BECOMING THE WORD

The apostle John opens his gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” A little further down in his letter he writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John testified of him and said, “This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” From his fullness we have received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”

We can also see that it could just as well have been written, “and he dwelt in us” or in his temple. We are the dwelling place of God. How else can we behold his glory except by his indwelling? And not only his glory, but also our glory, because the Word became flesh and indwelt us. We, like our Jesus, become the word because we are “full of grace and truth” just as he is…but not as much as he is. We are all children of God, but as Jesus also said, “The Father is greater than I am.” We become the word only as much as we become like Jesus.

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus