Week 4: The Word

If we played a game of “one of these things is not like the other” with the four Gospels, John’s would be the odd one out. Rather than beginning with a standard genealogy or nativity story or “once upon a time,” John introduces us to Jesus as “The Word.” Of the trillions of words that have been used throughout centuries of human history to try to answer life’s biggest questions, John only needed one: Jesus―God’s final, authoritative Word. The astounding thing about this Word, though, is that this Word came to earth, became one of us, taking on flesh.

Jesus meets us where we’re at; he didn’t demand that we climb up to heaven. Instead, he descended to meet us in our desperate, broken, helpless state. He came as a baby in a manger, walked the same dusty ground, felt the same aches and pains, bled the same blood, and died upon a real wooden cross. Why would he do all of this? He did it because he loves you. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God meets us where we’re at. How can you do the same for others?

Reflection Questions

1. What is the hardest part about “meeting someone where they’re at”? Is it possible to do this without entering into the messiness of their lives?

2. What “big” questions are most on your neighbors’ minds today? How does Jesus answer those?

3. In what ways does God show grace to us? How might that inform how we show grace to our neighbors?