and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Jesus is the light that dawns for the just. He is the dawn from on high that breaks upon us this morning. He is the light of the world which the darkness has not and indeed cannot overcome.
No one has ever seen God before today. Before the morning when the dawn finally breaks upon us he is not been visible to us. He has been heard, but only in varied and partial ways by our ancestors (cf. Heb. 1:1). Now he speaks to us through Jesus. Jesus is the promise fulfilled (filled in fullness). He is the complete word, everything which the Father has to say to mankind.
He is the word of the Father, the word of life, but he is no ordinary word. He is word, but not merely a word. That's good. We aren't good listeners. God knows we aren't. He knows that we manage to miss and accidentally ignore even the most important things we hear. This is the same word which "was with the Father" "from the beginning". It is the same word the prophets tried to speak partially. But now, spoken in fullness it is at the same to "made visible to us". It is not just an abstraction. It is a word that we not only hear, but also see with our eyes and even touch with our hands. It is as though we were once using textbooks which were good and contained much truth. But today the author of these great books now teaches the class directly. And he himself is the subject.
He is "the eternal life that was with the Father". Today we see just what that means. It is made visible to us. Eternal means that death cannot win. Darkness cannot win.
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
"The heavens proclaim his justice and all peoples see his glory" as this light dawns. In his nativity, in his life, in his death and resurrection Jesus makes the word of GOd concrete and visible to all of our senses. In the mass we hear "Behold the Lamb" and see Jesus himself lifted before us as we are invited to come forward and receive him. We are invited to touch the same savior who John proclaims.
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
His light shines upon us. All we need to do is come forward and receive him. When we do he shines through us, spreading his light to the entire world.
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