St John 1:1; LSB 578 Thy Strong Word
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
We begin at the beginning. It is, as Fräulein Maria has instructed, a very good place to start. In the beginning, God said, “Be there Light.” And it came to pass. “In the beginning” marks the moment when God began to create. It marks time. At the beginning, God created. It is, to be sure, a good place to begin.
It may also indicate instrumentality, by means of the Beginning, God created. Which is to say, through the Word, by means of His Wisdom, or, in keeping with the psalms, by the Torah God created. Such a statement gives deeper meaning to the Christology of Psalm 1: Blessed is the Man whose delight is in the Torah of the Lord and on His Torah He meditates day and night (Ps 1:1, 2). And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (Gn 1:5).
But this is not the intent of the Evangelist who begins, In the beginning was the Word. Light and Life and Darkness all evoke images of the creation. The hexameron establishment of the paradisal cosmos by the Divine Logos of YHWH. That’s not quite as singable as, “Thy strong Word did cleave the darkness; At Thy speaking it was done.” Franzmann is a better wordsmith than I. I shall of course concede.
But the Evangelist, by inspiration of the Spirit who hovered over the face of the waters in the beginning, is the smithiest of all. For his Gospel commences, In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was turned toward God, and the Word was God. He is not indicating temporality or instrumentality. St John means to say that the Word was in the Beginning. The Word is eternal and preexistent.
This is to say, the Word is not merely a vocable from God, but is the very Speech of God, who is God. God is a God who Speaks. His Speech is the eternal Logos. And He condescends not only to speak in many and various ways to His people of old by the prophets, but now, in these gray and latter days, He has spoken to you. For the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
And He has, throughout this Epiphany season, done as Isaiah prophesied and Franzmann poetically paraphrases, The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined (Is 9:2). The Magi observed this Light. The wedding guests at Cana were bathed in this Light. Lepers and centurions, storms and transfigurations all revealed this Light.
But the brightness of this Light, the full gift of the Truth, came to pass through the Lord Jesus Christ, lifted up from the earth upon the scaffold of the Cross, by which He, the Light of the World, shines into the darkness of sin and death and into the very gates of hell, and the darkness cannot put it out! Who God the Word is is made known in what God the Word does. He speaks. He acts. It is so.
From the beaming brightness of His glorious Cross, the Word which was in the Beginning turned toward God, turns toward you and bespeaks you righteousness. He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” And it comes to pass. You are bathed in His holiness and washed in the Spirit filled water which pours from His riven side and so are begotten from God as beloved children.
Your lives lived in doxological praise evoke this eternal and everlasting hope, that the Word which was in the Beginning, is made fully known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Word became Man for the life of men. He who breathed life into man in the beginning, has breathed His own life breathing breath into you by His Word. This Word continues to be breathed forth in proclamation, confession and song in the word of the Church, who lives by and from the Word of the Crucified One.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
We begin at the beginning. It is, as Fräulein Maria has instructed, a very good place to start. In the beginning, God said, “Be there Light.” And it came to pass. “In the beginning” marks the moment when God began to create. It marks time. At the beginning, God created. It is, to be sure, a good place to begin.
It may also indicate instrumentality, by means of the Beginning, God created. Which is to say, through the Word, by means of His Wisdom, or, in keeping with the psalms, by the Torah God created. Such a statement gives deeper meaning to the Christology of Psalm 1: Blessed is the Man whose delight is in the Torah of the Lord and on His Torah He meditates day and night (Ps 1:1, 2). And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (Gn 1:5).
But this is not the intent of the Evangelist who begins, In the beginning was the Word. Light and Life and Darkness all evoke images of the creation. The hexameron establishment of the paradisal cosmos by the Divine Logos of YHWH. That’s not quite as singable as, “Thy strong Word did cleave the darkness; At Thy speaking it was done.” Franzmann is a better wordsmith than I. I shall of course concede.
But the Evangelist, by inspiration of the Spirit who hovered over the face of the waters in the beginning, is the smithiest of all. For his Gospel commences, In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was turned toward God, and the Word was God. He is not indicating temporality or instrumentality. St John means to say that the Word was in the Beginning. The Word is eternal and preexistent.
This is to say, the Word is not merely a vocable from God, but is the very Speech of God, who is God. God is a God who Speaks. His Speech is the eternal Logos. And He condescends not only to speak in many and various ways to His people of old by the prophets, but now, in these gray and latter days, He has spoken to you. For the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
And He has, throughout this Epiphany season, done as Isaiah prophesied and Franzmann poetically paraphrases, The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined (Is 9:2). The Magi observed this Light. The wedding guests at Cana were bathed in this Light. Lepers and centurions, storms and transfigurations all revealed this Light.
But the brightness of this Light, the full gift of the Truth, came to pass through the Lord Jesus Christ, lifted up from the earth upon the scaffold of the Cross, by which He, the Light of the World, shines into the darkness of sin and death and into the very gates of hell, and the darkness cannot put it out! Who God the Word is is made known in what God the Word does. He speaks. He acts. It is so.
From the beaming brightness of His glorious Cross, the Word which was in the Beginning turned toward God, turns toward you and bespeaks you righteousness. He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” And it comes to pass. You are bathed in His holiness and washed in the Spirit filled water which pours from His riven side and so are begotten from God as beloved children.
Your lives lived in doxological praise evoke this eternal and everlasting hope, that the Word which was in the Beginning, is made fully known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Word became Man for the life of men. He who breathed life into man in the beginning, has breathed His own life breathing breath into you by His Word. This Word continues to be breathed forth in proclamation, confession and song in the word of the Church, who lives by and from the Word of the Crucified One.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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