So it's April of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and everything is different from what it used to be. Changes have happened to almost every area of our daily lives from how we procure necessities like toilet paper and meat to where and how we do our jobs, how close we can stand together when we talk, how many people can be together at one time, and where we attend church. People are wondering where the origin of this awful virus came from and when will it find its ending.
During these weeks of social distancing, which was also leading up to Easter weekend last week, I have spent time reading through the book of John. I read one chapter a day and spent time highlighting and digging deeper into the things that spoke to my heart. I decided that after I had read through the book, and if we were still social distancing, I would go back and reread it again, only this time I would give life to my thoughts and record them here on this blog. So today is the origin of the journey of documenting my walk with Jesus through the book of John.
The word origin is defined as "the point or place where something begins, arises, or derives," (Merriam-Webster), "the point at which something comes into existence," (Free dictionary), and "the beginning or cause of something." (Cambridge) Upon my first reading of John, I noticed that John did not begin the way other gospels began. He did not give an account of the lineage of Jesus, thus establishing the origin of his right to Kingship, as in the Gospel of Matthew. He did not describe the steps taken before Jesus began his ministry, thus showing the origin of that ministry, as in the Gospel of Mark. He did not lay out the foretelling by angels of the births of both John the Baptist and Jesus, thus establishing the origin of order that fulfilled prophecy, as in the Gospel of Luke. Even though John's Gospel began differently, upon this second reading of the first chapter I can see that is is clearly a story of origin as well.
John's opening in John 1:1-5 details the origin of Jesus before coming to be God with us, God made flesh, our Emmanuel. These verses establish Jesus as being in heaven with God at the very beginning. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1,2 ESV) This is a deeper sense of origin than in the other gospels. An origin before our time and space began. John's words then go on to show us a beautiful picture of the origin of everything we know to be, including ourselves. In these versus, Jesus is on display as Creator and in full authority before anything else came into being and in authority over all that came into being. He himself is the point of origin for everything. "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:3,4 ESV)
Those four verses are packed with establishing the origin of Jesus as sovereign over all but it is verse 5 that gives me the most comfort and hope in these troubling times of pandemic. After setting Jesus's role as life and establishing that this life is the light of men, verse 5 goes on to say that "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." This is a truth that right now is important to keep in perspective and hold on to. I can take comfort that Jesus was before the beginning of things and that he created all things through himself but, I can also take comfort in knowing that his life, his light was not, has not, and will not be overcome by darkness. Because I believe in him and in the one who sent him, that same light/his light resides in me. When I feel fear or uncertainty at what will be, when theories of the origin of Covid-19 try to keep me up at night, when I fret about how long this period of time will last and will all the people I love endure, I can be encouraged that darkness does not have authority to overcome light. I do not have to allow the light in me to be swallowed up by the fear, division, and destruction darkness wants to cause.
I am grateful to these five verses written by John and their establishment of Jesus' origin . First, these verses increase my faith of who has watch and care over me. Second, they realign my perspective and thoughts when the world around me is teeming with chaos. Last, these verses and especially verse 5 increase my hope that we will not be trapped in a time of loss forever. Times right now are sad, they are bad, and they may or will increase in sadness and loss but that will not be the last word. Darkness does not get to have the last word, light does. Light had the first word and it will have the last. So with that knowledge, I will do my best to share the light, spread hope and love, use the wisdom God gave me to listen to doctors and make good decisions, and trust in him when I don't understand all the rest.
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