Week 1, FRIDAY, March 15. John 1:1-5, 14. The Word became flesh.

Prepare to listen.  Quietly pause and prepare to receive the Word, believing God’s words, When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.  (Psalm 91:15)
 
Read John 1:1-5, 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 4in 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…. 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.
 
Prayerful Wondering
‘In the beginning was the Word’ (logos in Greek).  An odd beginning to the gospel, logos used three times in v1 and not again until v14.  Logos means little to us Westerners today but held rich meaning for John’s 1st century readers who drew on Greek and Hebrew understandings.  For Greeks, logos referred to a life principle, one that shaped and ordered the universe; it could also include the possession of god-like characteristics.  Richard Rohr suggests it means inner blueprint and thus could be substituted that for ‘the Word.’  For those steeped in Hebrew culture, logos reminded them of creation (Genesis 1).  All things came to be through God’s spoken word of command—‘let there be.’  They also included the long tradition with the Old Testament prophets who claimed, ‘the word of the Lord came to me, saying....’  God communicated personally with his people through mediators, the prophets.  John has all of this in view in his choice of the term logos to introduce the Savior of the World.  However, this logos is far more than an impersonal word of creative command, or a word to the prophets or even a life-giving principle (blueprint).  Logos is personal.  Logos became flesh and lived among us.
 
Reflection Question
The Word became flesh; he lived and lives among us.  What difference does this make for you today?
 
Respond to Jesus in prayer
Jesus you are the Word; you became flesh and lived among us.  You still live among us today through each of us who claim to follow you.  Live in and through me today.  Amen.
 
Go and live obediently in the world to which the Word came.