Breaking the Word

Christmas Weekday, Monday  – 02^nd January 2022 — Gospel: John 1,19-28

Resolute Response

Today’s gospel presents John the Baptist as a man who is conscious of himself. He is not trying to convince or impress anyone about who he is or what he is trying to do. He answers the questions of the priests and Levites calmly and resolutely. The earlier figure of John presented him as more authoritative and demanding. Indeed the people recognized him as God’s spokesperson and obeyed his voice of repentance. Here in this context, John does not explain away his behaviour nor does he need to claim his purposes which focus on how he can love and serve Jesus. However, the priests and Levites came to see John for several reasons; may be to know if John preached correct beliefs or to know if he was a genuine prophet or they were jealous of his popularity in the desert. In short, they wanted to know who John the Baptist was. He invited these people to think about the Messiah, and not about himself; about his message and not himself the messenger. John is a powerful model of knowing who he is and how he focuses. With John as a touchstone we need to define ourselves to the basic questions or assumptions of others. How will I respond when people ask me directly or metaphorically “who are you?”

Christmas Octave, Saturday  — 31^st December 2022 — Gospel: John 1,1-18

To Raise Up to Godhood

John’s prologue takes us back long before Bethlehem, even before creation, to the realm of timeless eternity. “The Word” conveys the idea of divine self-expression. The divine word is God’s reaching out, seeking to share his divine being, and sharing eternal love with creation. God’s word began to be known first through creation, then through the Torah and the prophets of Israel, and finally through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, the eternal word became flesh (1,14) i.e., chose to be born into human frailty. In the Word made Flesh, God has chosen to be with his people in a more personal way than ever before. In this way, the incarnate Word gives to humanity the power to become children of God (1,13). This is the ultimate reason why the Word became flesh: so that we might be raised up to share intimately with God’s life.