Gospel: John 1:1-18
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
“The Word became flesh” (v. 14). St. John’s Gospel does not elaborate on genealogy like Matthew and Luke, nor does it include the Annunciation. This Gospel starts with God’s Incarnation being fulfilled by the birth of Christ. St. John goes right to the core of the Gospels. God became man and lived among us, as we are, except without sin. The nature of this newborn is light that overcomes the darkness. Those who accept him as their Redeemer and Savior enjoy his light and are called to be a witness to this light. John the Baptist was not the light but the one who witnessed to the true light.
This is our joy at Christmas, to rejoice in his birth, to receive him in our hearts and minds. Jesus came to restore God’s image of love and bounty, which God created in us, in his own image. We cannot become the light but we can be like the star of the magi, called to be a sign that leads to God through our witness in our daily life. Like God, we can take the first initiative to save, create and correct. We are called to keep this light within us, not hidden, but as a guide for others to find Christ.
Oh come let us adore him, Christ the Lord! Alleluia! Merry Christmas!