Jesus the Word

John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1)

Why didn’t Jesus stay with us longer? Why? I mean, three years for the Savior of the world to have taught, preached, healed and “lived among us” is an awfully short time. And when you consider the failings of His band of followers, including me, surely you can see that more of Jesus would have helped our struggling group.

But that was not God’s way. Not at all. So, Jesus was called to heaven a mere forty days after He was raised from the dead. And let me tell you, His sudden departure left a deep vacuum of leadership that seemed impossible to fill.

On top of that, Jesus never told us that He was to leave so soon. Naturally, we assumed that the Risen Christ would simply resume His earthly ministry, hopefully back in Galilee, where we would be out of sight from His enemies.

I mean, we had given literally no thought to how our small group would function without Jesus. Looking at it from the future, in your time, you would surely have to wonder if this was the best way to build God’s church on earth!

And yet, God’s church, would, nevertheless, rise from the brief appearance of His son. I don’t see how you could call that anything but a miracle!

And Jesus left us with very few specific instructions, just a general but very ambitious statement:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28)

So, what did Jesus leave behind? I mean, what resources did He give us so that we could accomplish His great commission to “make disciples of all nations”?

You surely know that, as He promised, Jesus left us the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Yes, although we at first failed to understand what that meant, it finally became crystal clear at Pentecost. And from then on, our movement was fed by a spiritual energy, one that came from this invisible but powerful source. And also, one that I hope, in your time, is still active.

But there was one more thing, one more resource that Jesus left for us.

What was it? It was His word. Actually, to be accurate, it was His words, because He left us a bounty of them.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24)

Of course, the words of Jesus had not yet been written down, as you now have in your Gospel accounts. But that doesn’t mean that His words were not saved and treasured.

You see, we were accustomed to verbal testimony, much more so than in your day, when everything is reduced to print.

That means that the words of Jesus were alive to us, and we remembered them and discussed them and studied them more than you might imagine. And of course, it was our memory of the words of Jesus that have enabled them to come down the centuries to you, thanks to the Gospel writers who listened to those of us who were eyewitnesses.

Papyrus of the end of Luke and John 1

circa 200

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21)

Another miracle! Yes, as Jesus predicted, His words did not “pass away.” And thanks to the Holy Spirit, the words of Jesus will never pass away!

Can you imagine your faith without the words of Jesus? Without His words, Jesus would seem to be a mythic figure, with no theology, and no humanity. He would be reduced to a dead hero, a martyr to a forgotten cause, one poorly understood for who He really was.

But thanks to the words of Jesus, we can know that he was the Son of Man, as he called Himself, but also the Son of God, the Messiah. And we can learn from His teachings, His parables, and from His very actions, all saved and recorded, so generations to come can know Him.

And most important, thanks to His words, we can hear what he thought and said about the foundations of our faith, like loving God and loving our neighbors.

So, who was Jesus, really? As the passage above says, He was (and is) the Word. Yes, the Word.

Whose Word?

The Father’s. The Father spoke in and through the life of Jesus, the one who was “begotten” of the Father.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17)

This statement, spoken from a cloud as Jesus was literally transfigured into light, was one of the few times in history that God’s voice was actually heard.

Jesus was God’s spoken word, the “word made flesh.” We can “listen” to Him and be assured that we are hearing the words of the Father, our YHWH God.

And you, in your time, can be confident that the Word of God can still be heard and read in the words of Jesus. You can trust His word.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21)

And finally, what about me? What do the words of Jesus truly mean to me?

For me, His words are a connection to Him. Yes, He is no longer with us in the flesh. But His words represent a gift, or perhaps an inheritance from His brief time with us, a treasure that can never be taken away. And that gift of His words continues to connect me to Him in a mysterious way that can only be because of the Holy Spirit.

I am reminded of the Psalm:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119)

I hope and pray that the words of Jesus light your path, just as they do mine.