Year 8, Day 249: John 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

John 1 starts off anything but practical. Unlike Matthew and Luke, John gives no birth narrative.  In fact, John takes us directly from the creation of the world through Jesus Christ to the baptism of John and the ministry of Jesus.  In this, John makes a very theological point.  The start of the story of Christ is not a night in the manger – as important as that story might be to the story of Jesus’ fleshly existence.  The reality is that Jesus’ story reaches back into creation.  Jesus’ story starts before we are even on the scene.

What this shows us is that the story of the light of the world – Jesus Christ – is an eternal story.  What this means, then, is that the world’s struggle against the light is also eternal.  John tells us that the world did not know Him.  Those who were made through Him did not recognize Him.  Even the Hebrew people, who worship God, did not know Him when He came.

However, all is not lost.  While the world in general did not recognize the light, there are some who did – and still do.  These people are given the privilege of being the children of God.  Such people are not born of flesh and blood but born of God.  The story that John is telling comes full circle.  The story of Jesus doesn’t begin with a human birth, it begins with a spiritual creation.  Our story – the story of the children of God – does not begin with a physical birth either.  Our flesh and blood birth pales in comparison to our true birth in and through God’s Spirit.

This is why John says to make straight the paths of the Lord.  Our perspective is often skewed.  We focus on the wrong things.  We tend to focus on the things of this world and how they happen instead of focusing on God’s ways and what He has done through us.

In fact, we see this in the story of Nathaniel, too.  Nathaniel comes to Jesus and tells him the story about when he heard about Jesus.  Nathaniel was amazed at Jesus’ ability to know how it happened.  Jesus, however, refocuses Nathaniel.  He tells him that he will see bigger things with a shift in perspective.  Nathaniel will see heaven opened and the angels coming down to the Son of Man.  Arguments can be made about this happening several times in Jesus’ life: His birth, His temptation in the desert, and the transfiguration are some of the top of the list.

I think that the death and resurrection are the greatest fulfillment.  When Jesus dies, the heavens are opened and the curtain is torn.  When Jesus is raised, angels come to human beings and tell them that Jesus is no longer dead.  What greater thing to see than God’s redemption of creation!  What greater thing to see than God’s embrace of His people!  In the moment, Nathaniel is content with something small and reasonably insignificant.  Jesus refocuses him to look to the eternal and foreshadows that if he continues to walk with God then he will see the salvation of mankind.

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