Presbyterian preacher Thomas Hilton tells of watching Billy Graham on television a few years back, when his small daughter Karin came into the living room and looked at the television set and exclaimed, "Dad, what is he so mad about?" To a small child the body language of a person is often more important than the verbal language. She saw the raised arm, heard the loud voice, saw the intense face, and assumed anger. I have an idea that was not the message that Billy was trying to get across, but children are especially good at reading the body language of adults. And sometimes our actions speak much louder than our words. 

This familiar fact has opened up a whole new realm of study. We call it "body language," and it was popularized by a book of that title written by Julius Fast. The book highlights the well-known fact that we are known by others as much by how we look and act as by what we say. One researcher has come up with the estimate that feelings are expressed to others 7% through words, 38% through vocal tone, and 55% through facial expression. (I always wondered why I hate telephones so much. Now I know: I can't see what people are saying!)

"Body language." That's what the author of the Fourth gospel was talking about when he sat down to write the first chapter. In fact, that was the primary reason that he wrote the Gospel in the first place.