The Word Became Flesh

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

By Colleen O’Sullivan

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…  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…  No one has ever seen God.  The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.   (John 1:1-5, 14, 18)

Piety

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?

This sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am.

(from Mary, Did You Know?, lyrics by Mark Lowry, 1984

You can listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKWC-xRb8wg)

Study

No stable?  No baby in a manger?  No heavenly choir of angels singing?  No shepherds adoring the newborn little boy?  No, not in John’s Gospel.  We often manage to get so caught up in these details that we miss the greater meaning of Christmas.  John doesn’t want us to sentimentalize the details of that first Christmas and get stuck in Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago.  He wants us to reflect on what Jesus’ birth means for all time.

In some of the most poetic language in the Scriptures, John says the Word, which was God, became flesh.  In a literal translation from the Greek, Jesus “pitched his tent among us.”  I know that has to be Love, because when I look at my life, my sins and weaknesses, and the world around me, I don’t see an attractive, inviting campground for the Lord.  Not only did Jesus desire to come and be with us, he chose to be like us in every way but sin.  He wanted to be one of us, to experience all that you and I experience in life.  So we have a Savior who understands us from the inside out, a Savior with whom we can share anything and everything in prayer.

John says what Jesus brought to the world was Light.  No matter how dark our lives or the world may seem, this Light can never be overcome.  And maybe that’s the best news of Christmas.  If we live in the Light, we are children of God and God will deliver us from evil. 

Action

Spend a few minutes today prayerfully reading John 1:1-18.  Imagine Mary holding the Word, the Light of the World in her arms that first Christmas.  She, like the rest of us, had much to learn about the child born in the stable in Bethlehem.

May your Christmas be filled with joy!