The Eternal Word Made Flesh

The Word Eternal and Made Flesh

1. Our preaching has always maintained, and your faith has always held, that our Lord Jesus Christ, in seeking lost humanity, was made human. Moreover, this Lord of ours, who for our sake became human, was always God with the Father and always will be—or rather, always IS. For where there is no succession of time, there is no "has been" and "will be." What we describe as "has been" exists no longer; what we call "will be" does not yet exist. But God always IS, because He truly "is"—that is, He is unchangeable.

The Gospel reading has just now taught us a profound and divine mystery. John poured forth this beginning of the Gospel because he drank it in from the Lord's breast. You remember that it was recently read to you how John the Evangelist reclined on the Lord's bosom. Wishing to explain this clearly, he says "on the Lord's breast," so we might understand what he meant by "in the Lord's bosom." For what do we think he drank in, lying on the Lord's breast? Let's not just think about it, but drink it in ourselves; for we too have just now heard what we can receive.

2. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). What glorious teaching! This is the result of the abundant feast from the Lord's breast! "In the beginning was the Word." Why do you seek for what came before it? "In the beginning was the Word."

If the Word had been made (which indeed was not the case, since all things were made through the Word), if the Word had been made, Scripture would have said, "In the beginning God made the Word," just as Genesis says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). God did not make the Word in the beginning, because "In the beginning was the Word."

This Word which was in the beginning—where was it? Follow what comes next: "And the Word was with God." From our daily experience of hearing human words, we tend to think little of this name "Word." In this case, do not think lightly of this name "Word." "The Word was God. The same," that is, the Word, "was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made" (John 1:1-3).

3. Open your hearts wide, and help the poverty of my words. Listen to what I can express; meditate on what I cannot express. Who can comprehend the eternal Word? All our human words sound and then pass away. Who can comprehend the eternal Word except the one who abides in Him?

Would you comprehend the eternal Word? Don't follow the current of physical existence. This flesh is indeed a flowing stream, for nothing in it abides permanently. As if from some hidden fountain of nature, people are born, they live, they die. We don't know where they come from or where they go. It's like a hidden stream, concealed until it emerges from its source. It flows along visibly for a while, then disappears again into the sea.

Let's set aside this flowing, running, disappearing stream. "All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls away" (1 Peter 1:24). Do you want something that endures? "But the word of the Lord endures forever" (1 Peter 1:25).

4. But to help us, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). What does "The Word became flesh" mean? The gold became grass. It became grass to be burned; the grass was burned, but the gold remained. In the grass, the gold doesn't perish—rather, it transforms the grass. How did it transform it? It raised it up, brought it to life, lifted it to heaven, and placed it at the right hand of the Father.

But for it to be said, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," let's recall what came before: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to as many as received Him, He gave power to become children of God" (John 1:11-12). "To become," because they "were not" already children of God, but He Himself already "was" in the beginning.

"He gave them power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). Look, they are born anew, whatever their physical age might be. You see infants—rejoice! They are born, but they are born of God. Their mother's womb is the water of baptism.

5. Let no one, out of poverty of soul, entertain this misconception, turning over such impoverished thoughts in their mind, saying to themselves: "How could 'in the beginning be the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,' and 'all things were made through Him'—and then 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us'?" Listen to why this was done. "To those who believed in Him, He gave power to become children of God."

Let those to whom He has given power to become children of God not think it impossible to become God's children. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Don't imagine it's too great a thing for you to become children of God. For your sake, He who was the Son of God became the Son of Man. If He, who was greater, was made less, can He not bring it about that we, who were less, might become something more? He descended to us—shall we not ascend to Him? For us He accepted our death—shall He not give us His life? For you He suffered your evils—shall He not give you His good things?

6. "But," someone might ask, "how can it be that the Word of God, by whom the world is governed, through whom all things were created and continue to exist, would confine Himself to a virgin's womb? Would He abandon the world, leave the angels, and be enclosed in one woman's womb?" You lack the capacity to understand divine things.

I am speaking to you about the omnipotence of the Word of God. The Word of God could certainly do all things. Being omnipotent, the Word could at once remain with the Father and come to us; could at once come to us in the flesh and remain hidden in divinity. He would not have been any less if He had not been born in the flesh.

He existed before His own flesh; He created His own mother. He chose the woman in whom He would be conceived; He created the one from whom He would be born. Why do you wonder? I am speaking to you about God: "The Word was God."

7. I'm discussing the divine Word, and perhaps human language can provide something comparable—though it's very unequal, far different, and in no way truly comparable. Still, it might give you a hint through a rough similarity.

Look, the word that I'm now speaking to you first existed in my heart. It came forth to you, yet it didn't leave me. It began to be in you, though it wasn't in you before. Yet it remained with me even as it went out to you. Just as my word was brought forth to your ears but didn't depart from my heart, so the Word of God came forth to our senses but didn't depart from His Father.

My word was with me and then came forth as sound. The Word of God was with the Father and came forth as flesh. But can I do with my voice what He could do with His flesh? I'm not the master of my voice once it leaves me. He is not only master of His flesh—that it should be born, live, and act—but even when it died, He raised it up and exalted to the Father the vehicle, as it were, in which He came to us.

You might call Christ's flesh a garment; you might call it a vehicle. You could even, as He perhaps taught us, call it His beast, for on this beast He placed the man who had been wounded by robbers (Luke 10:34). Finally, as He Himself said more explicitly, you may call it a temple: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). This temple knows death no more; its place is at the right hand of the Father. In this temple He will come to judge the living and the dead. What He taught by precept, He demonstrated by example. What He showed in His own flesh, you should hope for in your flesh.

This is faith: holding fast to what you don't yet see. It's necessary that you remain firm in faith about what you don't see, so that when you do see it, you won't be put to shame.