The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to use our contemplation of the Word becomes flesh to activate our hope and action to be Christ in our environment.
 |
| His tent among us |
The reading from the First Letter of John is a warning for the community to reject the teaching of those against Christ.
* [2:22–23] Certain gnostics denied that the earthly Jesus was the Christ; to deny knowledge of the Son is to deny the Father, since only through the Son has God been fully revealed (Jn 1:18; 14:8–9).1
Psalm 96 is praise to God Who comes in judgement.
* [Psalm 96] A hymn inviting all humanity to praise the glories of Israel’s God (Ps 96:1–3), who is the sole God (Ps 96:4–6). To the just ruler of all belongs worship (Ps 96:7–10); even inanimate creation is to offer praise (Ps 96:11–13). This Psalm has numerous verbal and thematic contacts with Is 40–55, as does Ps 98. Another version of the Psalm is 1 Chr 16:23–33.2
The prologue to the Gospel of John contains poetic language to present the Word Became Flesh.
* [1:1–18] The prologue states the main themes of the gospel: life, light, truth, the world, testimony, and the preexistence of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos, who reveals God the Father. In origin, it was probably an early Christian hymn. Its closest parallel is in other christological hymns, Col 1:15–20 and Phil 2:6–11. Its core (Jn 1:1–5, 10–11, 14) is poetic in structure, with short phrases linked by “staircase parallelism,” in which the last word of one phrase becomes the first word of the next. Prose inserts (at least Jn 1:6–8, 15) deal with John the Baptist.3
Larry Gillick, S.J. asks why did the pre-existent Word become flesh; become visible to “pitch His Tent among us?”
Jesus, as Word and Light, has come into our darkness to enlighten us about who the Creator sees us and all other creatures to be… This past year we have seen enough of ourselves and each other to know that we need an increase of that Light. We know our human darkness and yet we have seen God’s Light, still pitched among us. The Light remains, inviting us out of our formless chaos into the honor of being “Children of God.” The Light shines, not as a detective, or accuser, but as a Finder, Healer and Savior. Every day, every moment is the continuation of the Old becoming New. Jesus is the timeless resolution, renewed within the moments of our lives. The Old begins something new within each moment of our lives, both this past year and within the year soon to begin. “In the beginning” is always and in all ways, now!4
The reflection from Don Schwager today is a summary of the grace and truth that is the Incarnation. It includes comments on: Why does John the Evangelist begin his Gospel account with a description of the Word of God and the creation of the universe and humankind?; The eternal Word leaped down from heaven; Truly man and truly God; and quotes from Gaudium et Spes (PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD: POPE PAUL VI); Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great early church fathers (330-395 AD); and “The first-fruits of the Gospels,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).
The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. The Son of God ...worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin (Gaudium et Spes).5
Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?5
"I think that John's Gospel, which you have enjoined us to examine to the best of our ability, is the first-fruits of the Gospels. It speaks of him whose descent is traced and begins from him who is without a genealogy... The greater and more perfect expressions concerning Jesus are reserved for the one who leaned on Jesus' breast. For none of the other Gospels manifested his divinity as fully as John when he presented him saying, 'I am the light of the world' (John 8:42), 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6), 'I am the resurrection' (John 11:25), 'I am the door' (John 10:9), 'I am the good shepherd' (John 10:11)... We might dare say then that the Gospels are the first-fruits of all Scripture but that the first-fruits of the Gospels is that according to John whose meaning no one can understand who has not leaned on Jesus' breast or received Mary from Jesus to be his mother also." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.21–23)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:1-18 invites us to think about adding another resolution—one that flows from today’s Gospel reading. Think about resolving to increase your sense of hope in the Lord.
Now, most of us already live with a certain degree of hope. But sometimes anxiety can creep in and rob us of it. We learn of a loved one’s cancer diagnosis and wonder if they’ll ever recover. We fall back into a sin pattern we thought we had already conquered. We see empty pews at Mass and worry about the future of the Church.
These are all real challenges, and it’s tempting to let them convince us to throw away our hope. But at the bottom of such struggles are these two fundamental questions: Does God see what is happening? And is he going to do anything about it?6
Friar Jude Winkler instructs about Gnosticism in the Christian community that declared Christ is not Divine in nature. The prologue to the Gospel of John is both poetic and prose. Friar Jude finds connections to the Hebrew Testament in “He pitched His tent among us”.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects that up to now, top-down religion has pretty much spoiled the show. We need trained experts, scholars, leaders, and teachers, but the truths of Christianity must be made much more accessible, available, localized, and pastoral. Most people do not need to have encyclopedic knowledge of theology or Scripture. To begin with, why not flatten out the huge and unbiblical distinction between clergy and laity? [1].
It seems to me that we must begin to validate Paul’s original teaching on “many gifts and many ministries” (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Together, these diverse gifts “make a unity in the work of service” (Ephesians 4:12-13, Jerusalem Bible). Individual communities may do this well, but on the whole we need Christian people who are trained in, validated for, and encouraged to make home and hospital visits; do hospice work and jail ministry; support immigrants and refugees; help with soup kitchens or food pantries; counsel couples before, during, and after marriage; share child development resources with families; offer ministries of emotional, sexual, and relational healing; help with financial counseling; build low-cost housing; take care of the elderly; run thrift centers—all of which put Christian people in immediate touch with other people and for which no ordination is needed. Ordination would probably even get in the way. Remember, healing was most of the work Jesus did. This fact is almost too obvious.7
The development of our understanding of the Word made flesh is possible partially through study that is brought to life as we pitch our tent among the needs and concerns of the people we meet and witness Incarnation in acting out our gifts and talents for others.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment