John’s “In The Beginning”

THURS., AUG. 5, 1993, 6:06 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yesterday you typed the Teaching entitled “Mabel and you,” and I do want you to try for a better spiritual relationship with this “other servant” of Mine. It is not so important that you succeed, but it is important that you try. You’re almost ready. Give it a try.

Back to that Teaching… which commented on the part My servant Paul played in your born-again experience. His Letter to the Romans made clear, for you, the concept of grace. The essence of being born again is the acceptance of My grace, undeserved but freely given… the ultimate Wellspring of positive health. There is no bargaining over past sins. Grace just positively blots them out and sets you in readiness for positive living.

Today, however, I’ll focus on another major influence, the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” is the traditional opening. For John the birth into human form wasn’t important enough to mention. The Truth that is most crucial is that I was, always. “In the beginning” implies both an ultimate origin and that there was “something” before the beginning. Words are not adequate to express that I, both as Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, have always been… certainly before the creation of this system, of which earth is a small but important part. As Holy Spirit I was part of the conception “process” that produced the baby Jesus, but the Spirit was eternal. John needed to emphasize that rather than the physical birth. But you wouldn’t have much of a Christmas story if John were your only Gospel!

Rather than giving Me, the Holy Spirit, the role of “father” of Jesus, John introduces Me as a dove, coming down from heaven, assuring John, the Baptist, that, yes, Jesus is “the One.” Thus I came forth in baptism rather than in birth. This makes a good rationale for infant baptism – physical birth needs to be paired with spiritual birth, and baptism mystically denotes this.

John’s first story is of the incident at the marriage in Cana. Jesus’ first appearance, by this account, is as a guest at a wedding… and it is even implied that his mother was the actual invited guest. You remember the Teaching, “Jugs of Wine,” My full interpretation of this short story. In that I emphasized that in doing the quiet miracle of turning the water into wine Jesus emphasized the lavishness of His Kingdom… and that human life, particularly in occasions like marriage, was to be enjoyed. He provided in excess of need. This was a bounteous miracle.

Hear another emphasis. This first miracle was not concerned with a person, but with the environment, another symbol of the truth that My concern for human life is surpassed by My concern for the whole web of life. In changing water to wine the symbolic change was from something good to something better. Isn’t it ironic that today many fundamental Christians must shudder at this story, and, if pressed, would feel that I changed from good to bad… and I didn’t even caution them about excessive drinking.