20211227 THE CHRISTIAN PROCLAMATION OF THE INCARNATION
27 December, 2021, Monday, St John, Apostle, Evangelist
First reading | 1 John 1:1-4 © |
The Word, who is life - this is our subject
Something which has existed since the beginning,
that we have heard,
and we have seen with our own eyes;
that we have watched
and touched with our hands:
the Word, who is life –
this is our subject.
That life was made visible:
we saw it and we are giving our testimony,
telling you of the eternal life
which was with the Father and has been made visible to us.
What we have seen and heard
we are telling you
so that you too may be in union with us,
as we are in union
with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 96(97):1-2,5-6,11-12 © |
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The Lord is king, let earth rejoice,
let all the coastlands be glad.
Cloud and darkness are his raiment;
his throne, justice and right.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The mountains melt like wax
before the Lord of all the earth.
The skies proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Light shines forth for the just
and joy for the upright of heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord;
give glory to his holy name.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Te Deum |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 20:2-8 © |
The other disciple saw, and he believed
On the first day of the week Mary of Magdala came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.
THE CHRISTIAN PROCLAMATION OF THE INCARNATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 John 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,11-12; John 20:2-8]
Christmas is the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are not just celebrating the birthday of any baby but the birth of our Saviour, who is truly God and truly man. But for some people the idea of God taking human flesh, that is, the doctrine of the Incarnation, is absurd. How could God who is the creator of the world, of all that exists, be one of us, sharing our joys, sorrows, pains, suffering and even death? How can God become man? This is too far-fetched for many sophisticated people even today. They cannot imagine that God, who is the Transcendent, can be touched and affected by what is happening in the world; otherwise we can easily manipulate Him. This inability to reconcile how God can become man, was the challenge for the early Church, as it is for us today.
In the Old Testament, God is seen as majestic, powerful and above all. He is holy, transcendent, unapproachable and awesome. So much so, to see Him is to die. When Moses requested God to “Show me your glory, I pray”, He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” He said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” (Ex 33:18-20) That was why when Jesus claimed to be divine, the Jews were scandalized and the religious leaders accused Him of heresy. Monotheism does not allow another God other than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Hence, the Christian proclamation of Jesus as one with God and is God, was untenable to the Jews. Even the apostles had difficulty speaking to their fellow Jews who were strict monotheists and therefore believed only in the one God, but they had even greater difficulty speaking to the Gentile Christians. When Christianity came into contact with the Greek world of philosophy, and translated into Greek terminology, there was great confusion. One of the prevailing world views was Gnosticism, where they believed that the only way to know God was through some superior, mystical and esoteric knowledge. God cannot be seen and touched as such. Furthermore, matter was considered essentially evil. A spiritual man therefore had to practise strict ascetism, to despise the body. Only the spirit is pure and holy. Death is the way to be released from the prison of this body.
Naturally, for the Gnostics, if Christ was truly God, then He could not have had a body. Docetic Gnosticism therefore taught that the Spirit of God came upon Jesus only at His baptism and left Him just before He was put to death on the cross because God cannot die. The body that Christ assumed was only apparent. Such a doctrine would deny that Christ truly rose from the dead and that He saved us by His atonement death. This was because Gnosticism could not accept that God could be contaminated by matter, since God is pure Spirit. Such teaching undermines the truth of the incarnation, that God really took flesh in the person of Jesus.
To counter such misleading understanding of who Christ is, St John refuted such Gnostic heretical views by stating in no uncertain terms, both in his gospel and in his letters, that Christ is truly God made man. And He has taken upon our human flesh. On Christmas morning we read, “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 into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. 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.” (Jn 1:1-3, 14) Today’s reading gives us the testimony of John. “Something which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word, who is life – this is our subject. That life was made visible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us.” Clearly, the Word of Life is more than just the Word of God but made flesh in the person of our Lord. John saw our Lord in His ministry, in His suffering, passion and death. Jesus was truly human.
This testimony of Jesus as the Word of God, the visible glory of the Father, came about because of John’s sighting of the empty tomb and later the resurrected Lord. In today’s gospel, we read how Peter and John ran to the empty tomb after the report of Mary of Magdala that the body of Jesus was missing. But what was amazing was not that the body of our Lord was not found in the tomb but they found “the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.” If the body of our Lord was stolen by the soldiers, then they would have just brought His entire body with them rather than leaving the linen cloths behind. And if Jesus were resuscitated, He would have struggled and torn the cloths. But since they were neatly arranged, it leaves us to imagine and wonder. In the case of John, we read, “he saw and he believed.” John intuited immediately that the Lord was risen although he could not explain how it happened.
Consequently, when we celebrate Christmas, we are truly saying that the baby Jesus is truly God and truly man. That God would assume our humanity to prove that He is the Emmanuel, means that He is truly with us in every way. Such is the love of God expressed in the birth of our Lord, in His ministry, His passion, death and resurrection. Accordingly, at Christmas, we truly celebrate the gift of God’s love to us. It is this love that can sustain us in our journey in life. He is truly the Emmanuel. Knowing that God understands us and is with us in Jesus, we are consoled by His presence and love. John said, “What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us, as we are in union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete.”
Indeed, in Jesus, we come to share in the eternal life of God. He is the One who shows us the way to the Father. In Jesus, we see the Father’s visible love and mercy for us in His ministry, teaching, healing and exorcisms. Most of all, that love was expressed in His passion, death and resurrection. Jesus not only led the way but showed us the way that fullness of life and joy is to live a life in union with Him and His Father by loving and giving ourselves to others as He did. We who worship Christ at Christmas are called to be the gifts of God to others too. We are called to be the visible image of God’s love to all. It is through our works of mercy, our goodness and compassion that others can see, hear and touch God in us.
Proclamation leads to fellowship. St John wrote, “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn 1:12f) In union with Christ and with our Father, we are in fellowship with our brothers and sisters. Fellowship is more than friendship. It means that we all share common beliefs about Jesus and we think like Him, act like Him, serve like Him, love like Him. What unites us in spite of our diverse backgrounds is that we all are deeply in love with our Lord. Fellowship presumes a sharing of faith and it is this faith that binds us together, unlike friendship which is a bond that comes from mutual understanding and support or common interests.
Being in fellowship with our brothers and sisters brings us deep joy not because we do not have problems or sufferings in life but we know we are no longer alone. Jesus who is present in our brothers and sisters continues to reach out to us so that we can find strength. In this way, our joy is truly complete because this joy is founded in the Lord and not on external circumstances unlike happiness. Joy is something deep in our hearts, is enduring, knowing that God is with us and we know He will see us through. Happiness is short-lived because circumstances change quickly. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Neh 8:10)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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