The Invisible Jesus

The gospel writer John introduces Jesus as "the Word,"  the One through Whom all things were created and the One who is the light that forever shines in darkness.  Mark who was the first gospel writer brings Jesus to the stage of history as a man about to set out on His purpose by way of the baptismal waters of the Jordan River.  Matthew and Luke take us in a different direction.  The obvious thing is that both include birth narratives of Jesus and speak of Him as the Savior come from God.  But, there is more to what they tell us in those two narratives than we often catch at first glance.    

As we get through the details of the stories told about the birth of Jesus and settle back for a second look, we begin to see that both these gospel writers first speak of Jesus in His invisible form.  Matthew writes about Jesus as the child not yet seen, the One conceived in the womb of Mary, the One who is present and alive on earth, but still invisible.  And, of course, it is not different with Luke's rendering of the story.  Jesus does not show up on the pages of Scripture as a baby, but as the Invisible One who went with Mary to the home of Elizabeth where John who will be known as the Baptist is about to be born.     

What has been invisible remains invisible.  But, what is invisible is also about to revealed when the days of womb living are done.  In that moment what has been hidden in the invisible realm will become visible in the visible realm.  No one said it more simply and with as much power as John the gospel writer when he wrote about God becoming flesh through the Son.  The One who had been invisible since before the beginning chose to make Himself known and as visible as human flesh so that we might see and know the reality of God with us.