We live in a world of quick fixes. We take a pill to cure most illnesses. No more staying in bed for months hanging onto life and then recuperating from the hanging on process. Antibiotics take care of most of the illnesses that used to kill most people. Many of the diseases we now struggle with rarely occurred; people died of other things before they ever developed them. Many of our old age diseases just didn’t happen; no one lived that long.
And even with all our modern medicine, we still don’t have cures for so many things. It would be nice if we could find a cure for our spiritual woes in a bottle, a one-stop shop, a universal cure. That would be something to BLOG about.
Well, John tells us about just such a cure in the person of Jesus. John’s simple language portrays some of the most profound Truths available to humanity. He starts by saying that life appeared. He says it is eternal life that appeared to them. And that this life was with the Father before coming to appear. But how can this be? How can the embodiment of life come in a person? Mystery!
But this is exactly what John proclaims. He says that Life, capital L life, came in the person of Jesus. That is because we know from other places in Scripture that Jesus was responsible with the Father and Holy Spirit for all of creation including life itself. His voice was heard when “Let there be” was spoken in the beginning of the universe. His voice continues to ring out as we look at creation. His voice it the voice in the stars that calls people to see His eternal power and divine nature, as Paul writes in Romans.
To put it another way, when life is seen, Jesus speaks because He is the source of all life. But it is more than physical life. John qualifies this life as eternal life, not just life that goes on forever, but a quality of life that is present in the LORD Himself. We share in that life when we share in the life of Jesus. His life courses through our lives. If people see the results of the LORD’s work in our lives, it is the life of Jesus they are seeing. His life can’t help but shine and change us and those around us.
John also wants to make sure that we know this was a real person, not just a vision seen by many people, or a ghostly divine being masquerading as a human. This was flesh and blood walking and living among them. This is not the invisible, disconnected, transcendent God that many people believe. He is not sitting on some distant throne watching the affairs of men, but never gets involved. He didn’t start the clock ticking and then step back and watch it wind down.
Instead, our God got involved. In fact He was involved at every moment, even before time began to count off moments. And He is still involved at every moment. When suicide bombers kill people, the LORD is there, reaching out to both the bomber and the victims. He is there with the survivors reaching out, calling them to Himself and offering reconciliation and comfort.
Are you ready to recognize the Life present in your life? Do you see Him at every turn and every pause? Are you proclaiming Him with your actions and your words?
The Arnold Journey 