27 December 2019 - witnesses of the incarnation

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

John wants to help us to believe as well. He wants us to become witnesses to the resurrection.

What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible;

John is talking about the Word that was in the beginning with God who took on flesh and pitched his tent in our midst (see John 1:1 and John 1:14). This is Jesus, the one has always existed but took on human flesh in such a real and historical way that John was able to hear and see and even touch him. He was able to rest his head on his shoulder. The incarnation was not just some poetic reflection of philosophical truth. It was he in whom all truth is found joining himself to a real specific human nature at a particular point in history.

The resurrection matters because it is more than a nice idea. It matters because without it death is the ultimate horizon of the human race, rendering all striving and progress ultimately without meaning. A fiction about a resurrection would almost be worth than nothing. But Jesus really came, suffered and died. By his resurrection he really did open a way beyond death. He defeated death and laid sin in its grave. He did this in the flesh, as John bears us witness.

we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you

Although we have not seen we believe. Jesus gives special blessings to us for this faith. His resurrection power can transform us no less than John. The fellowship the resurrection makes possible transcends time. It transcends what we can see now and joins us all in the fellowship of the Triune God.

so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

Let us be witnesses today. Hopefully we can find a small way that our words can give testimony. But let us at least live with hope, knowing that death is not the end. This too can be our witness.

Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.