Sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS     Index

2nd Sunday after Christmas 2003 Homily

Today’s Gospel is by the Apostle John, the famous Beloved Disciple. John was a very young man when he followed Jesus but only wrote his Gospel when he was very old. Perhaps over fifty years had passed since the events he describes. For this reason alone he looks at things differently from the other Evangelists. He takes a longer view; he is more reflective and gives more of a theological and personal perspective.

John is called the Beloved Disciple because he never uses his own name in the text of his own Gospel. He always refers to himself as the disciple Jesus loved. It is clear that John experienced in an extraordinarily profound way that Jesus loved him.

We can see this directly from the text of his Gospel, most notably in the case of the Last Supper where John placed his head on Jesus’ breast and at the Crucifixion where Jesus places the care of his mother into John’s hands.

Would that we all had such an awareness of the depth of the love God has for us.

But turning to the text set before us today, the very first question John answers is the most important question of all: Who is Jesus? That is what these first eighteen verses of introduction to his Gospel are all about.

Who is Jesus? This, of course, is the question we must all answer for ourselves in the end.

Where did Jesus come from? The other writers say he came from Nazareth. But as we have said John takes a longer view. He existed from the very beginning—before the creation of the world.

The other Evangelists take different approaches. Matthew gives a long genealogy to indicate that Jesus came from the line of Abraham and David. Luke begins with John the Baptist going deeply into the extraordinary story of his birth while Mark begins with the Baptism of Jesus.

John is not satisfied with these half measures; he goes right back to the very beginning of creation. Jesus is the Son of God, and is therefore eternal, and so was there at the start. And it is through him that all things came to be.

Most memorably, John describes Jesus as The Word. In the beginning was the Word. Here he plunges straight into the depths of Trinitarian theology. Jesus, the Son of God, is the eternal Word of the Father.

What is a word, anyway? A word is an audible or a visual expression of a thought. Thoughts are incommunicable until they are put into words.

So Jesus is the spoken or visible expression of God. As John says, ‘No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest the father’s heart, who has made him known.

You can see how deeply this old man John has reflected on his experience with Jesus as they journeyed together around Palestine. He knows what he is talking about, he travelled, he eat, he camped out in the open with this Jesus. He touched him, he listened to him, he followed him, and he leaned on him.

After this close intimacy with Jesus and all the years of reflection and following him, John has understood that the most important thing about Jesus is his words, his Good News, and that this comes directly from God.

Jesus’ words have power. They bring things into being. When he speaks then what he intends happens. Take up thy bed and walk. Your sins are forgiven. This is my body. It is accomplished.

Jesus’ words have such power that John goes so far as to call him The Word made Flesh. When Jesus was among us as a man he expressed what was going on in the mind of God. It is only through the words of Jesus that we can really know God.

How are we to react to all this?

There is a great deal of power in the words of Jesus and through them we can come to know God. We can therefore take his words into our heart and God will dwell within us.

We already know many of Jesus’ words by heart, we can learn more. We can repeat them to ourselves in quiet moments. Turn them over in our minds and gain new insights into them and into their application in our lives.

We can savour his words just like we would savour a lozenge on the tongue. The words of Jesus can become so inseparable from us that they become our own words, our own way of looking at the world. If we adopt this strategy slowly, gradually, we will find that we have become very close to God.

Only three years ago we began the Third Millennium of the Christian era. We are the heralds of the Gospel for the people of our own day. Let them hear the words, the thoughts, the mind of Jesus, on our lips.

Let us become Beloved Disciples of the Lord. Let us be the carriers of his Word, the bearers of his Good News, ambassadors for Christ.

Through our efforts and with his grace it is not impossible that this will truly be the Third Millennium of the Christian era. This new millennium will not be a mere measurement of time, but time itself will have become sanctified and all those who exist within it will proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. And Christ will be able to say for the second time ‘It is accomplished.’