Reflect the Word of Life

Scripture scholars describe the Gospel of John as a spiritual gospel. The Roman Catholic Lectionary for the third day in the Octave of Christmas presents texts to celebrate St. John the Evangelist. DonSchwager introduces the objective of John to write down in 100 CE in Ephesus an account which would answer the question of who is Jesus of Nazareth. Seventy years after the time when John, the youngest of the Apostles, lived with Jesus, he gathers his reflections in a structured manner to address an audience who were largely living in the cultural environment of Greece and Rome. The opening of the first letter of John today tells us that Jesus is experienced by those who encounter Him, from the beginning, as the Word of Life. The deep passion of John is to share this experience of Life in Jesus with us and all people so that our (all people) may know complete joy. The nativity narrative which is the foundation story of the Christmas feast is told with magnificent descriptions of faith filled decisions, journey, and glorious revelation in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. In John 1:14 it reads “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.” The text in the Lectionary today is from the reflection of John on the experience of encountering the empty tomb after Jesus resurrection. John expresses the experience at the tomb of seeing and believing. As John reflects on Jesus identity as the Incarnate Word, the experience of the empty tomb is described by Bede, a church father from the 8thcentury, as a closing bracket which is matched by the opening bracket of Jesus becoming human through the closed womb of Mary. Eileen Burke-Sullivan ofCreighton University is attentive to the joy which is inherent in the Gospel of John. This joy which John seeks to share in his writing is the same joy whichPapa Francesco is advocating people re-discover today in the Gospel.   Ethan R. Longhenry, author of the SPIRITUAL MANNA blog, identifies Christianity as those who live in encounter with Jesus rather than by dogma, doctrine and moral principles. The joy and thanksgiving. which Eileen Burke-Sullivan admits is sometimes difficult to regenerate, is rooted the experience of a personal encounter with Jesus that revives faith and trust in the Way, Truth and Life.