The gospel of two Johns
The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
Gospel: Jn 1:1-18
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122525-Day.cfm
I like to think of Jesus as the fully human part of Jesus Christ, and Christ as the fully divine part. It’s the Christ component that the gospel writer John focuses mostly upon. He begins his gospel by making this very clear: The Christ was at the beginning, the Christ was with God, and the Christ was God. When John uses the term the Word, he means the catalyst that creates and sustains life. John is in awe of who and what Christ is and the awesomeness of Christ becoming man through Jesus. He describes Christ as the Word – through Christ was all things and life, without Christ neither could have come into being. The life created was the light of the human race and that light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. John is saying that Christ gives life to all things and permeates what Christ created.
The ultimate being of Christ decided to be in the world, to be part of what Christ created. While Christ was imprinted on the world, the world did not know Christ. Jesus Christ gave us the completeness of grace in place of what we had previously perceived as grace. Christ had given us the law through Moses. The law was a means for us to relate and participate in God. The law was given because we were unable to comprehend and understand the divine imprint on the world. The law was a way to prepare the way to John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus. With Jesus Christ, we encounter complete grace and truth. We no longer need an intermediary with the law.
God is expressed throughout God’s creation. I like to think that we all have the imprint of God speaking through us if we let it. Last year, I was part of a Christmas performance where we acted out skits and sang a variety of Christmas songs. One song was, “Happy Christmas (War is over)” by John Lennon. The lyrics of the song are as follows: “So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun. And, so this Xmas, I hope you have fun, the near and the dear ones, the old and the young. A merry, merry Christmas and happy New Year let's hope it's a good one without any fear. And, so this is Christmas for weak and for strong, for rich and the poor ones, the road is so long. And so, happy Christmas for black and for white, for the yellow and red ones, let's stop all the fight. A merry, merry Christmas and happy New Year let's hope it's a good one without any fear. War is over, if you want it. War is over now.”
I like to think of this song, in the context of today’s gospel. So this is Christmas, God came down for us. The creator became the created to be one with us. In so doing, God showed us how to love one another, and what did we do with that? God didn’t just come down for some of us, but for us all: the weak, the strong, the rich, the poor, for those of all races, for those of all genders. And what do we keep doing with this? We segregate, we push away, and we emphasize our difference, but that which created all of it, does not. Christ loves all of us, and Christ is in all of us. Christ is self-giving to us. All of us. We cannot escape it, no matter how hard we try. And now we’re coming to a new year, so it’s a good time for us to make a choice. We can live in fear and indifference, or we can live in freedom and love.
May we live by the light within us that came to us through a humble birth to teach us and show us how to love. Merry Christmas!
