The Word became a human being and lived here with us (John 1:14, CEV). It’s a beautiful truth for any time of year, but one that’s in the forefront as Christmas approaches. The Word existed in the beginning, John tells us, giving light and life to all. Then, so humans could become children of God, the Word entered our world.
Like most Christians, I’ve always found the passage to be a deeply meaningful meditation on Jesus. It sank deeper in me, though, when I first read it in the RVA version of my Spanish Bible. “En el principio era el Verbo . . . y aquel Verbo fue hecho carne,” I read. “In the beginning was the Verb . . . and that Verb was made flesh.”
Jesus was God’s Verb. I was so taken by the idea that I remember exactly where I was sitting when I read it. I was on a wooden pew in a church in Peru, on the right side and about halfway back, and when I read the passage I stopped hearing anything being said.
I’m not equipped to make a case for whether or not “Verb” is a good translation for “Logos,” the word used in the original language. Logos is evidently a complex term not easily translated into either English or Spanish. I just want to sit for a minute with the idea of Jesus as God’s Verb and let it trickle down and add new flavor to the Christmas story.
Verbs are action words. They’re more than being: they’re doing. You can’t have a sentence without one. Because he wanted to give us the right to become children of God, Jesus came. He took the noun of God’s love and made it a verb.
I think the idea has implications for how we experience Jesus and for how we reflect his character, too. It’s easy to get stuck in the “being” place. We’re new creatures. We’re reborn. We’re God’s children. That’s an immeasurable treasure, but maybe in some sense it’s not a full sentence. To follow the Verb of God means that being leads to doing.
As Christmas approaches, I hope we can not only reflect on the amazing truth that Jesus entered our dirtied, hurting world for us, but on how we can follow his example of loving excluded people with our hands, feet, and voice as well as our heart. Do you know someone with a chronic illness or disability, for example, who could use some “verbing” from you? Meeting practical needs is a way to follow Jesus into the world. It’s a way to return love to the one who loved us so much that he became flesh.