Fifty Two Weeks / John 1

Over the next seven weeks it should become apparent that John is my favorite book in the Bible.

The Word

The first eighteen verses of this chapter comprise a brief essay concerning “The Word”. The actual Greek word used here is Logos. The literal translation would be “discourse”, “reason”, or “wisdom”. It is the principle and force that created the material universe. The first chapter of Genesis informs us that the creation came into being when God spoke. 

The idea that Jesus the Son is the expression of God the Father is reinforced often in the New Testament. Just how this all fits together in terms of divinity is a deep mystery hidden in eternity. Some try to dissect it but from our finite perspective I consider that a misguided enterprise. I find a comment C. S. Lewis made concerning this issue to be very useful. He said, in effect, “If you can imagine God with nothing to say then you can imagine the Father without the Son.”

Entire books can be written on this brief essay, so I will restrain myself to one observation. The Word made us and came to us; yet, we did not recognize Him. When we do recognize Him and acknowledge who He really is something miraculous happens. We become God’s children. This is not to say that we become children by virtue of any of the natural material ways that children are brought forth. We become His children, His real children, His family. This happens solely because we recognize the Word. This is the gospel of Christ.

The Baptist and the Lamb

John the Baptist is one of the truly great men of Scripture. His greatness lies partly in his calling but the real fulfillment of his calling required a level of humility rarely seen. 

His rise to fame was meteoric to say the least. He simply came preaching repentance and baptizing with water and people seemed to stream to him from all around. Few would be able to resist the temptation to read their own press clippings and thus be drawn off track. John was one of the few. 

When the Jews asked him who he was they made some very flattering suggestions. The Christ? Elijah? The Prophet (about whom Moses spoke)? John did not take the bait. His answer was that he was simply a voice. The One they were looking for was coming after him and John wasn’t even worthy to untie His sandals.

John the Baptist was the first to refer to Christ as the Lamb of God. What a magnificent revelation! This could only mean one thing: Christ was to be a sacrifice. No one was looking for Messiah to be a sacrifice, but John knew. 

Clearly John did not figure this out on his own. He knew this the same way he was enabled to recognize the Messiah. The Holy Spirit showed him. John said, “I would not have know Him except that the Spirit came down and rested upon Him, and that was the sign I was told to look for.”

The Disciples

It seems that Jesus’ first disciples were John (the apostle) and Andrew. Furthermore, they were apparently disciples of John the Baptist whom he freely pointed in the direction of Jesus. “He’s the One you are really looking for.”

Andrew is often called the first evangelist because it is recorded that he went and recruited his brother Simon. (For obvious reasons I prefer to think of John the Baptist as the first evangelist.) When Simon came to Jesus he was met with a prophecy. “You are simon (a reed) but you will be called Cephas (also Peter, meaning a rock).” 

Philip was next. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip followed Him but he also went and got his friend Nathanael who uttered that famous line, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” 

I have to smile every time I read about Jesus first encounter with Nathanael. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Perhaps there was nothing false in Nathanael but there was also not too much humility. 

Jesus tells Nathanael that he saw him under his fig tree when Philip went to him. This blows Nathanael away and he immediately declares that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel. Apparently Peter wasn’t the only impetuous one among the twelve. 

The chapter closes with Jesus telling Nathaniel that seeing him under the fig tree was no big deal. Just wait. You are getting ready to see some real stuff in the very near future. True that!