Origin Stories

By Pastor Jeffrey Smith

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1: 1-3 (NIV)

There are many great prequel films that exist today. A few examples are The Godfather, Star Wars, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. A prequel is interesting because it takes something that we already know has a profound effect on us and it goes back to explore how things came to be. There are many creation myths that exist today. Some cultures believe we came from the sweat of a god, or that a crawfish volunteered to create land. There’s all kinds of origin stories for the history of mankind.

Jesus has the ultimate origin story. We know who Jesus is. We know the Christmas story. We know the virgin birth. However, John is telling us something that is even before all this, a prequel of sorts.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...”

The translation of the Word came from the Greek word logos. Now this idea of Jesus as the logos is a very important concept. In Greek culture, the concept of the logos motif was the answer to any unknown or supreme question that one might have about life.  This means that Jesus is the answer to all things. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.  John 1:14 (MSG)

Jesus moved into my neighborhood and he moved into your neighborhood. Wherever you're from, there's people from different nations or countries, or you might come from a place where your family didn't have anything growing up. Jesus moved into that neighborhood. But why? He did it for you. The answer to why the logos stepped down from the ivory palaces of heaven to take up residence in that kind of neighborhood, is for you and I. He moved down from Heaven to come find you.