“The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
“Everything was created through him;
nothing — not one thing! —
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
“The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
“We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding —
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.”
— John 1:1-5, 14, 16-17, The Message Bible
This past week we started a new home-group Bible study, and since many of the group just finished the Alpha Course, I thought the best thing for a “Beta” group would be to start with the Gospel of John. We only read the first half of the first chapter and found far too much material to talk about in just one evening! Here are some highlights.
Sometimes there’s nothing like taking a fresh look at an old familiar passage. The usual translation — the one I type now from memory — goes like this:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” “…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth…”
How beautiful these words are! How many times I have heard them with comfort, or joy, or even tears in my eyes where it comes to the verse “he came to his own, and his own people received him not”…
The apostle John writes so beautifully, no matter the translation, it’s impossible to be un-moved by these words. But Eugene Peterson brings it home, and I mean really home, so well:
“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood”. Yowza! Jesus is in da house!
So the first ten lines are our alpha — our beginning — as John parallels Genesis 1 and lets us know Jesus was there from the very start. Jesus is our Alpha. (He’s our Omega too, but John talks about that in another book, Revelation.) Jesus is the Word, God’s Word to us. And He is with God, and He is God.
And the last eleven lines begin such a song of exultation and praise! “…his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift” — how often do we stop and say “thank you” to God? How often do we recognize all He has lavished on us and tell Him we’re so happy to know Him?
“…this exuberant giving and receiving…” — The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit invite us to join in the dance.
Getting Started 
Leave a Reply