The Word Became Flesh
Scripture Reading — John 1:10-14
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.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In the original Greek text, John uses a word here that literally means “he pitched his tent among us.”
That word picture reminds God’s people of the time after God freed Israel from Egypt and they traveled through the wilderness. Wherever they went, the tent of God was in their midst. During the day God’s glory stood over the tent like a pillar of cloud, and at night it glowed as a pillar of fire. God lived among his people, giving them water to drink and food to eat.
That’s what it was like when Jesus lived among us. As God in human flesh, we saw his glory in everything he did. He healed the sick, raised the dead, fed great crowds from a little boy’s lunch, and sat at table with sinners like you and me.
The danger with his becoming a Jew from a dusty little village in Galilee was that someone might think it all too strange. “Why a carpenter? Why a nondescript town like Nazareth?” The wonder of it all is that the infinite personal God came into view so clearly in the life of Jesus. Through faith in him we come to know God, becoming children of God, having his Spirit live in our hearts. Do you have this faith?
Keep us, O God, from stumbling over the simplicity of your plan of salvation. Give us, instead of worldly sophistication, the trusting faith of a child, that we may open our hearts and believe in Jesus. Amen.
About the author — George Young
George Young, a native New Yorker, worked as a taxi driver in New York City before studying to become a pastor. Then he, his wife Ruth, and their children were missionaries for many years in northeastern Japan. They worked with ministers and believers from the Reformed Church in Japan to spread the good news of salvation in Christ and establish new churches. Now George and Ruth are retired and live in the northeastern United States, nearer to their children and grandchildren.
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