Day 2 - Week 2 - John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

So have you spent part of your day pondering these words and what they might mean to you?  It's a hard one to get out of your head, a little bit like a riddle that you just cant quite figure out and until you do, it's all you can think of. 

For some reason, John is the only one in Scripture who refers to Jesus as the Word.  Again in 1 John 5:7, he says, "For there are three that bear record in heaven the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one."  So, somewhat in algebraic style, we know we can substitute Jesus' name in place of "the Word", so that our verse would now read, "In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God."  Does that make it clearer for us? 

As I said yesterday, John's gospel is intent on convincing his audience that Jesus, the man that they saw so many years ago on earth, the man that they followed, the man that they saw crucified, and that saw resurrected and ascending into heaven, was and is God, nothing else, nothing less. 

Max Lucado writes a very touching vignette regarding John's writing of his gospel...he writes words that make you able to envision this old disciple of Jesus, starting to pen the words that we are now memorizing...

He’s an old man, this one who sits on the stool and leans against the wall. Eyes closed and face soft, were it not for his hand stroking his beard, you’d think he was asleep....he is not resting. He is traveling...he journeys back, back, back until he is young again. Strong again. There again. There on the seashore with James and the apostles. There on the trail with the disciples and the women. There in the Temple with Caiaphas and the accusers. It’s been sixty years, but John seems him still. The decades took John’s strength, but they didn’t take his memory. The years dulled his sight, but they didn’t dull his vision. The seasons may have wrinkled his face, but they didn’t soften his love.

He had been with God. God had been with him. How could he forget?

The wine that moments before had been water - John could still taste it.

The mud placed on the eyes of the blind man in Jerusalem - John could still remember it.

The aroma of Mary’s perfume as it filled the room - John could still smell it.

And the voice, oh the voice. His voice. John could still hear it....John could hear him, John could see him. Scenes branded on his heart. Words seared into his soul. John would never forget. How could he? He had been there....most who were there are dead. Peter is. So is James. Nathaneal, Martha, Bartholomew. They are all gone. Even Paul, the apostle who came late, is dead. Only John remains...what will happen when John is gone?  Who will tell them how Jesus silenced the waves? Will they hear how he fed the thousands? Will they remember how he prayed for unity? How will they know? If only they could have been there. Suddenly, in his heart, he knows what to do. Later, under the light of a sunlit shaft, the old fisherman unfolds the scroll and begins to write the story of his life.... 'In the beginning was the Word...’ ”

Let's join John in his fervency of declaring Jesus Christ as none other than Holy God, nothing else, nothing less.