The first eighteen verses of John’s Gospel form the prologue, the introduction if you like, to the whole Gospel and they contain the themes of the entire Gospel:
The Son of God, the divine saviour has come in to the world to bring salvation to all. Many have rejected him. But to all those who believe he has given the power to become children of God and the gift of eternal life.
If the prologue is the summary statement of the entire Gospel, then one verse culminates and sums up the entire prologue:
14 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. NIV
Eugene Peterson in his contemporary rendering of the Bible, The Message, has given us an alternative version of the text:
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
I love this rendering of this text because of the choice of the word “neighbourhood”. That single word places Jesus’ coming firmly in the here and now. And Jesus is in the neighbourhood now too.
On Christmas Eve 2012 Alan Greaves was walking the short distance from his home in Sheffield to play the organ at St Saviour’s Church of England for Midnight Mass. Between his home and the church he was attacked and murdered. On the night in which we celebrate the Light of the World coming to us, darkness fell.
In July last year Jonathan Bowling admitted attacking Alan Greaves and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ashley Foster was sentenced to nine years for manslaughter. However,
14 The Word became flesh and blood
and moved into the neighbourhood.
At the time of the conviction Alan Greaves’ widow Maureen said:
“Alan was a man driven by love and compassion and he would not want any of us to hold on to feelings of hate and unforgiveness. In honour of Alan and in honour of the God we both love, my prayer is that this story doesn’t end today.”
She said she prayed that Alan’s killers would find “true repentance” in jail.
This Christmas, Alan Greaves daughter was married in that same church. She took her father’s wedding ring as her own.
And last Friday I heard a very moving interview with Alan's widow Maureen on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Mrs Greaves told the Today programme's Sarah Montague that the wedding day "was very much a celebration".
Mrs Greaves said she was happy that they "were together as a family" doing wedding preparations.
Ms Greaves also again spoke of the forgiveness she felt towards Jonathan Bowling and Ashley Foster, the two men jailed for the killing. She said: "It's through God's mercy that I have been able to extend real and true forgiveness."
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
Eugene’s Peterson’s rendering of John’s Gospel is a reminder that Jesus, the Word, comes into our neighbourhood. The Word became flesh and moved in down the street. And the beauty of Peterson’s translation is that it isn’t specific about the kind of neighbourhood. It could be rich or poor. It could be a rough council estate in London or the leafy Cotswolds. From war torn Syria to the extravagance of Dubai. The Word, Jesus, dwells with us all, in all of our neighbourhoods.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
When Jesus moved in to the neighbourhood he had a special presence, a glory that was like God. Let’s not forget what John is reminding us in this passage. When Jesus moved in to the neighbourhood it was as if God moved in to the neighbourhood. That is perhaps the most extraordinary claim of the Christian faith. Jesus is God and Jesus / God came in to the world to live among us.
God moved in to the neighbourhood!
This passage is all about God’s love and God’s nature. I suppose some people might be impressed by God’s power – that he could bring something out of nothing at creation. Other people are impressed by what is termed God’s omniscience – that is that God’s is all knowing he knows everything all at the same time.
But for me, and I suspect for most of you, I am most impressed by God’s love for everyone. And it is that very love that brings God through his son the Word to the neighbourhood. It’s God’s love for his children that caused God to send his son to move in to our neighbourhood. It’s God’s love beating in the heart of Maureen Greaves and her daughter that has caused the darkness to leave the neighbourhood of High Green Sheffield and for Christ’s light to shine.
Love and compassion like that shown by Maureen Greaves remind us that Jesus is alive and well and is living in our neighbourhoods.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
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