A Word from John 1

If you’re looking for a passage from the Bible that offers a glorious picture of who Jesus really is, you can’t do much better than today’s word from John Chapter 1. “In the beginning was the Word,” he tells us; “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made…In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind..” (1:1, 3-4)

Unfortunately, as powerful and as hopeful as this picture is, the world’s response to it wasn’t what you’d expect. “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world,” Johns says, “and though the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (1:9-11)

Of course, I can’t help but wonder if, all too often, Jesus’s own still don’t receive him. Oh sure, we honor his name, and we claim that he’s on our side. But when it comes to walking in the light that he gave—when it comes to obeying his command to “love one another, as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34); which means, of course, to love with grace, and sacrifice, and deep concern for the outcast and those in need—well…then all too often it seems that “receiving Jesus” becomes a lesser priority.

But here’s the hope that today’s word offers: “Yet to all who did receive him—to those who believed in his name (and thus, embraced his way)—he gave the right to become children of God.” (1:12)

So, let’s believe like that today! And not just with words or “mental assent,” but with lives that are filled with light, because we’re walking in the light and discovering that the journey we share brings us into fellowship with one another. Amen.