Thursday, December 6, 2012
John 1:1-18 [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
THE INCARNATION ACCORDING TO JOHN: PERSONAL
"We beheld His glory." This is the first time that John uses anything other than third person pronouns. Even when he speaks of "His own" people, he does not makes it personal saying "He gave to us the right." But here he makes it personal saying "we" beheld his glory.
There is no doubt that the seeing of these acts of love and words of truth is a most personal thing to John. For in his entire gospel he always refers to himself as the recipient of this love and truth, naming himself the "disciple whom Jesus loved."
And yet John does not attempt to prove this statement with accounts of the wonderful acts of love which Jesus did for him personally. But rather proves Jesus love for him by showing Jesus' love for all. John took the universal and made it personal because he had seen that in the incarnation the universal had been made personal.
Jesus weeps at the death of his friend Lazarus, because he is His friend and his death touches Him (John 11).
Jesus gives wine at the wedding for the sake of His mother. And because He desired that these men should be glad and rejoice in this individual celebration (John 2).
He heals the blind man and then returns to give him comfort and strength (John 9). The blind man is not just some person, whom Jesus heals showing how great he is. The blind man has a family. The blind man reacts to Jesus. The blind man's life is changed. The blind man has trouble and shows courage. He is an individual and the God man deals with him as an individual. The women of Samaria, Lazarus, the blind man, Nicodemus, and Nathaniel are all individuals with individual histories, triumphs, and difficulties. John shows them as such and shows God in Christ touching them personally.
