The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-12-30
God Down Here
Lesson for January l, 1861

When a man writes a new
book on a Well-known subject he
should have a good reason for
breaking into print. The Gospel
of John, which is going to be the
object Of study in the church and
in this column for IA weeks now
was such late-coming book. BY
the time it was written, not only
had our three Gospels of Mat
thew, Mark and Luke been circu-
lating for some time, but as we
learn from Luke, there were
others besides these three. Now a
new book is justified if it brings
out new facts, it is also justified
if it brings out a new point of
view provided, of course,
that the author can show some
solid reasons for his special point
of view. John has both reasons.
He has stories about Jesus to
tell which had never been told
that is, told in a book. before:
and he has viewpoint which
does not contradict the first three
Gospels yet is strikingly different
from theirs.
The Word Became Flesh
Readers of the other Gospels
may surmise that more is here
than meets the eye. They read
the story Of a great man, a
teacher, a prophet, one endowed
with strange powers. StrangeSt
of all was his power over death.
Not only could he wrestle death
to a fall when that dread visitor
came to others, he threw off
deaths chains when they had
been wrapped about his own life.
You might say that the first
three Gospels give us wonder
stories but very little explana-
ton. Johns Gospel flashes the
explanation in the readers eye
with his very first page. Mark
gives no background for Jesus at
all. Matthew really begins his
story of Jesus with Abraham.
Luke begins his story with the
first man in the world. But John
he goes back before there was
human race, before this world
began, before all worlds, back
to THE BEGINNING, the begin
ming of which we hear in the
Bibles first line-out of time into
Eternity'S far shores. And there
he finds not Carpenter wait
ing to be born. but one whom he
mysterlously calls the Word Of
God. the Word that was with
God and was God" What ex-
plains Jesus? His Jewish race,
his family. you might think from
reading Matthew. His member
ship in the human race. you
might think from reading Luke.
No, these are part of the story
but not yet the heart and the
height of it. What explains
Jesus? The Word be m c
flesh" John writes. Is there a
more important sentence in the
Bible? This is God-With-uS. This
is God on two feet. This is the
heavenly Glory Walking the
streets of earth.
Stories and Signs
Flesh" is a Bible expression
for man" The Word became
flesh means. at the least Of it..
the Divine became human. John
does not say that the Word looked
like flesh, or the Word dressed
up in flesh. but that the word
became flesh. He says here,
I'VE have behold his glory" Now
all religions know something
about the glory Of God. But what
would the glory of God be like if
it came to earth as a human
being? Johns whole gospel is
devoted to answering that ques-
ton. He just proceeds to tell
stories about Jesus just a few.
only seven before the story Of
his death. The amazing thing
about those stories is how simple
they are. You tif you were in
venting the StorieS0 would surely
have thought up somthing spec
tacular: but these were not
made up stories. When God
comes down to earth. he comes
all the way down. to where We
live.
That You May Believe
Every book in the Bible was
with some purpose in mind, but
Johns Gospel is one Of the few
that tell exactly what the writer
intended his book TO do, These
things are written" he says at
the end. that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ. the Son
Of God. and that believing you
may have life in his name With
that short sentence John brings
out some Of the great truths that
become more clear to those who
give themselves to study OF this
book
Biased on outlines copyrighted
by the Division Of Christian Edu-
cation. National Council Of the
Churches Of Christ in the U. S. A.