Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
[1 John 2:18-21 and John 1:1-18]In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Those who are familiar with musical productions, whether these be broadway or grand opera or Gilbert and Sullivan, know that an "overture" usually precedes the raising of the curtain. Generally, but not always, the overture will contain major musical themes that will appear throughout the production. Some overtures are good enough that they become the only surviving music from the production, or at least they acquire a life of their own and can be often heard, such as the overture to Wagner's "Die Meistersinger" which became a popular season opener for many symphoney orchestras. The notion of an overture can help us to understand the beautiful but challenging words of the "prologue" to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John does not give us an "infancy narrative" like the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Since it was the last of the gospels to be put into writing, it shows a considerable development in the understanding of the early Christian community about the identity of Jesus! Jesus is not presented so much as born in time and place but rather is shown to be timeless and transcendent while also becoming incarnate: "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...." We are given, in this prologue, the BIG picture, to which everything else in the Gospel of John will refer: "From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The remaining "scenes" in the Gospel seem almost to be like "acts," because they have a wonderfully dramatic character to them. Perhaps we ourselves are caught up in this drama to the extent that we place the Christmas crib and arrange all the characters in traditional positions. In the Gospel of John, this scene does not appear. Rather there are a series of encounters with Jesus that reflect the "grace and truth" that he came to bring. We can read the "prologue" today as the gospel scripture and benefit much, but it is when we read the rest of the gospel that we learn how powerful this prologue truly is. No matter how good the overture is, it is meant to lead us to the rest of the story! AMEN
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