The Love That Came All the Way Down
Thoughts on John 1:1–18
Most Christmas stories begin the same way.
A town.
A census.
A journey.
A baby.
They begin close to the ground.
But when John tells the Christmas story, he begins somewhere else entirely. He begins before the ground existed at all. He begins before the beginning.
“In the beginning was the Word.”
Before there was a world to fix, there was the Word. Before there were people to rescue, there was the Word. Before there was darkness, there was light.
John wants us to know this from the start: love did not begin at Christmas. Christmas is not where God started loving the world. Christmas was where He shows how much He has always loved it.
Long before Mary held a child in her arms, love already existed. Long before the world needed saving, love was already active. God did not send Jesus because He suddenly noticed how broken things had become. God sent Jesus because love has always been at the center of who He is.
John calls Jesus “the Word.” The Word is how God speaks. The Word is how God makes Himself known. Through the Word, everything came into being. Life flowed from Him. Light shone because of Him.
God did not make a world because He was lonely. God was not searching for meaning. Creation came from His abundance. And love was already there.
Then John adds the little phrase, “The light shines in the darkness.”
That sentence matters because John does not pretend that darkness does not exist. Or that it is small. He knows the world is broken. He knows fear, injustice, and suffering are real. But he also knows something stronger.
Darkness resists the light.
But darkness does not, nor can it ever defeat the light.
Love does not wait for darkness to disappear. Love enters it.
Still, when the light came into the world, many did not recognize it. The Creator walked among His creation. And His creation turned away.
This is one of the hardest parts of the story. Love risks rejection.
God does not force love. He does not demand it with power or control. He comes openly, gently, offering Himself. Some welcome Him. Some walk past Him.
But love does not stop.
John says that those who receive Him—those who trust Him—are given something unexpected. They become children of God.
Not because they worked hard enough.
Not because they were good enough.
Not because they had the right background.
They become children because God gives them new life. God brings them into His family.
Many of us spend our lives trying to earn love. We try to prove that we belong. We try to deserve acceptance. Advent tells a different story.
God does not say, “Fix yourself, then come close.”
God says, “Come close, and I will make you new.”
Then John reaches the center of the story.
He writes words that still surprise us:
“The Word became flesh.”
Not a message.
Not a vision.
Not a voice from the sky.
Flesh.
God became human. God became tired. God became hungry. God became weak. God stepped into time and space and lived among us.
John says He “dwelt” among us. The word means He made His home with us. God moved into the neighborhood.
Love did not shout from heaven.
Love came all the way down and made a feeding trough into a throne.
That matters because it means God understands life from the inside. He understands pain and loss. He understands weariness and disappointment. Love does not save from far away. Love comes near—and stays. Love brought the majesty of heaven into our mess.
Then John says that we saw His glory. But this glory did not look like power or wealth. It looked like grace and truth.
Truth without grace can wound—it exposes but does not restore. Grace without truth can confuse—it comforts but does not change.
In Jesus, we meet both together.
He tells us the truth about who we are and loves us enough to make us new. He neither flatters our sin nor turns away from our need.
Finally, John tells us why all of this matters. No one has ever seen God. But Jesus has made Him known. Jesus shows us what God is like.
If you want to know what God thinks of the weak—look at Jesus Christ.
If you want to know how God treats sinners—look at Jesus.
If you want to know what love looks like—look at Jesus.
This is Advent love.
Love did not wait for us to rise.
Love came down.
Love took flesh.
Love stayed.
Advent does not ask us to achieve something.
It invites us to receive Someone.
And that is good news— for people like us.
Most Christmas stories begin the same way.
A town.
A census.
A journey.
A baby.
They begin close to the ground.
But when John tells the Christmas story, he begins somewhere else entirely. He begins before the ground existed at all. He begins before the beginning.
“In the beginning was the Word.”
Before there was a world to fix, there was the Word. Before there were people to rescue, there was the Word. Before there was darkness, there was light.
John wants us to know this from the start: love did not begin at Christmas. Christmas is not where God started loving the world. Christmas was where He shows how much He has always loved it.
Long before Mary held a child in her arms, love already existed. Long before the world needed saving, love was already active. God did not send Jesus because He suddenly noticed how broken things had become. God sent Jesus because love has always been at the center of who He is.
John calls Jesus “the Word.” The Word is how God speaks. The Word is how God makes Himself known. Through the Word, everything came into being. Life flowed from Him. Light shone because of Him.
God did not make a world because He was lonely. God was not searching for meaning. Creation came from His abundance. And love was already there.
Then John adds the little phrase, “The light shines in the darkness.”
That sentence matters because John does not pretend that darkness does not exist. Or that it is small. He knows the world is broken. He knows fear, injustice, and suffering are real. But he also knows something stronger.
Darkness resists the light.
But darkness does not, nor can it ever defeat the light.
Love does not wait for darkness to disappear. Love enters it.
Still, when the light came into the world, many did not recognize it. The Creator walked among His creation. And His creation turned away.
This is one of the hardest parts of the story. Love risks rejection.
God does not force love. He does not demand it with power or control. He comes openly, gently, offering Himself. Some welcome Him. Some walk past Him.
But love does not stop.
John says that those who receive Him—those who trust Him—are given something unexpected. They become children of God.
Not because they worked hard enough.
Not because they were good enough.
Not because they had the right background.
They become children because God gives them new life. God brings them into His family.
Many of us spend our lives trying to earn love. We try to prove that we belong. We try to deserve acceptance. Advent tells a different story.
God does not say, “Fix yourself, then come close.”
God says, “Come close, and I will make you new.”
Then John reaches the center of the story.
He writes words that still surprise us:
“The Word became flesh.”
Not a message.
Not a vision.
Not a voice from the sky.
Flesh.
God became human. God became tired. God became hungry. God became weak. God stepped into time and space and lived among us.
John says He “dwelt” among us. The word means He made His home with us. God moved into the neighborhood.
Love did not shout from heaven.
Love came all the way down and made a feeding trough into a throne.
That matters because it means God understands life from the inside. He understands pain and loss. He understands weariness and disappointment. Love does not save from far away. Love comes near—and stays. Love brought the majesty of heaven into our mess.
Then John says that we saw His glory. But this glory did not look like power or wealth. It looked like grace and truth.
Truth without grace can wound—it exposes but does not restore. Grace without truth can confuse—it comforts but does not change.
In Jesus, we meet both together.
He tells us the truth about who we are and loves us enough to make us new. He neither flatters our sin nor turns away from our need.
Finally, John tells us why all of this matters. No one has ever seen God. But Jesus has made Him known. Jesus shows us what God is like.
If you want to know what God thinks of the weak—look at Jesus Christ.
If you want to know how God treats sinners—look at Jesus.
If you want to know what love looks like—look at Jesus.
This is Advent love.
Love did not wait for us to rise.
Love came down.
Love took flesh.
Love stayed.
Advent does not ask us to achieve something.
It invites us to receive Someone.
And that is good news— for people like us.
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