the body of Christ. When we think about the creation of the world, it is necessary that we realize that the Jesus who died to save us was the Son of God who was present at the beginning of all creation. 

A key verse in this passage is John 1:14. I like the way some of the modern translations and paraphrases render this verse. This is how J.B. Phillips translates this verse, "So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. We saw his splendor (the splendor as of a fathers's only son) full of grace and truth." The Word, Jesus, became one of us. God did not send Jesus to be similar to us or kind of like us, but to be exactly like us so that through his perfect, sinless humanity he might lay down his life for us so that we might become children of God. John is careful to point out that even though Jesus was human his sonship was different than ours. He says that Jesus had the splendor or privilege of being the Father's unique, one and only, special son because he was not just fully human but also fully God. (Deep breath, because that's mind-blowing!) Scripture also calls us the sons and daughters of God but our identity as God's children is as adopted children. 

In the 1990s there was a pop song that asked the question What if God were one of us? Would you and I recognize him? Would we join him on his journey to radically change the world or would we be crying out "Crucify him! Crucify him!"? 

Prayer: Almighty God, You who made the heavens and the earth are worthy of my praise not just because you are the creator or all but because you became like me, human, so that I might have a relationship with you. "Thanks," hardly seems enough, so I give you my life, totally and completely. Amen.