When we hear the words “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), we are standing before one of the deepest mysteries of our faith. Many people have asked me what this really means—how could God, eternal and almighty, become a man? It’s a question that touches the very heart of Christianity, because everything we believe begins with this truth: God came close enough to touch.
In the opening of St. John’s Gospel, “the Word” refers to the eternal Son of God — the One through whom all things were created. Before time began, the Word was with God and was God. But at a particular moment in history, this divine Word took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He did not merely appear human; He truly became one of us, sharing our joys and sorrows, our laughter and our tears. In Jesus, the invisible God became visible.
This mystery is called the Incarnation. The Church teaches that Jesus is fully God and fully man — not half and half, but entirely both. The Word did not cease to be divine when He became human; rather, He united our human nature to His divinity. Through this union, God entered our story, walked our roads, and sanctified our human life from the inside out. Every gesture of Jesus — His touch, His compassion, His suffering — reveals the heart of God made flesh.
What this means for us is astonishing. In Jesus, God speaks not only through words but through a life. He shows us what love looks like when it takes human form — when it eats with sinners, heals the sick, and forgives those who crucify Him. The Word made flesh means that God no longer speaks from afar; He speaks from within our human experience, from within every heart that dares to listen.
When we gaze upon Jesus — in the Gospel, in the Eucharist, or in prayer — we encounter not just a teacher or prophet, but God Himself reaching out to us in tenderness. The Word became flesh so that flesh might one day share in the glory of God. This is the promise of Christmas and the hope of our salvation.
May this truth draw us to awe and gratitude: the eternal Word chose to speak in our language, to walk in our dust, to love us face to face.
Lord Jesus, Word made flesh, teach us to hear Your voice in our hearts, and to recognize Your presence in every human life.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way
