The Message often paraphrases a verse into something almost humorous, but Eugene Peterson’s rendering of John 1:14 is striking in its simple, straightforward, in-your-face starkness:
“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.”
God moved into our neighborhood! Do you get that?
“There was a European monarch who worried his court by often disappearing and walking incognito among his people. When he was asked not to do so for security’s sake, he answered, ‘I cannot rule my people unless I know how they live.’ It is the great thought of the Christian faith that we have a God who knows the life we live because he too lived it and claimed no special advantage over ordinary people” (William Barclay).