From N.T. Wright
But how can the living God become a human being? How does it make sense? It makes sense precisely in terms of the creation story which John evokes with the very first words of his gospel. The climax of the creation in Genesis was the making of human beings in the image and likeness of God—the great work of the sixth day, bringing creation to its completion. The climax of John’s prologue is the incarnation of the Word. Humans were made to reflect God, so that one day God could appropriately become human. And, in case we miss the point, John has that unforgettable scene near the end, when Jesus is on trial before Pilate. Pilate has him flogged, and dresses him up in purple, with a crown of thorns on his head. He brings him out before the crowd, and says, ‘Behold—the man!’ And by now John’s reader knows what this means. This is the true man, the truly human being, the one who, crown of thorns and all, truly reflects the image of the loving creator because he is the image of the loving creator—the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, the creative self-expression of God. The Word became flesh, and was crowned king in our midst; we beheld his glory, glory as of the human, bleeding figure, the one given by the Father to save the world.
N. T. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1994), 32–33.
