John 1:14-18 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

 1 John 1:1–2

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—

Grace and truth became man and lived with us to show us the way to eternal life. In Him alone is salvation. The  life of Jesus offered up for ours…that is the love of God. He shows no partiality. There are no Jews nor Greeks, male nor female, slave nor free in God’s eyes we are one. In Christ alone it is finished. He came to us that through Him the world could be saved. Carla

John 1:14-18

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. NKJV

The Son of God who was from eternity became human, with limitations in time and space (Philippians 2:5–8). This is the doctrine of the incarnation: God became human. Nothing of the essential nature of deity was lost in this event; we might rephrase became as “took to Himself.” John uses the word flesh to refer to the physical nature of humans, not to our sinful disposition (contrast Rom. 8:1–11). 

Dwelt comes from the Greek word for tent that was used in the Greek Old Testament  for the tabernacle, where the presence of God dwelt. In the Old Testament, glory refers to the divine presence (Exodus 33:18). As God manifested His glory in the tabernacle, so Jesus displayed His divine presence before the apostles (18:6; 20:26, 27). 

Only begotten (3:16, 18) means unique, one of a kind. The same term is used of Isaac (Hebrews 11:17), who was not the only physical son of Abraham, but was the unique son of promise. 

All who trust Christ are born of God. In the Gospel of John, these “born ones” are called children of God (verses 12, 13), but Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God. He is the only Son who is fully God. He is also full of grace and truth. 

When God revealed Himself to Moses, He proclaimed Himself to be “abounding in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). As applied to Jesus Christ, this phrase marks Him as the author of perfect redemption and perfect revelation. He was before me: Jesus was born after John the Baptist (Luke 1:36) and began His ministry later than John the Baptist. Yet John the Baptist said Jesus was before him, meaning that Jesus’ existence is from eternity past (verse 30). 

Grace for grace means grace piled upon grace. The background of this doubled term, as well as the use of the term in verse 17, is found in Exodus 32–34. Moses and the people had received grace, but they were in tremendous need of more grace (Exodus 33:13). Throughout the NT, grace is God’s favor expressed to sinful humankind apart from any human works or worth. Though there was abundant grace and truth expressed by God through the Law He gave Moses, it is in the person of Jesus Christ that grace and truth are realized to the fullest.

No one has seen God: God is Spirit (4:24) and is invisible (Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17) unless God chooses to reveal Himself. Humans cannot look at God and live (Exodus 33:20). Abraham, the friend of God, did not see God. Even Moses, the lawgiver, could not look at God’s face (Exodus 33:22, 23). However, the Son is in intimate relationship with the Father, face-to-face with God (1:1; 6:46; 1 John 1:2). 

God became visible to human eyes in the man Jesus. It is through seeing the Son that we see God. We cannot see Him today, but we know Him through His word. 

The bosom, or chest, is used here to designate a close and intimate relationship (13:23; Luke 16:23). The One who is the Father’s only begotten Son and who knows God intimately came to earth and declared Him. Declared can also mean “explained.” The NKJV Study Bible

Glory as of the one and only from the Father emphasizes  that the glory of Jesus, the Word, is the same as the glory of God the Father.

Grace and truth allude to two central attributes of the divine character used throughout the Old Testament: steadfast love and faithfulness. Jesus embodies the ultimate expression of God’s covenant loyalty and unmerited favor toward the world that rejected Him. The world will fully see God only as revealed through Jesus (14:6–9). Faithlife Study Bible

John 14:6–9

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”…

John 1:30

This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 

Colossians  1:19

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 

Matthew 3:11

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

This I know, walking, one step at a time, I learn to embrace the gift of being alive.

No, sometimes it is not even close to easy… but gratefully, that’s why there’s always another step to take.

And this, from Kathy Galloway, I’ve taken to heart. “Pilgrimage is… a sign of contradiction, and of resistance to our prevailing value system, that of the market. Pilgrimage, after all, has no function other than itself; its means is as important as its end, its process as its product. Its utility value is small, and its benefits cannot be quantified or costed. Its value is intrinsic. It is something that is good to do because it is good to do. It states clearly that the extravagant gesture (because it is extravagant in terms of time and commitment) is an irrepressible part of what it means to be human and to walk on the earth. And whether the context for pilgrimage is solitude or community, we will be drawn deeper into the mystery of God and the care of creation.”

And the good news? You don’t have to travel cross the world. “Pilgrimage” can take place in your own back yard. Onward my friends. Sabbath Moments