Friday December 25th: Our long awaited salvation.

“The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory.”

John 1: 1 – 18.

St. John’s gospel has a reputation for being above our heads. Even the symbol used to describe the gospel, the eagle, gives the impression of a book that soars to unattainable heights. Yet John gives the clearest insight into Jesus’ identity. He does not cloud Jesus’ identity in stories and parables as the synoptic gospels do.

From the start of the gospel John says that Jesus is the Word that was with God, that was God and that Word became incarnate and lived with us. While the Christmas narratives of the other gospels are beautiful and appealing, it is good to have the clarity that John offers in his prologue.

Everything that the prophets foretold about Jesus is contained in John’s prologue from the word go. Jesus is the eternal Son, his coming was announced by John the Baptist, he is the light that has come into our darkness, through him we became sons and daughters of our heavenly Father and he is our long awaited salvation.