The Beginning of the Story
It is the greatest story ever told – God come down to earth to rescue fallen man. In Matthew’s gospel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he begins the story with the lineage of Jesus – establishing His claim as the long awaited Messiah and King. Skipping over the genealogy and birth of Jesus, Mark begins the story right at the start of Jesus ministry. Luke, on the other hand, begins at what we would consider the beginning. His gospel opens with the story of Zechariah – months before the angel made the astounding announcement of a virgin birth to a young Jewish girl.
As satisfying and complete as the story in Luke feels to us, it is John who takes us back to the true beginning of this great story – to a time before time began. “In the beginning,” he writes, with the breath of the Holy Spirit flowing through his pen, “the Word already existed.” He goes on to tell us, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
There it is – the beginning before the beginning. Jesus always was – no beginning and no ending – eternal. He was there at the time of creation. “God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.” Long before God blew the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils the story was written.
The wonder of it should drop us to our knees. God didn’t make a cosmic mistake when He spoke all of creation into being. He didn’t look at Jesus with a puzzled expression when Eve took the apple, shared it with Adam and opened the floodgates to sin and death. He didn’t throw His hands up in despair. He knew. He always knew. So did Jesus.
I sometimes imagine a conversation between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – a discussion about the inevitable outcome if they decided to create mankind:
“They will have free will, and they will make the choice to sin. If we are to have a relationship with them, there will have to be a sacrifice to cover their sin and the sins of everyone ever born. There is only One who can fill that role. Is it worth the great cost?”
Perhaps the angels leaned in to hear. Did they see the look of love in the eyes of the Father as He gazed into the eyes of His beloved Son?
Into the silence the word was spoken, “Yes.”
This is the Christmas Story – the story of immeasurable love. Down through the centuries, all of creation waited for Him to come to our rescue. At just the right time, He came – knowing all the while the great cost. The Father gave His Son, the Son gave His life – for us. And the story goes on as we wait for Him to come again.
Blessings,
Linda
I love the Gospel of John. You are right; he is the only one pointing back to Genesis. Jesus’ love is the greatest story ever told and I am thankful that God made a way to reconcile us with Him.
Yes indeed THE greatest story ever told! Merry Christmas!