John 1:5, 10-11 Bible study September 8

Christ, the Light Rejected (vv. 5b, 10–11)

How was the Lord’s love received? Notice the last part of verse 5: “… but the darkness has not understood it.” Some translations render this, “The darkness could never extinguish it.” The light of Christ came into the world, and darkness pounced upon the light and tried to strangle it.

Verse 10 adds, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” That statement sounds absurd, but how man responded to Christ is absurd. John could have said, “He made their mouths. He held their tongues together by the very word of his power. But they refused to acknowledge him.” Jesus was in the world that he created, and it did not even know who he was. Then John states the ultimate indignity in verse 11: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

A poor family was farming some land during the Depression. There was one son in this family, and his parents wanted the best for him. So they scrimped and saved so they could send him to college. After he had been gone for a year or so, his parents, who loved him very much, wanted to see him again. Again they saved, sold some things, and went to visit their son. They arrived on campus, poorly dressed in their farm clothes. Seeing their son with some other boys, the father ran over to him. “Son, son, ityour father,” he said. The son looked at his father without showing any sign of recognition. The father said again, “Son, it’s your father and mother. We’ve come to see you.” The boy, perhaps embarrassed by his parents’ poverty, turned to the other students and said, “I don’t know who this is. He must be crazy.” How absurd, how horrible.

But how much more incredible is the truth of verse 11: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” He was rejected by those who would have been incinerated had he not veiled his glory in flesh. He was rejected by those whom he spoke into existence with his word, those for whom for thousands of years he had been preparing the way. His own people rejected him. Incredible! It is even more amazing that after 2,000 years of the Spirit’s witness in history and in the lives of godly men, people still reject him today.

What is most amazing is Christ’s love, a bottomless sea of love that overflows to us. We need to see the greatness of Christ and the greatness of his love as he extends himself to us.

 Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (pp. 26–27). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.