John 1:6-18

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. ¹¹ He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. ¹⁵ (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'") ¹⁶ And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John the Baptist first appears here in John's Gospel as "a man sent from God." True to the prophecies in Isaiah, John is to make way for Jesus...to bear witness to the true light of Jesus Christ through which the entire world has been created. John is still building a bridge to the Greco-Roman listener's world view and experience: hence, he makes this simple statement part of his initial comments as he gives us a foreshadowing of the life and ministry of Jesus--he came to his own, the Jews, but they would not receive him. To those who did receive and believe, there was given the power to be reborn as children of God.

Now John must make a leap that he knows will be difficult for some of his Greco-Roman listeners to accept...the Word, this Logos that John has briefly introduced, became flesh and dwelt among us. He became incarnate, though he retained the grace and truth, the glory, of God's only Son. And we have seen his glory and we have received his grace.

Note John's next statement: the Law, the Torah, was given through Moses, but both grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And finally, he tells us that it is Jesus who has made God known to us. We'll see more of John the Baptist shortly.

But isn't this still where many people begin having trouble with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Isn't it where they find their first difficulty? Isn't it difficult for them to believe that God could care enough about us, about them, yes, about you, that he would actually send his only son to earth to live in flesh as a human being? Let's be honest. If you accept the existence of a God who created the entire universe and all that is within it, physical actions of any type are easily within His grasp--there's nothing He cannot do--so that's not the part we have trouble accepting. The part we have trouble with is that this Creator, this Almighty God, could actually care so much about his creation, about you. Yet this is the heart of what John is trying to convey...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and he brought us grace and truth. He brought us the knowledge of God.

Take a minute, even so early into John's Gospel, consider that God is the Creator of us all, of all that is, and He has shown us that he loves us and cares about us. He cares for you. We shall see much more that bears out these facts as we proceed through John's Gospel or through any of the 3 Synoptic Gospels. Let us feel sorrow and pity for those who follow other religions, especially those whose only view of God dictates death and destruction, murder and mayhem, against God's own creation--Jesus' Gospel exposes all preachings of hatred and murder as mere lies sent not from God, but from below. Moreover, let us feel that same pity for those who cannot accept that such a loving God actually cares for them, for they will never experience the wonder of that love. What ever you do, don't allow yourself to fall into either trap, to be dragged down by it. Either is only a lie. To those who believe in Jesus Christ the power is still given to be reborn as a child of the one, true God.