Saturday, 12/31/16
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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