Read John 1:1-18
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. –John 1:14
When my son was in elementary school, he participated in the Cub Scouts. His favorite activity, I think, was the Pinewood Derby (it’s what I remember most fondly from my own Cub Scout experience as a kid). One of the shelves in his room still holds the “car” we made for his first derby (which was shaped like a “monorail” car from Disney)!
What stands out most in my own memory of that time was the camping trip we took with other scouts. It’s the only time in my son’s life when we went camping together–every other trip we’ve taken has involved hotel rooms and soft beds! There’s something about a tent–both the process of setting it up together, and the feeling you get when you zip yourself in at night. There’s an intimacy to sharing the same small space together; it feels like your own little world.
There’s a Greek word in the verse above–skēnoō–which means “to make one’s dwelling.” The noun form of this word–skēnos–has a rich connection to the Old Testament; it is most often translated as “tent” or even “tabernacle.” During the Israelite’s time in the wilderness, the “tabernacle” (also called the “Tent of Meeting”) was where God “dwelt” among them. Whenever Moses entered the tent, the shekinah of God (the pillar of cloud) would descend and dwell in the tent as Moses conversed with the divine (Exodus 33:9). Whenever the cloud lifted from the tent, the Israelites would pack up their camp and follow. If the cloud stayed over the tent, the people waited: “So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.” (Exodus 40:38)
In the same way that God dwelt among his people in the time of the Exodus, Jesus dwelt among his people as well! Two quick observations follow:
As I said above, a tent is intimate. When you’re staying in a tent with someone, you share the same space and the same air. Notice the use of first-person pronouns (us/we) in the verse above. Through Jesus, the disciples experienced God’s presence up close and personal. I like The Message translation of this verse: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”
A tent is also temporary–in contrast to a temple, it is not a permanent dwelling. We can take this in a negative way: The Word was made flesh for only a limited amount of time upon the earth. But we can also think of this in positive terms. The upside to a tent is its portability–it can be carried with us wherever we go! So while Jesus might no longer be among us in the flesh, He promised his disciples before He ascended into heaven that He would be with them always, even to the ends of the earth! (Matthew 28:20)
This is the amazing message of the Gospel: That God “moved into the neighborhood”; He crossed the threshold between heaven and earth in order to dwell among us. How have you experienced the nearness of God in your life? How does it encourage you to know that God is always present with you, no matter where your journey may lead?
My closing prayer today comes from a praise song I recently discovered entitled “Habitation.”I hope you’ll use this prayer (and the song if you listen to it) as your invitation for God to cross the threshold of your life and dwell with you today.
Make me Your habitation, O Lord. Make me a dwelling place for You, that I might carry Your Presence wherever You lead me to. Amen.