John Chapter 1
By Pastor Chris
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
John 1:14, The Message
I am always reminded of Philip Yancey’s illustration on the incarnation when I read John Chapter 1.
“I kept a salt-water aquarium, no easy task. I had to run a small chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and enzymes and sulfa drugs to make a rock grow. I filtered the water… You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one “emotion” only: fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern. To my fish I was a deity. I was too large for them, my actions, too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and “speak to them in a language they could understand.”
–The Jesus I Never Knew, Phillip Yancey
As you read John 1 think about the way he describes Jesus becoming flesh, light, life.
Think about the great effort God extended in order for you to have a glimmer of understanding about how much He wants to love you like one of his own children.
