40 Names of Jesus in 40 days of Lent — Day 37

Wednesday in Holy Week 2022

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John1:1 ESVUK

The Gospel writers deal with the birth of Jesus in different ways:

• Mark misses it out and goes straight into John the Baptist preparing the way in the wilderness and from the ministry of Jesus.
• Matthew looks at it from the point of view of Joseph and has Wise Men, King Herod and exile in Egypt.
• Luke uses Mary’s perspective and has baby Jesus visited by Shepherds.
• John has a weird philosophical approach to talking about the Word, Life and Light.

So what on earth is John talking about?

I have seen statements like “The words of Jesus are the equivalent of the words of the Old Testament.” Well yes, they are written in the New Testament and have become Scripture, as have the words of Luke and Paul among others. But in the end, it is calling the words of Jesus The Word, not Jesus himself. It is true, but there has to be more to it than that. Jesus is called The Word by John who immediately links it to creation. The Word of God in creation becomes human.

In Jesus, there is the power of God to create universes condensed but not diminished in the body of a human being. And, as John says, we have and can see his glory.