[ Today's Readings ]
The disciple whom Jesus loved, to whom he entrusted his mother, has special insight into the importance of the incarnation.
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 does write about in lofty passages about the invisible Logos, the eternal Word through whom God made the universe. But he understands this invisible Logos precisely because this word was is visible in the flesh of Jesus Christ. Before it is abstract and philosophical for John it is first something he hears, sees, and touches in the person of Jesus Christ.
John stands with Mary at the cross as Jesus suffers. He sees the body taken down and laid in a tomb. It is precisely through this body that the glory of the resurrection is revealed to him. Only after embracing the word made visible is John able to write about the invisible and the cosmic. Only in the resurrection of Jesus is the secret of eternal life made manifest to the world.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
John shows us an important truth about approaching Jesus. Along with him, as we read and learn about Jesus we first understand the facts of what he does as we gradually learn about who he is. From learning who he is God the Father is eventually revealed to us. We don't start with doctrines. We don't start with grand ideas. We start with a person. We can do this because that person is truly born in a manager in Bethlehem. The doctrines and ideas are all possible because this baby is held in his mother's arms on Christmas morning.
John, it turns out, is an expert at Christmas. Let him teach us the importance of the incarnation so that we can come close to Jesus just as he does. We come to see just how personal is the love which Jesus has for us. We understand what is meant by relational in describing our relationship with him. As we do we may find that we too are the disciple "whom Jesus loved."
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
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