Word to the Wise
Friday, December 27, 2024 - Dec. 27 - Feast of St. John, Apostle & Evangelist
[1 John 1:1-4 and John 20:1a, 2-8]What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life - for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life what was with the Father and was made visible to us....[1 John]
It is not hard to distinguish the different currents of interpretation in the New Testament that developed after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Each of the four gospels shows a different "spin," but the differences appear very strongly when one reaches the Gospel According to John and the "letters" that bear his name. The "Prologue" to the Gospel According to John gives us a glimpse of what would follow later on in the letters, "In the beginning was the Word..." and, "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us..." The words quoted above are taken from the First Letter of Johns which repeat the major themes of the gospel. The eternity and the humanity of Jesus Christ are proclaimed by one who has experienced them and then repeated by subsequent disciples who wrote these truths for us to proclaim in our own times. For the next few days, the first scripture for daily Mass will be taken from the "Letters of St. John."
In this season of Christmas/Epiphany, we confront two different "beginnings." There is the "beginning" of Jesus' earthly life in a stable manger in Bethlehem at a point in history. But there is also the "beginning" of all creation that points to the eternity of the Word. We may find it easier to deal with a "human" Jesus who was born, ministered, crucified and raised from the dead than with an "eternal" Jesus, Lord of all creation!! But they are both the same person. The "eternal" became incarnate so that human nature could aspire to participation in divine life. At every celebration of the Eucharist, in preparing the gifts, the celebrant pours a small amount of water into the wine to be consecrated and says quietly, "By the mystery of this water and wine may we become to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." This is a very big "Truth" that we are called to proclaim, especially in this season. AMEN