“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” He who exists outside of time, beyond time, beyond your comprehension became flesh. “The Word dwelt among us.” So, let’s look at those two parts individually.

The Word became flesh—mystery upon mystery. If you came to the first mid-week Advent service here, you would have beheld this mystery with Mary conceiving the Word of God as the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. (cf. Luke 1:35) She would give birth to the Son of God and give Him the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

But there in her womb, the Word became flesh as egg was miraculously fertilized, and a zygote was formed. No longer is the Word something or someone which comes forth only from the mouth of the Father, who occasionally manifested Himself as “the angel of the LORD,” but He came forth from the womb of the Blessed Virgin with flesh and blood. The Creator is wrapped up in the things of creation; a manger and swaddling cloths, yes, but more than that, in flesh and blood! He through whom the cosmos was created, by whom all creation was called into being, in whom you live and move and have your being (cf. Acts 17:28), lives and moves and has His being in the same fashion—the same flesh and blood—as the pinnacle of His creation. That would be you, dear hearers.

The Word of God became flesh. He was conceived, developed, and born. He is fully man while losing nothing of His divinity. And He lived. And He died. And He was buried. Marvel at this mystery, dear hearers: God becomes one of you! In Jesus, God becomes one with you! The Word became flesh—flesh like yours, bone like yours, blood like yours, cells like yours, brain like yours…in a manner of speaking, a biology like yours. Jesus is Man; “true Man, yet very God.”

And the Word of God shared a biology like yours along every stage of life, like you. He was conceived and born. He grew and learned. He acquired a trade, a job, a vocation. And He died. In every stage, Jesus was there, like you are or will be, from conception to death. He even met a stage that, because He did, you too will see: He rose again from the dead. He did it all perfectly, and credits every moment to you—all of it for you!

Proclus of Constantinople wrote,

You can think of it this way: By clothing Himself in human flesh and blood, Christ appropriated the life of humanity. Now, through baptism, there is a ritual exchange of garments as Christians are clothed with Christ. (cf. Galatians 3:27) Dear Baptized, you are saved for in baptism you have put on Christ, the Word who became flesh.

“…and dwelt among us.” On the surface, as you hear those words, you hear that the Word lived among people. And that is true. He assumed your flesh and blood and lived like a man among man. He did that as grew before His parents, gaining wisdom and stature (cf. Luke 2:52), assumed a trade (likely that of His guardian, Joseph, a carpenter, made friends and enemies, ate and drank…lived as a man “among us.”

But there is more to the words that John used. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” As you might recall from last night’s sermons, God dwelt among His people once before. In the time of the Exodus, God led His people out of Egypt as a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. God instructed Moses to build a tent, fill it with holy articles, not the least of which was the Ark of the Covenant, and into this tent would the pillar of cloud descend, and there God would dwell among His people. (cf. Exodus 29:43-46) This tent would eventually be set up in Shiloh, then a new structure built in Jerusalem to replace the tabernacle, and in these buildings would God dwell among His people, seated on the throne that was the Ark of the Covenant.

And it is to this history that John calls you when he wrote, “[D]welt among us.” The word John used for dwelt is the same word for tent, for pitching a tent. The Word became flesh and tented among us, pitched His tent among us, “tabernacled” among us. This time, however, it is different. There is no pillar of cloud or fire. There is no unseen presence. This tabernacle is filled with flesh and blood, and that is the flesh and blood of God. It is your flesh and blood! “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

And who is humanity, that the Word should become flesh and “dwell among us?” None other than His own. Just as the tabernacle was erected among His people, so now the Word of God is flesh and dwelling among His people. “He came to His own,” St. John wrote. So, yet again, marvel at this mystery. God is Man—your Man!

What does that mean? It means that in becoming flesh, your God took upon Himself and into Himself everything of you that is wounded and sick, fallen and sinful, vile and pungent, dead and dying, and in return gave Himself to you. He was given the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. He will save His people from their sins by being flesh and blood like them and taking all that is fallen and cursed of that flesh into His own and given Life in return. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

This is what His conception and life were all about. Every moment of the life of Jesus in the flesh was to be your Savior. He bled, He was baptized, He cured, He gave sight and hearing, He raised the dead; and all of it for you, to be your Savior, in the flesh. And then, as the pinnacle of His Saving work, He took all that was fallen and cursed in your flesh into His own and to the cross, there to shed that blood and give that flesh over to death for your fallenness and cursedness—for your sin.

He died and was buried, things that flesh and blood do. And He was raised from the dead, winning for you life eternal, like His—in the flesh!

What’s more, the Word is still flesh, and still dwells among you, though hidden. He doesn’t just appear out of everywhere, like He did in that upper room to the disciples behind locked doors following His resurrection. (cf. John 20:19ff) Still, He gives of Himself, flesh and blood, for you, right here, and right now. That is to say, you receive Him in Word and Sacrament. You’ll see Him and receive Him most manifestly as He gives you that flesh and blood like yours hidden in simple bread and wine. He comes, not frighteningly as cloud and fire, but graciously as bread and wine, to give you forgiveness, life and salvation. He comes in Word and Sacrament to lift you up out of the vileness of your fallen life and give you His own exalted life.

And the day will come when that flesh and blood returns on the clouds in glory. A sight to behold and for which to rejoice for those who are in Christ. A sight to behold and fear for those who have rejected Him. While He remains flesh and blood, hidden from sight, the day will come when He will make Himself known to all, show Himself and those glorious scars of your redemption to all, to claim His bride as His own, to continue to theme from last night’s sermon, and bring Her—bring you—into the wedding hall of eternity, exalting you forever as a member of His Bride, the Church Triumphant.

St. John Chrysostom said, “Let us learn to know which nature it is to which the Father said, ‘Share My seat.’ It is that nature to which it has been said, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’” The Word of God became flesh and blood—was born and named Jesus—and in so doing, your flesh and blood is exalted in Him. In Him, you are made children of God, a right conferred to you by way of being in Christ and Christ being in you. The fall of Adam diminished you, brought you low; the Word becoming flesh elevates you—because the Word became flesh for you. God is Man, your Man. And if He is your Man, then you are forgiven for all of your sins.