The Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, December 25, 2020

John 1:1–18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.  But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.  And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” 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. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This is the Gospel reading for the Mass during Christmas Day.  It explains what happened when Mary conceived the Son of God in her womb and what his Birth means.  The reading rings with an immediacy not found in the Christmas Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke.  The latter two lay open the scene of the Birth of the Lord and show its effects on the world through the shepherds and the wise men with significant detail, in narrative form.  They are like plays in which we watch the characters speak to each other and move about irrespective of the audience.  But John, in this reading, is speaking directly to us.  It is as though he were present before us and looking into our eyes, speaking as a witness to what he has seen and heard and touched.  And indeed, he has seen and heard and touched the Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, and who was God.  He says so much in these few words that only God could have inspired them.  He speaks of the co-eternity of the uncreated Son with the Father, of the intimate unity of the Father and the Son, and of the Son’s divinity.  All of this we could surmise from the other Gospels, but John reveals it to us directly, or, rather, Almighty God directly reveals this to us through John.  

This reading, the prologue to St. John’s Gospel, has always been understood as a hymn because of its form, but it is also the testimony of an eyewitness who strives to speak calmly, but can barely contain himself.  He clings to certain words as though they were the only words he can trust to tell us what he has seen and heard, words like “the word”, “the light”, and “the life”.  In his testimony he repeats himself, or reiterates what he has just said; he jumps ahead to tell how the Word was received or not by the people among whom he lived, and then jumps back to what he was saying before; and he anticipates questions and objections as though he had these once himself and knows that the people hearing him have them too.  In this way, he seems to read his readers, to look into their eyes, and to explain what he is saying in ways they can understand without diluting the truth he has come to proclaim.  Just as “the Word became flesh” in order to dwell among us, John takes the stunning truth that he knows and makes it knowable to us so that we too can “become children of God”.

Two notes on the Greek text.  One on the phrase translated here as “and made his dwelling among us”.  The Greek is actually very concrete here and literally means, “he pitched his tent among us”, quite an appropriate thing to say to the Jewish Christians whose ancestors, beginning with Abraham, dwelt in tents and moved about the country with their flocks and herds.  And this is a very fitting way to describe the One who would be the Good Shepherd.

Also, “grace in place of grace.”  This phrase occurs just before John says, “because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  John is telling us that the “grace” of the Jewish law, which could not forgive sins and save souls, is succeeded by the true grace that is the divine power of Christ, just as the sign precedes the reality, or the shadow goes before its object.  John is fascinated by this, that the Old was a sign for the New.  He points this out throughout his Gospel, as when he shows that the prophet (John the Baptist) is a sign of the Savior, or when the Lord explains to the crowd that the manna that came down from heaven and that saved their ancestors from starvation in the wilderness was a sign of his Body, which they must eat to have eternal life.

I wish all those reading this reflections on the Scriptures a joyous and holy Christmas!  I will remember you in my Masses!