By beginning at the beginning as he does, John opens a door on the whole creative process. He gets things in perspective. We are not just dealing with certain events in Palestine 2,000 years ago: we are concerned with the purpose of God in history. The meaning of life and the universe is not ‘42’, as the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy facetiously claims. Understanding is disclosed through the ‘Word’. That is how God displays his nature and how he is known. All this is proclaimed in the opening