Christmas Day - Years A,B, & C (John 1: 1-14)

Save for a few words, this lovely hymn to the Logos could easily be in honor of a Gnostic savior. By Gnostic I mean salvation through an idea or teaching, personified perhaps, but an object of the mind. Such a savior is as popular (or more so) today as ever. There are many who like the “teachings” of Jesus but are scandalized by the person of Jesus and even more so by the Church. Lots of others give voice to a similar sentiment when they proclaim that they are “spiritual but not religious”.
While it might be accurately said that the author of the fourth Gospel dallied with Gnostic ideas, the “punch line” of the Prologue brings both the writer and the Word clearly back down to earth. The Word became flesh and lived among us.” There is no “took up the appearance of flesh” here. The Word who spoke and it was made has itself become something made of real flesh and blood, the creator has become creature. For those of us blessed with the faith not to be scandalized by such a savior, the glory of God has entered our concrete lives in such a way as to make being “spiritual” (in its most limited sense) the ultimate heresy.

Such is the grace and truth of Christmas!

Third Sunday of Advent - Year B (John 1:6-8, 19-28)

Among you stands one whom you do not know. Begging the pardon of any who might read this, I am going to take this statement in a direction that might seem out of sync with the apparent intentions of the evangelist. I want to move beyond knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ to knowledge of and relationship with the Christ who is present to us “sacramentally” in the poor and marginalized of our world.
Among you stands one whom you do not know: the “homeless vet” asking for a handout at the freeway off ramp; the drag queen beaten and left for dead in the back alley; the children of “illegals” who are now afraid to go to school; the bullied teen; the lonely elderly; the list goes on and on. And the amazing truth, my brothers and sisters, is that not a one of us, not even John the Baptizer (whom Jesus calls the greatest man born of woman), is worthy to untie the sandal thong of any of these.
Among you stands one whom you do not know. To focus our Advent hope and expectations on the coming Christ while failing to recognize his presence among us is to seriously miss the point and to stand in risk of judgment. To know these is to know the one who comes after them.