SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 21 May 2019.

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Welcome to Tuesday’s podcast. Yesterday we finished Mark’s gospel and today we’re jumping into John’s gospel at chapter 1vs 1-18 but today I’ll focus on verse 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.

REFLECTION:

Do you like camping?

As a child I loved it. I have very fond memories of camping. It’s probably nostalgia but I can remember warm summer days with friends and thinking it was utter bliss.

For the past two years we’ve camped with our children at a Christian festival. It was a different experience to the one I remember as a teenager.

Camping with kids we became very aware of the following: You can hear literally people’s conversations. You can hear exasperated parents parenting their children. Not to mention night time. This is when people’s different approaches to parenting really kick in… Last year one family quite close to us had a very young child that didn’t like to sleep. We could hear the parent use the ‘hush technique’ and as the child’s screams got louder so did the parent’s hushes – so did my levels of frustration.

What we learned about camping as a family is that is that one can become very connected to the people around you whether you want it or not – separated only a thin layer of canvas.

First, some background.

As we start this epic journey through John’s gospel we read verses 1-18 known as the ‘prologue’ – in other words it’s extra – really significant – information the gospel writer John provides at the start of his gospel. There is so much to unpack and there’s much to say on the prologue (and I don’t have the time) but it’s worth saying that John tells us some significant things about Jesus.

He tells us this: before the creation of the world – Jesus existed. Just hold that thought for a moment. Before everything was made – He was there. He has existed from the beginning.

John tells us that he’s called the ‘word’. What is the ‘word’? To Jewish people it an aspect of God. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘you’re as good as your word’ – to know what someone is like we can observe them; read about them; learn about them – but we only really know them when we hear them speak – when we hear their words. Their thoughts reveal their inner life – their thinking, their mind and their heart. The ‘word’ is so powerful and so revealing. The spoken and written word reveal who God is.

In fact, verse 3 says that God’s word has such power ‘through him all things were made’ – in fact he speaks creation into being. His word brings life, it’s the definition of life – he is the source of all life.  And John is telling us that Jesus is the ‘word of God’ – in fact he tells us that Jesus is the ‘word became flesh’.

So what about the camping story then? How does that fit?

In fact verse 14 states ‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…’

In this context ‘dwelling’ is another way of saying – ‘he has pitched his tent among us…’ This has huge significance. For people first reading this – it would have been huge. But what about us today on this Tuesday in May?

God pitches his tent next to us.

Just think about that?

One of the incredible truths of the Christian story – which people of other religions find really hard to grasp – is that God chooses us. He enters history. He’s born both human and divine. He enters the muck and rubbish of this world. He literally gets his hands dirty. He draws alongside the people who would never darken his door and says “you’re mine”.

Because the ‘word’ becomes flesh – it means that God experiences humanity on an unprecedented scale. Just look at Jesus’ life – all that he experienced.