The Glory

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas A-1

Entrance Antiphon Is 9:5 A child is born for us, and a son is given to us; his sceptre of power rests upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, who in the Nativity of your Son established the beginning and fulfillment of all religion, grant, we pray, that we may be numbered among those who belong to him, in whom is the fullness of human salvation. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 John 2:18-21; Psalm 96:1-2, 11-13; John 1:1-18

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 were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came to bear witness, to give testimony to the light that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give testimony to the light. That was the true light which enlightens every man who comes into this world. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as received him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. They are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. John bore witness to him and cried out, saying: “This is he of whom I said, He who comes after me, is preferred before me, because he was before me.” And of his fullness we all have received, grace upon grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (John 1:1-18)

The Glory Our Gospel passage today is commonly called the Prologue of St John’s Gospel, an extended passage that serves as an Introduction to the entire Gospel and a kind of summary of it. More than do the other three Gospels — so similar to one another that they are called the Synoptic Gospels — this Gospel of St John and in particular its Prologue, provides a panoramic theological vision of Christ. We are taken back into eternity, into what St John calls “the beginning.” In the beginning, there was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. St John does not say that the Word began at the beginning — no. Nor is he meaning to teach about a beginning in time, let alone a beginning of God and of his Word! Rather, he is saying this of the Word, that however one chooses to imagine the beginning, there the Word already was. The Word who was with God in the beginning and who was himself God already existed at the beginning. That is to say, God and his Word are eternal. Furthermore, St John speaks at the outset of God’s Word as being personal. That is to say, he is a distinct Person. “He” was in the beginning with God and all things came to be through “him.” So the Word of God was a divine and eternal Person, living with God who is a Person distinct from him. Yet there is but one God, and the Word is the one God. So God and his Word are each of them Persons, and each is the one living God. Indeed, as St John says in the same passage, the Word is the only‑begotten Son of God, the Father. John is assuming the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, though not mentioning the Third divine Person, for his focus here is on the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. All things were created and sustained in and through him, and he, the Word, is the life and the light of the human race. Wonder of wonders, the divine and eternal Word of God became man and dwelt among us.

St John is celebrating and proclaiming the fact of the Incarnation. God became man. But he is also singing of his glory. In the Gospel of St Luke, Mary proclaims the glory of God. My soul proclaims the glory of the Lord, she says, and my spirit exults in God my Saviour. The same could be said of St John in writing his Prologue. He proclaims the glory of the Lord. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only‑begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1‑18). The rest of the Gospel, beginning from the baptism of our Lord, will be the unfolding narrative of the revelation of his glory. St John wants every one of his readers to come to know the glory of the only‑begotten Son of God made man. Many knew him. Many grew up with him and associated with him in Nazareth. Many met and knew him during his public ministry. Many saw him being rejected and abused. Many saw him on his way to Calvary and then hanging on the Cross. Very many did not see his glory. That is to say, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” He came to be accepted and, we read, “to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.” St John tells us that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only‑begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” Essentially, the Christian is one who has come to see the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. Jesus Christ is the glory of the human race because he is the Glory that is God. The one who draws near to Jesus and comes to know him as his disciple will come to see his glory.

Let us resolve to be Christ’s disciple and day by day grow in his friendship. I have not called you servants, he said to his disciples. I have called you friends. The more we grow in friendship with Jesus, the more we will see his glory. Our whole life ought be given over to the glory of Jesus, and this we do by hearing his word, putting it into daily practice, and by following him closely. Let us in this way come to see the glory of Christ and bear witness to it in our everyday life.

(E.J.Tyler)

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