Up until the modern era, with the advent of two-way radios, when generals needed to communicate with their commanders in the field, the most reliable method was to dispatch a runner. This was true in peacetime as well as wartime. Kings who wanted to communicate with important people in their far-flung empires made use of runners. It worked in reverse as well. Those in the field, those who were overseeing some project at a distance from their king or general, would reply by sending runners back with messages in response.

John's gospel, as we know, is a word-saturated gospel, "the Word" standing for much more than nouns or verbs, standing instead for something living, moving, something that has power and brings things to pass that, without the word, would not come to pass. In Psalm 147, the…