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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1-5)
In a self-guided retreat this past weekend, I spent some time reading about how the New Testament was written; how the book of John was unlike the other gospels; how it was a more spiritual book rather than a direct account of Jesus’ words and actions. I read that John’s writing was less of a biographical account of Jesus’ life and more of a statement of Christ’s spiritual significance in our lives. The chapter I read: The Perplexing, Puzzling, and Profound John, was in the book Making Sense of the Bible by Adam Hamilton.
Since my father passed away a year ago this Valentine’s Day, I’ve started to take on things in my life in his memory and honor. Some of the things he valued or spent a great deal of time doing. I started being more vigilant in my recycling, sorting plastics, retrieving things that were tossed into the garbage, and getting everything into its correct bin. Before my father’s birthday in December, I subscribed to Ridwell, and began to discern plastic film from multilayered plastics, stuffing them in their own sacks for pick up. As of last week, my app says that I have recycled over 35 pounds—and I’ve noticed my garbage and recycling cans are now never filled to capacity. Every time I pull plastic film off the center of my Kleenex boxes or toss a protein bar wrapper into the Ridwell bin, I think of how very carefully my dad used to sort everything for his blue recycling bin each week.
On All Saints Day, I was invited to join one of my dad’s former Bible Studies at the Methodist Church down the street. His friends offered me the chair he always sat in each Tuesday. When I sit there, I can picture my dad’s strong and quiet presence, ever eager to learn more about the Bible, Jesus, and God’s plans and promise for us. I’m quite a bit younger than most of the members, but we enjoy each other’s company and intellectual discussions. I can still hear my dad’s voice as he would process his weekly studies and questions with me—some of my favorite conversations with him were over the significance of gospels.
I must admit I don’t know a great deal about how the Bible was written (which makes the book and the current study interesting). But it wasn’t just the topic of the book of John that made me surprised as I read it—although I gained great comfort in knowing more—it was what happened afterwards that was pivotal. I decided to take a break from reading to begin the second season of The Chosen (a new television series about the disciples of Christ and their experiences following Him). The first episode began with a scene where the John was sitting down to begin writing about Jesus. It was many years after the crucifixion and resurrection, and he was sharing with Mary how he wanted to write before his “memory faded”. Hmmmm. Book and show were of the same topic. Coincidence? Or was it what a friend of mine calls “ a God-incidence”.
Of course, I always take TV or movie renditions of history or biographies with a grain of salt and a boat load of discernment, especially biblical ones. Watching Charleston Heston’s The Ten Commandments (in a friend’s basement during junior high) was my first experience questioning how filmmakers and actors could accurately enact on screen the truth about the Bible. My dad and I even spoke about the dangers of Hollywood trying to “mess” with biblical stories. But the timing of this scene in The Chosen, right after reading the chapter I read, made me think.
I don’t want to ruin the rest of the episode (in case you are wanting to watch the series), but it focused on going back to when Jesus was alive and how (perhaps) John was inspired to begin his gospel with the words, “In the beginning was the Word…”. The series creates a flashback scene where Jesus reads from the book of Moses to a synagogue: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”. It also has John verbally connecting the Greek word “Word” meaning incarnated or made flesh with the beginning of Genesis to correlate that Jesus was in the beginning with God before it all began. The spiritual journey of Christ. Of course the episode ends with the apostle finding those first words from the memory he held of Jesus teaching him, reading scripture to him. Whether the scenes actually happened that way, or at all, is not the point. The point is that in John’s writing we remember the prophesy of the ancient scriptures that were made flesh in Jesus. The Word, and Light, made flesh to the point God becoming human. We are reminded of those things in the first sentences (above) of the book of John.
As we begin our Lenten season, with Ash Wednesday and the anointing of our heads with oil and ashes (a thumb marking the sign of the cross), we remember that God made the universe, the world, and us. We remember that God made Christ in human form, so our Lord could become flesh, walk among us, teach us, and die for us. Fulfill a covenant with His children. We remember that, in the end, we are God’s creation. To ash we will certainly return, just as we experience the pains and sorrows and losses and deaths of this world along with its joys and curiosities. But we remember that these earthly things do not matter in God’s end game. The end game is where God is victorious over it all. By His grace we are made whole and saved, and we will be with Christ at the right hand of the Father when our time comes to venture on.
This is particularly important to me this Ash Wednesday. This year is also the one year anniversary of the passing of my father from my home to God’s. It is also Valentine’s Day, the day, last year, when he went (before dawn) to be with my mom in heaven. None of this is lost to me as I study John’s writing and remember that in God’s plan there are no coincidences. “In the beginning was the Word…”.
God is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. Alleluia! And as we muddle through the best we can in the here and now, God is with us. God is reminding us of His plans, as we read, even as we watch TV, as we sit and remember our loved ones who are gone, as we receive ashes on our foreheads, and as we watch yet another sunset to the end of our day. I ask, if I were John (and you can ask yourself this too), what better words could have been chosen to begin a spiritual gospel except to return to the beginning of it all—especially after having walked alongside Jesus, witnessed His miracles and preachings, after seeing firsthand, the fulfillment of prophesy and promise of our Lord up on the cross.
Amen.
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