You know I love mystery and the power of words. If you’re like me, then you’re in heaven when you read the book of John. He knew that all men and women are mysteries known only to themselves until they speak or write a word that opens up the mystery. He knew that the words people speak or write have their own life, they contain dynamite, and that one single word has the power to break a heart or set one on fire.
In the beginning of his gospel he wrote a poem about the Word that God spoke. When God speaks creation happens and not just some quote you hold up at football games or put on the bumper to your car. When God wanted to tell us is what he is all about, what humankind is all about, and life is all about — “the word became flesh.” (John 1:14). Forget for a minute all the dogma and theories that divide religions. He didn’t send etched tablets he sent Jesus.
Remember Moses asking God who he should say sent him, and God said simply “I am.” Well the John gives us a different picture of Jesus than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You find Jesus using the same phrase. “I am” – “I am the bread of life(6:35),I am the resurrection and the life(11:25), I am the door(10:9), I am the light of the world(8:12), I am the good shepherd(10:14), and I am the way(14:6). There are many more, simply take a bath in the poetry of John.
I love the stories and the parables of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each gives us a different view of Jesus. John’s view is a view of how Jesus relates to us in the here and now. Jesus is the word that became flesh to break our heart and then set us on fire and stir our blood.
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