In the Beginning Was the Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
“No one has ever seen God; but God’s only Son, he who is nearest to the Father’s heart, he has made him known.”
John 1:18
The Gospel of John, which we read during the Christmas season, is unmistakably different in style, content, tone and intent from the other Gospels. Rather than a series of proverbs and sayings about the Kingdom of God such as appear in Matthew, Mark and Luke, John offers symbolic, poetic language that emphasizes Jesus’ relation to the Father. And what he says about that relationship is declared in two verses from John’s Gospel. (See above).
And what a declaration it is! What we Christians hold up before the world and celebrate as the ultimate truth this holy season is the bold unprecedented affirmation that the baby born to two peasants and undistinguished Jews on a specific night in an obscure Judean village — under an edict of a Roman emperor — is none other than Jesus the Christ, God in the flesh.
In that diapered child lying on straw, with only livestock, a few shepherds and his young parents looking on, the Great Mystery unfolded. “The Word became flesh,” wrote John, “and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.” That is what incarnation means. It is untheological. It is unsophisticated. It is undignified. But according to Christianity, it is the way things are. The unknown has become known, the Wholly Other has become wholly present and the unapproachable has become approachable.
Jesus is the vulnerability of God. God’s Son who has come to us and for us — as one of us.
As the Word of God became flesh in Jesus Christ, so the words of the Gospel should become flesh in our lives. As Jesus revealed God to us, we are called to reveal Jesus to the world. As He healed the leper, so should we touch the wounds of the world. As He loved the Pharisees who tried to trap him with their questions, so should we love even those who want to trap us. As He wore the crown of thorns, so should we be willing to be pricked by the thorns of this world.
We are to love, serve, heal and proclaim the Word so that by word and sacrament, we may equip others to continue the reconciling ministry of Jesus Christ. That is what it means to be the Church.
John declares that in Jesus we see the very mind and heart of God — the love He has for us. Jesus endorses this. “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” It is this unique, glorious and mysterious truth that we celebrate in this holy season.
