Read: John 1:1-5
The light shines in the darkness. (v. 5)
We saw earlier how Mark introduced us to “The beginning of the gospel.” Today John takes us back to the ultimate beginning by opening with the identical words from Genesis: “In the beginning.” Although John doesn’t contain any narrative about Jesus’ birth, he gives us the ultimate context for that birth by widening out our perspective as vast as the cosmos.
John talks about the “Word” of God. In Greek this is the word Logos. Logos for the Greeks was the ultimate organizing principle. Here, John uses that idea, with a very important change. The true Logos is not some vague cosmic force. It is God’s Son who was later made flesh as Jesus of Nazareth.
When in Genesis 1 we read “Let there be light . . . Let the earth sprout vegetation . . . Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures . . .” this was the Son of God doing the talking. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all active in the creation of the universe, but the Logos—the Word—of God was the one issuing the commands.
He is the Life of the cosmos. And he is the Light that shines. In his commentary The Gospel of John, Frederick Dale Bruner emphasizes the present tense of that verb: the Light shines on (p. 18). This is ongoing. It will never stop. And the darkness of evil will never put it out. Sometimes the darkness of this world seems overwhelming. But the gospel tells us it is no match for the Light! —Scott Hoezee
As you pray, thank God for the Light’s never-ending shining!
About the Author
Scott Hoezee is an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church of North America. He served two Michigan congregations from 1990-2005 and since 2005 has been a faculty member at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he serves chiefly as the Director of The Center for Excellence in Preaching. He is the author of several books, including most recently Why We Listen to Sermons (Calvin Press 2019) and is the co-host of the “Groundwork” radio program.
