In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who[f] is close to the Father’s heart,[g] who has made him known (John 1:1-18).

The Modern Mind and the Broken Heart 

You do not need a broken heart to know that two plus two equals four. You do not need a broken heart to recognize the constellation Orion or discern that the stars and galaxies you see in the night sky spread light years from us and each other. Nor do you need a broken heart to confirm that a thermometer reading of 101 degrees fahrenheit confirms that the body ache, dreary spirit, and overall nausea you feel is not just a reaction to the daily news. These things you know with your tried and true modern mind. 

This modern mind practices reductionism, breaking things down into component elements, causal inference about how they interact, measurement of what they produce, and practical judgment of what it’s all worth at the end of the day. Scientific and technical wonders emerge that make us rightly proud of being humans instead of kangaroos. The modern mind knows how to split atoms to warm every home in one city and threaten to blow up another, manufacture drugs that vastly improve the quality of life of some and make addicts of others, build massive buildings that house some and make others homeless. It is all a moral wash that does not make us any happier in the long run, but we would not trade it away. We depend on it. Desperately.

The modern mind comes up with spectacular solutions and just as spectacular conundrums. It does not make us cold-hearted. Compassion drives some scientists to better understand sources of suffering perchance to heal. Altruism drives some technicians to make things that work better and more cheaply so more can enjoy their benefits. Armies of the best and brightest compete for more solutions today to the ill side effects of yesterday’s innovations. The massive cycle of technical progress and regress and progress again does not freeze our hearts so much as distract our minds. We forget the things only a broken heart can know.

In the Beginning Was the Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”: Without a broken heart, those words pass across the screen of consciousness like a stock market ticker. But soon enough we read that this Word, this logos, this designing mind of God through Whom all things were made, who makes all our science and technology possible, did not just hover above it all like the deities of the Greeks and Deists. No, this Word entered into it, of all preposterous things to do. 

Moreover, the Word became flesh, the same stuff that gazes up at his mother from her arms and puckers his lips for milk, who later gets hungry and enjoys grilled fish with his friends on the beach, whom they remember from so many walks on dusty roads with a mission, who just days before screamed with pain when nailed to a cross. “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (vv. 10-11). To the modern mind, not to mention the Greeks and Deists, such a divine maneuver seems balderdash, even blasphemous to the pious among them. But to the broken heart, the whole story sings a love song with tones pitched and melodies arranged and lyrics crafted with truth that silences science.

Here Is the Man

Not that perfume and sunbeams and pastels adorn the story. His carpenter father worked like a dog to keep up with orders from occupying Romans, and his mother worried that her gifted boy was mad with all his cryptic words and strange miracles. He drew the lepers and the lonely for healing. He blew minds by turning water into wine and feeding the masses from a lunchbox of fish and bread. Yet, they could not see past the amazing outcomes to really get the point. Moreover, the disciples with whom he shared the most intimate secrets of God’s justice and healing fared little better. 

The very religious authorities who led the people in worship and obedience to God’s commands could not recognize God if he came in the flesh and made a lame man walk before their very eyes. Indeed, they found the whole thing scandalous, thought him satanic rather than divine. When they finally cornered him, the adoring crowd that sang hosannas upon his entry in Jerusalem just days before turned on him too. After all, everyone loves a winner, no one a loser. And as he stood silently before the Roman governor who made no bones of judging him innocent, exasperated Pilate nevertheless asked rhetorically, “What is truth?” washed his hands of the matter, and handed him over to his eager executioners, proclaiming ceremoniously, “Here is the man.”

Here is the man indeed. Surely, “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (vv. 10-12). 

The Broken Heart Sees God

So, “No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (v. 18) by breaking every heart not so guarded and numbed that they cannot look, or not so distracted by trying to survive better that they forget to live. “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (vv. 3b-4). It takes a broken heart to see that life amid all the death, a life that death does not overcome.

Indeed, a life that death did not overcome. For our hearts break again with joy as Mary Magdalene visits his tomb only to find it empty. The figure she mistakes for the gardener addresses her by name, and she cries out, “Rabbouni!” Teacher! She comes with a heart broken by grief and leaves with a heart broken by joy and a vision of life beyond imagining. She sees what we long to see and yet what we do see and will see in wonder and joy if we let him break our hearts as she did.

Again, “No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (v. 18). And if we really knew ourselves half as well as we think, we would know palpably our desire to see God. The Gospel of John tells the story of Christ who knows our desire better than we do, who goes as far as death and further to resurrection, to open our eyes so we will see. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it” (v. 5). He dwells among us this very moment, shining. The One for Whom we have waited waits for us to open our hearts, to let him break them – as his is broken for us – that we may see at last.

Related Posts

The Order For Which We Long: Sermon on John 1:1-18

Compassion Spills from God’s Broken Heart

When Jesus Paused to Change the World

Incarnation: How God Cleans Up Our Fine Mess

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8).

Public Domain Image by Md Nirob Bhuiyan from Pixabay