June 1

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:10-14

When Peter Kingston, a missionary to Brazil, was translating the Gospel of John for the Mamainde people, he left the first fourteen verses of the book to be done last. That passage was a crucial passage not only because of its placement in the book, but also because of its doctrinal content. It was late afternoon when he finally arrived at the very last verse, as he later recounted.

“With me was Timoteo, a young man with a highly astute mind, one who was seeking God, one of the best translation helpers. We began to grapple with the tremendous sentence: ‘The Word became a human being and lived among us.’ And it took time to get that verse right.

“The sun was not so hot now, though the air was heavy and humid; gnats circled in agitated clouds above us. The sun slipped further down; mosquitoes began to buzz and whine impatiently, anxious for an evening meal . . .

“Soon it would be dark; but still we talked on, trying to understand together what that one verse was really saying; what it meant for the Word to become a human being—and how it came about; what grace was and glory was; how a man could be full—not of food or of anger, but of truth; how it should all be translated into Mamainde.”

Finally after more struggling, Timoteo grasped the full meaning. Together they went over the verse and Peter carefully copied it down to complete his first draft. With a sigh of relief, he was finished. He could go back to his house, get something to eat, and sleep with the satisfaction of having jumped another hurdle in his ministry as a Wycliffe Bible Translator.

For Timoteo, there was a sense of release as well. Indeed there was a feeling of exhilaration as he ran across the village and shouted, “Hey everybody, come and listen to this! This person called Jesus Christ was not just a spiritual being, as we thought; he was a man at the same time! He was two and yet one!”

The people gathered around and a lively discussion followed. Forgetting his hungry stomach, Peter stood and listened, “fascinated to hear a man expertly explain one of the very deepest of spiritual truths to his family and friends—even though he had just understood it himself.” ¹