Dwelt among us

The book of John opens in epic style proclaiming that The Word (Jesus) existed from the beginning, was God and that all things were made through him. That is some pretty impressive credentials! It is not so much those that amaze me as what we read in verse 14 of the first chapter

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)

The Message paraphrase of the same verse puts it as "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." Think about that, the same Jesus talked about in such lofty majestic terms stepping down from heaven, taking on human flesh and dwelling amongst us. It is the God that created the world walking its dusty streets, the creator of all life being born as a baby. The gap between perfect heaven and sin-ridden earth was huge and yet Jesus who is worthy of all glory and honour humbled himself and came to our world as the child of probably teenage peasants, born in a dirty stable in a small insignificant town. He didn't have to, he would have been quite justified in keeping his distance from a planet deep in rebellion to him. The good news of Christmas is that Jesus didn't stay in heaven, he came to live amongst us humans on the earth. In his life and death he showed us what God is like and make a way for us to be made right with God. That is certainly something worth celebrating and marveling at this Christmas season.