John 1: The Fully Human Jesus

Here is something I gleaned from John 1.

You know, up until the beginning of His ministry, Jesus was pretty much in the background. Until now.
I mean, the world did not know Him. No one knew who He was. With the exception of a few,no one recognized Him for His worth.
And they, in fact, scoffed at His background (Nazareth).

1.) How must it have felt to be the Master of the Universe, and very much UNKNOWN on little, itty, bitty Earth?

What a sacrifice to create all the people on the earth by His very word, and then have His own creation ignore Him, question His motives, scrutinize HIm, criticize Him, doubt Him.

2.) How must it have felt to stay on the back burner for 30 years, even after a virgin birth and His proven significant wisdom as a 12 year old teaching in the synagogues– to go back home as the son of a carpenter and reside on the “bad side of town” (Nazareth)- where there was-- no glory. Think about it.

3.) He must have witnessed much sin and evil- crime, violence, and more in Nazareth. We can only speculate, but Jesus must have endured some childhood mockery and rejection.

To be the Son of God with all wisdom and all power-- and to contain that power within a growing, slowly maturing, human, earthly body, in order that He may die a gruelsome death to save us all-- baffles me beyond belief.

Some thoughts on John 1 study

As I was reading chapter 1, v. 1-5 of John, I find these questions stand out for me:

Who is the Word?

Answer: Jesus. He was in existence before the world began. Life was in Him and was the light of all mankind. He is life and light. those in the dark do not understand God’s light sent to us: Jesus.

V. 6-9. John gave witness to Jesus, the true light. Even when others thought it was John, he made sure to give proper reference to the true light.
I also noticed that the word light is mentioned four times in reference to Jesus here (NKJV).

v. 10- Even though Jesus/God made them, the people in the world did not recognize or know Him. He was like a stranger to them.

v. 11-12. Although His own wouldn’t receive Him, He gave the right to be His children to those who WOULD receive Him. Those born of God (born again).

v. 15-16. “For He was before me…” Although John was born first, he realized Jesus existed before he did. Powerful.

v. 16- I am still trying to figure this one out – “grace for grace”. I kind of see it like this at the moment:

LAW–> came through Moses
GRACE–> came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us new grace for (or in place of) the old grace, to make “grace for grace”? Is this is a correct translation for those of you studying detail on greek/hebrews or root meanings? I have not looked for a translation of this yet.

v. 29- John presents Jesus as the lamb of God. THe main purpose of John the Baptist to come baptizing with water was so that Jesus Christ would be revealed to Israel. This is beautiful.

Join our group discussion on John here.