The Word

[Maryanne Winder Lester]

The 4 New Testament Gospels are the written history of Jesus's life on earth. My favorite is the Gospel According to John. This book is definitely different from the other 3 Gospels. In the Book of John, there is no mention of the birth of Jesus, His baptism, His temptations or the last supper. And it also does not include any of the parables written in the books of Matthew, Mark or Luke. But John writes of other events not mentioned by the other 3 Gospel writers, such as the raising of Lazarus and Jesus's teachings about the Holy Spirit. To me, the Book of John is a more intimate book. It draws me in and makes me want to know more. I feel more at peace and closer to God and Jesus when I read John, than when I read any other book in the Bible.

Today I want to write about just 2 verses, the first 2 verses in John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (NKJV). What does this mean? What or who is the Word? The answer is this: Jesus is the Word. So what John is saying is that Jesus was with God before God created anything. Jesus was with God before Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." God did not create Jesus, Jesus was not one of God's creations; Jesus was the very same essence and being as God. So, in Genesis, while God was creating the light, dry land, plants and animals, Jesus was there with God. That is why in Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.'" He made man in the same likeness that Jesus would later come to be on the earth.

Jesus is God's creative and life-giving and light-giving Word. Jesus is the power of God which created the world. Jesus is the reason God sustained the world and came to earth in bodily form. God has always been like Jesus. When Jesus came to earth in bodily form, it was so we could see the eternal and unchanging love of God. When Jesus came, the earth could finally see with our own eyes exactly and completely what God has always been like. He is the only person who could reveal to us what God is like and how He feels about us. Jesus is God's heart and mind and love in human form. Jesus revealed to useverything that God has always been and always will be, what He feels for us and what He desires for us. Through Jesus, the voice of God spoke. John wrote his Gospel to give us absolute witness that Jesus is the mind of God, fully revealed to man. Jesus lived His life the same way God would have lived if He were a man, the same way we should all live.

Maryanne Winder Lester 6/5/2010