Wednesday, 12/31/14
Today we have the
opening verses of the Gospel according to John. He wrote these words for the
Greek-speaking people of his time. Now, in ancient times the Greeks believed in
the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. But, in John’s time they were like
people today who believe in Mother Nature, but in no God in heaven.
What we call Mother
Nature, they called the “Logos,” which is simply Greek for the “Word.”
So, John began this
Gospel for Greek speaking people, by agreeing with them in their believe in a
God in Nature. The bookish word for being in nature is saying he is imminent in
Nature. The bookish word for existing above Nature would be transcendent.
John immediately
went further than the Greeks. He said their imminent Logos had a
transcendent existence in which he was one with the creator or Father of
nature. The Logos did not just exist side-by-side with the Father; in another
place John described their relationship as an unending act of love.
Now, it is of the
nature of true love that it must always be giving to others.
(Going way outside
the Bible for an example of love’s need to expand, I think of my sister Peg and
her husband Joe. They had thirteen kids, but they were always fitting in extra
beds for families deserted by their dad, for my brother when he was having a
rocky time, for my dad in his last year, and for visiting priests who at least
paid for the roll-away they used when in town.)
Of the Word John
wrote, “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of
the world.” In calling him the life we can look upon him as the only source for
all physical and mental life. We are the light or the sparks struck off him.
Even our moments of consciousness with which we identify ourselves are flashes
of is life he shares with us.
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