Advent | A Family ReflectionSample

God with Skin
by Ken Shigematsu

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son . . . full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

In John 1:1–14, John uses the word logos, which is translated as “Word.” Logos sounds a lot like words we know, like “logic” or “logical.” When the Greeks heard the term logos, they would have thought of the logical, rational principle that they believed governed the world. When John’s fellow Jews heard the word logos, they would have thought about the Word—the One whose very nature it is to communicate, to reveal, to express, to connect. They would have thought of the One who, in the words of John Calvin, is and was and always will be the divine “Speech” that seeks to make himself known to us. 

On that first Christmas, the divine Speech, the living Word, the rational principle behind the universe, became one of us—took on skin so that we might know him.

At the Council of Nicaea, our spiritual forebears hammered out the Nicene Creed, part of which affirms that Jesus Christ was God, but part of which also affirms that Jesus Christ was mysteriously human. This is more than some kind of abstract theology that makes no difference in our lives; this very truth can change our lives and our eternity. 

Jesus Christ was fully human. He knows what it is to be hungry and tired, he knows what it is to be broke. He knows what it is to feel all alone. He even knows what it feels like to have his prayers unanswered and to feel abandoned by God on the cross. He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Jesus knows what it is to be abused, to be tortured. He knows what it is to be tempted to sin. And though he didn’t sin, he knows the feeling of shame that comes from sin because on the cross he absorbed our sins and our shame, and the sins and shame of the world. No matter what it is you’re going through, Jesus understands because he has been through it and he stands with you in your pain, tribulation, or hardship. 

God took on skin so that we might know him. God took on skin so that he might more fully know us through human experience. And God also took on skin so that we might become like him. Our text says, “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God” (John 1:12)—to become people who bear in our very being, as John says, “the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14). 

Meditate on John 1:1–18 and Philippians 2:5–11, reflecting on the meaning of the Incarnation. How do you desire to respond to God? 

Ken Shigematsu is senior pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the author of God in My Everything. For a beautifully-designed PDF version of this study, or to get copies for your church, visit MoreCT.com/Advent