The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (NIV)

Starting last Wednesday, followers of Jesus around the world entered the long-held tradition known as the season of Lent. It is, in brief, a season of reflection and repentance leading to the annual celebration of Jesus’ execution on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. With this season in mind, I thought it appropriate for this chapter-a-day journey to trek through John’s take on Jesus’ story.

Unlike any of the other three versions of Jesus’ story (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), John chooses to begin his account by introducing his readers to Jesus in one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Great Story. If you didn’t read the chapter this morning, I encourage you to read at least the first 14 verses. From the opening sentence, John establishes that he is not using the chronological, reporting style of the other accounts. He is writing thematically in presenting to us the Jesus he followed, witnessed, and intimately knew. He immediately connects Jesus with creation itself, establishing from the start that the Jesus he knew was exactly who Jesus revealed Himself to be: the eternal God of creation manifested in the guise of a flesh-and-bones human. The rest of John’s account is a presentation of his primary source evidence in support of this grand prologue.

For the casual twenty-first-century reader, a cursory reading of the beautifully penned prologue may not reveal the depth of meaning that John provides to his contemporary audience. John is not just connecting Jesus to the opening chapters of Genesis but to the entire Great Story.

For example, when John writes that the living Word became flesh and “made his dwelling among us” he uses a Greek word that means to “spread out a tent.” His contemporary Hebrew readers would immediately associate this with the story of the Exodus when God leads His people out of slavery and instructs them to construct a tent (known as “The Tabernacle”). This tent was a traveling worship center that was placed in the middle of the Hebrews’ encampment wherever they went. It was a reminder that God was “with them” and at the “center” of their lives and community.

What’s interesting is that David eventually planned for an actual temple to be built in Jerusalem, and his son Solomon built it. Yet, there is no record of God ever telling David, or anyone else, to build a bricks-and-mortar temple. When asked for a sign to prove He was the Messiah, Jesus told His enemies, “I will tear down this Temple and rebuild it in three days!” He was alluding to the fact that through His death and resurrection, He would become the center of worship. He would later tell His disciples that the impressive Temple would be destroyed in roughly forty years. It was, indeed, turned to rubble by the Romans in 70 A.D..

After the events of Pentecost in Acts 2, the followers of Jesus understood that Jesus had spiritually returned to the paradigm that God foreshadowed through the “tent” of Exodus. God’s kingdom was not about a fixed place of worship to which people must journey and make pilgrimage. The Kingdom of God was about being at the very center of a person’s heart, soul, and life. As the presence of the Tabernacle was always at the center of the Hebrews’ camp and went with them wherever they went, so Jesus came to “pitch His tent” in every human being through His indwelling Spirit. I don’t go to a Temple. I am the Temple. I don’t go to church. I am the church.

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded once again how the Great Story fits together. John’s prologue beautifully reminds me that the Story of Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem, or in Bethany. It began before time itself. The story he’s about to share is simply an episode in The Story that is eternal. Likewise, what God was doing in Exodus was both a revelation of who He was to His people at that moment and a foreshadowing of the very person of Jesus who would come to pitch His tent and embody “God with us.” I’m also reminded of that which the institutional church has repeatedly failed to help Jesus’ followers realize: The “church” is not bricks-and-mortar but flesh-and-blood.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.