Have you ever wrestled with a difficult idea? Then someone gives a comparison and the light comes on. Perhaps the idea of “parallel” was explained to be “like railroad tracks.” Or an amoeba looking “like silly putty.” Or the Kingdom of God “like a mustard seed.”

The writer John had a similar challenge to explain Jesus’ identity to readers. He could have begun like Matthew with a genealogy, or like Luke with an investigator’s report. Instead, he got philosophical ― John claims that Jesus is the logos, which in Greek means word, discourse, or reason.

In one sense, God, through John, is saying, “Here is my Word — my message — to you in the person of Jesus Christ. If you want to hear what I AM (Yahweh) is saying — listen to Jesus. He’s Me in the flesh.”

In another sense, logos means something creatively explosive. As the psalmist writes, “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 36:6). Moreover, Greek readers would have understood that logos also means the sustaining force of the universe — a cosmic principle of order, the eternal reason that pervades and directs everything.

Jesus, the personal logos, is the co-creator who flung galaxies into space at God’s right hand, and sustains the cosmos today. John establishes just who this God-man really is — a miracle of incarnation. He was God moving into our neighborhood.

Do you wrestle with that idea, or has the light shone a bit brighter in your heart?

Dear God, we marvel at the love you showed to send Jesus to live among us. We struggle to understand how your Logos could become flesh, but we take by faith that his doing so made him the perfect example of humility in giving up his heavenly stature. Give us a glimpse of that power in our own lives as your Spirit abides within. Amen.

Go Deeper — Can you grasp the idea of God coming to a earth in the flesh? How about coming into your heart? Express it in your own word comparisons then share that with someone else so the light comes on for them as well.



Tags: The Gospel of John John 1
Photo Credit: Adrien Gonin