3 Things about John 1 – Part 2

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,full of grace and truth

John 1:14 NRSV

Gosh, it’s been a wonderful but crazy last few weeks! Last weekend, I lead a spiritual retreat for the young people at Fayetteville First UMC along with a dozen or so other wonderful Youth Shepherds.  This retreat, which they call Renovatus, is the event which the youth look forward to all year long.

Spiritual retreat is an interesting part of Christian formation.  It has been a practice since the time of Christ, who withdrew by himself to pray and reflect.  One could argue that spiritual retreat is even more necessary and challenging today due to the prevalence of technology and media.

Methods of retreat differ across time and Christian practice.  Some retreats are silent while some are full of noisy worship.  Some have a purposeful goal, while some people enter into retreat without expectation.

The one constant feature of retreats is that they are temporary.  They don’t last forever, unless you become a hermit, and when a believer returns to everyday life they expect themselves or their circumstances to be transformed.

The passage I wanted to explore from John talks about retreat of sorts. John 1:14 says “the Word became flesh and lived among us.”   The word “lived” is sometimes translated as “dwelt” as to suggest Jesus/The Word spent time and made his home among us lowly humans.

The Greek word here is ἐσκήνωσεν / eskēnōsen.  Although, this is the only usage of this form of the word in scripture, the dictionary form of this word is frequently translated as tabernacle in English.  Tabernacle is just a fancy Biblical word for a holy tent.

When the Hebrew people wandered in the desert they did not yet have a homeland nor a place to build a Temple to worship God. Instead, God command that they construct and carry with them a tent or tabernacle to house the Arc of the Covenant and serve as a place for sacrificial worship wherever they camped.  The tabernacle was the temporary location for the real presence of God within the Hebrew community.

A better translation of John 1:14 might be “the Word became flesh and pitched his tent/tabernacle among us.”  Rather than ‘making a home,’ ‘pitching a tent’ suggests temporarily lodging in a unfamiliar and possibly wilderness like place.  This language also evokes the imagery of the ancient tabernacle of the Hebrews who wandered in the wilderness and stayed only briefly in places until they found their true home.

Jesus’ stay here on this earth was always going to be temporary.  Jesus pitched a tent here on the first go around, but when he returns he will built a glorious, permanent Temple.  And those of us who find joy and rest in a temporary spiritual retreat will be able to experience eternal closeness with our savior.