Sunday 05 January 2014

Background

This is the second time we have read the prologue to John'sGospel this Christmas season. On Christmas morning we may haveheard no stories of shepherds, angels and mangers, but John'sresonant words about the meaning of incarnation. We read it againtoday as we celebrate the epiphany to emphasise the revelation ofthe true light to the dark world.

John begins the good news with an echo of the creationnarrative: "In the beginning …" (Genesis 1:1) to emphasise that God is revealedin both creation and redemption. In Greek John describes Jesus as'logos', which means not only the spoken Word of God which creates,but also the underlying logic of the structure of the createdorder, which makes it intelligible to humans. This was a conceptcentral to Stoic philosophy and developed by Philo, who combined itwith Hebrew Scriptures. But John is not engaged with metaphysicalspeculation, but with the reality of God's breaking in to humanhistory.

There are all kinds of darkness - poverty, oppression,brutality, war and corruption, and for the individual depression,loneliness, confusion, grief, helplessness and hopelessness. Andyet none of this darkness is able to overcome the true light, thelight that is the life force of the world itself. That light isembodied (literally 'enfleshed'), in the person of Jesus Christ.God puts skin on those intangible divine qualities of light, truth,grace and glory.

For John, Jesus Christ is the primary revelation of God: he notonly speaks the word of God, he is the Word of God; he notonly speaks the truth, he is the truth; he not only doesthe work of God, he is God. The implication of this isthat God is intimately involved in our physical existence. Ourmaterial bodies matter because God has blessed them with thepresence of Jesus Christ. John's message is that God is not faraway, but shares in every human experience. If we are bearingunbearable loss or suffering, God is in our agony. If nations areimprisoned in conflict and confusion, God is embedded with us inthat human predicament. There is no darkness, not even the darknessof death, in which God is not intimately engaged.

To Ponder

• What kinds of 'darkness' have you experienced? Have you foundGod's light to be present even then? How has it been revealed?

• The juxtaposition of light and darkness offers a decisivechoice: do we wish to live in the brightness of God's light, or toremain in the darkness? How do we choose light?

• Almost everybody has a word or a gift for bringing to life.What is your word? Hospitality? Generosity? Patience? How do youmake your word flesh in your own life?