Christmas 1C
(Is 61:10-62:3; Ps 147:13-21; Gal 3:23-25, 4:4-7; Jn 1:1-18) As we’re still in the midst of Christmas season, today’s gospel lesson proclaims the true identity of Jesus as Christ. Who really is Jesus? St John the Baptizer’s identity seems to confuse some people. They wonder if John is the Messiah. Their messages are pretty much identical that they both talk about the coming of God’s kingdom and the radical change of heart. Yet, not only St John the Baptizer himself but also St John the Evangelist deny one thing that this John, Jesus’s cousin is not the Christ, the Anointed One. John’s role is strictly to prepare the way of Jesus that he is coming. If one considers John as the Messiah, it’s like believing the finger that points at the moon to be the moon. Both Johns would say, “Don’t look at me, but who I am pointing at!” I think today’s gospel lesson can make us look at a wrong tree. What wrong tree is this? It’s this rather puzzling Greek term ‘logos’ or simply ‘word’ in English. We just heard in the gospel lesson, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” What kind of word is this? John refers this Word to be the Word of God. And the Word of God that became human is Jesus. Now this still sounds confusing. I think it’s easier to make sense to say that God just became human because it is somewhat imaginable, though we can never fully grasp what it is. So, what is the Word of God John is so preoccupied in our gospel lesson? We can get some idea from the very first chapter of the first book of the Hebrew Bible. There aretwo things we want to look at. The first thing is that they both start their first line of the first chapter with “In the beginning when God created…” It’s not too hard to imagine that John seems to mimic this opening line of Genesis 1. The second thing, which is our interest here, is this word. It is not exactly the same that the author of Genesis 1 uses this term ‘word’ but how God creates this world is by God’s word. When God creates something, it is rather simple. It begins with “God said.” So for example, God said, “Let there be light.” God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” John almost seems to say, “In the beginning when God created, God said.” This can actually mean “In the beginning was the Word…” presupposing that it is the Word that creates this world. And this Word of God incarnate is Jesus. Now, we might theologically and biblically get a sense of how we Christians understand Jesus’s identity. Still there’s a question that remains. What does this Word became flesh create now in our time? Why does this Word matter to me, you, and all of us? I feel like John knew that someone was actually going to ask this kind of question in the future. In his depiction of Jesus’s true identity as Christ, John says later in chapter 3, which I believe we are quite familiar with, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...” (3:16a) Let’s connect some dots. It’s like a spiritual puzzle. The first piece is “God said.” The second piece is “Word.” The third piece is “God so loved.” And the last piece is “God’s only Son Jesus.” Both “God said” and “Word” are really about the language of God. Jesus, God’s only Son is the manifestation of God’s love for the world. If I make sense of all these keywords, it’s something like this: “Jesus is the love language of God.” For us Christians, if we want to see what God’s love looks like, we look at Jesus. He is not a doctrine or a theory we subscribe to. Before any doctrinal statements developed, he was a person. He is God’s love that became human. He is God’s human language speaking and communicating the unconditional love to us. Not only do we look at what he says and teaches, what he does, and how he behaves to perceive and experience God’s love, but we also pay attention to where Jesus is, where he suffers on the cross with those who are also suffering. At times, we avoid looking at Jesus in suffering as if he will never show up or thinking he never cares. But I can assure you he is with us. He is God Emmanuel, God with us in the manger, on the cross, yet no longer in the tomb. I like to share this reflection of Anthony De Mello, a Jesuit priest which may be helpful and encouraging for us to see Jesus in suffering. (The Song of the Bird, Anthony De Mello, pp.113-4) The title of his short reflection is “The Look of Jesus”: In the Gospel according to Luke we read: “But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, a cock crew; and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter...and Peter went outside and wept bitterly.” I had a fairly good relationship with the Lord. I would ask him for things, converse with him, praise him, thank him… But always I had this uncomfortable feeling that he wanted me to look at him. And I would not. I would talk, but look away when I sensed he was looking at me. I was afraid. I should find an accusation there of some unrepented sin. I thought I should find a demand there; there would be something he wanted from me. One day I finally summoned up courage and looked! There was no accusation. There was no demand. The eyes just said, ‘I love you.’ And I walked out, and like Peter, I wept. The look of Jesus doesn’t say much but one thing only, “I love you.” And this is the true nature of who Jesus is. This is God who speaks through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s love language. And as Christians, we are to speak this language of love. The only thing that is supported and permitted by Jesus for us to cross any kind of boundaries among people is love. It is this love that serves for the good of the other and helps the other to flourish. It desires union between the lover and the beloved. Jesus in whom God’s unconditional love became flesh crosses all kinds of human boundaries in the name of love. He becomes friends with the most despicable people in his time. He sets them free from judgment, guilt, and shame. He wants them to flourish as God’s beloved. Jesus is God’s incarnate desire to be in union with us. He sacramentally gives his whole body and blood by which we become one. Thus, we are in communion with him. In this Christmastide, may the Holy Spirit grant you the courage to look at Jesus who looks at you and says, “I love you.” And may the Holy Spirit grant you the courage to spread that love without measure. And how do we do that? Let me end this homily with the words of Howard Thurman, a philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader : “When the song of angels stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nation, to bring peace among the brothers and sisters, to make music in the heart.” In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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