The Eternal Word

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-4 ESV).

 

In the Bible the human story begins with a man, and then a woman. The human story of Jesus begins with a woman, Mary. And then Jesus himself begins, as a baby. It’s wonderful to picture baby Jesus all wrapped up and in Mary’s arms. But think about this. Jesus is the eternal Word, the Word through whom every­thing was made, the Word that said, “Let there be …” and everything came into existence. But now the Word is a human being, a newborn baby. We must not leave this context without grasping the significance of this great truth.

 

Like any newborn, baby Jesus doesn’t know language yet. He will need to listen first—especially to his mother, and to his father. Slowly he will discover that words have meaning. Eventually he’ll start to speak for himself. He’ll know only a few words at first: “Immah” (mother) and “Abba” (father). And then a flood of words will come, and it won’t stop. Like most mothers, Mary will sometimes wish Jesus had never started talking!

 

Imagine. The Word that spoke in the beginning loses its voice. It must go back to the beginning that we experience as humans. And it must learn the same way we did, one word at a time. Certainly, this is a part of what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that to the church in Philippi:

 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV).

 

This is merely another of the sacrifices Jesus made on our behalf. The One who had the words to create learned to speak as a human being. His love for us is truly unfathomable!