Day 192 · Year 1 · The Story of Scripture
He came to where we live
John's Christmas story has no shepherds — just stunning news.
Today's passage
John 1:14-18
14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”
16From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
John skips the manger and gets to the wonder: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' The God who made galaxies took a body, ate meals, got tired, wept. Christianity does not say God is far off and we must climb. It says God came down and we may know him. If you sometimes feel God is theoretical, this is the verse that calls him close. He is not too holy for your kitchen, your hospital room, your messy commute. He pitched his tent in exactly those places.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Athanasius of Alexandria · Cappadocians & Alexandrians · 4th c. · Egypt
Athanasius made the case that God truly became human so that human beings might truly know God — that the incarnation is not a costume but a rescue from inside our nature.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What does John say the Word did in verse 14?
- What two things has 'no one ever seen,' and how is that resolved in verse 18?
- Where in your life do you need to remember that God is not far off?
A prayer to pray
Welcome the God who came near. Ask him to dwell — by his Spirit — in the part of your life that feels least sacred.