Notes on John 1-14

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
 

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14And 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. 

The prologue to the Gospel of John runs to verse 18. Today we get most of it, with the Episcopal Church using its own readings in place of those in the RCL.

Note that the first words of the Gospel of John are the same ones as begin the Bible in Genesis: “In the beginning…” This is deliberate. Thus there is a multiplicity of meaning here. This is the beginning of the Gospel. It echoes the beginning of Genesis, which means “Beginning.” It roots God’s word, which we understand as Jesus, as existing before creation and thus before the beginning of time (v. 2). There is no nativity story here filled with angels and shepherds and cattle. The Word does not even become flesh until verse 14. Instead, there is a philosophical, mystical song of the Word being rooted not in human time and experience but before creation—indeed as the agent of creation (v. 3).

This Word shares all of God’s power that we have seen testified to in the Isaiah passage and in Psalm 147. He brings life as light which darkness cannot overcome or vanquish or even “grasp” as the Greek word literally means (vv. 4-5).

These first five verses are laid out without question. But when John states that the Word comes into the world to live among us, the actual verb in verse 14 translated as “lived” in the NRSV actually means “pitched his tent” or, interestingly, “tabernacled” among us. And yet, his people- who owed their very existence to him!- did not recognize him, know him, or accept him (vv. 10-11). Even with a witness named John to testify to establishing the identity of Jesus as the long-awaited Word. John was like a mirror to reflect that light so that people could see it (vv. 6-9). Only a few were willing to accept Jesus as the Word of God, the source of all being, and in doing so they are reborn as the true children of God. Thus this is a retelling of the Genesis story, all right. A new people are created at the coming of this Word—a people of God, a new creation saved by the grace and truth of God (vv. 12-14).

The most powerful thing that moves among us is that which is spoken by God. God spoke creation into being. Look back at Genesis, chapter 1: at each step, God says, “Let there be….” And then there IS. There is light, sky, land, plants, light in the sun, and moon, and the stars, and then animals, and finally humans. It is the speaking that brings forth existence. It is the speaking that creates. Words are where the power is, and the Word contains all the power of God—and yet becomes finite flesh, and pitches his tent among us. God reveals who God is THROUGH God’s Word. This is the music and poetry of creation. This is why we are told over and over again to SING our praise to God in the psalms. Jesus is God’s song, God’s sermon, God’s message inscribed in our very beings. We just need to listen.

Links for more information:

http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/jamieson-fausset-brown/john/john-1.html

Gerard Sloyan, Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: John

J. D. Douglas, ed., The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1523