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 any thing 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.
To me, these are high words that speak of the truth and beauty and order of God and His cosmos and all it contains. We know the Word refers to Jesus, and it makes me think of the expression of God— about to flow out, burst forth – and reveal its true character. When John speaks of life, the Greek word he uses is zoe which refers not to biological life but spiritual life. I bask in these beautiful verses of perfection and order and goodness.
But then verse 14 slams against this picture of perfection, The Word became flesh . . . I recoil. On first read this phrase appalls me. An atrocity—like a fine painting being marred. How could the essence of truth, goodness, and perfection become lowly flesh? Flesh mingled with the grime and grittiness of a human life. How could the Logos, the Divine, debase Himself to be contained in a fleshly body and enter into the world of greed and filth and scarcity?
Jesus lowered Himself to raise us higher. The Holy One infiltrated the flesh, our grimy world, breathing the Divine into us – making us more than physical body and mind and reminding us that we were created in His image. He took on our crude nature to bring us up into something that could be made glorious – and giving us a spirit to connect with His Spirit.
And what I find truly incomprehensible is this: The Word, whose name is Jesus, did not don our flesh, our human nature, in disgust. Instead, when he walked this earth, he often referred to Himself as Son of Man. As Son of Man, He made Himself one of us, and in doing so gave us dignity. He continues to raise us up and indwell us. Through His eternal gift of the Holy Spirit, He indwells you, He indwells me.
The Word became flesh. Appalling? Yes. Shocking? Yes. Yet, this is love in its purest form.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
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