Reflection for Christmas Day - first chapter of the Gospel of John By Cathy Hayden

      Throughout Advent we have been eagerly anticipating Christmas Day, the day we celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus to Mary and Joseph. 

      Our Gospel readings over the last few days of Advent have been from Matthew and Luke. These stories anticipate Jesus’ birth. They tell of events leading up to his birth and the circumstances of his birth. We recall Zechariah and Elizabeth and the anticipation of their child who is John the Baptist, the messenger who one day paves the way. We recall the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth and their love and support of each other. We recall Joseph’s dilemma when he learns Mary is with child. And we recall their trip to Bethlehem where Jesus comes into the world.

       During the Advent season we think of Jesus as the little baby born in a stable of Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. 

       But on Christmas Day, the day we celebrate his coming, our Gospel reading is from neither Matthew nor Luke. We are no longer anticipating the birth of a tiny baby born to human parents. We are instead reminded that Jesus is so much more. 

       Our Christmas Day Gospel is one of the most well-known and most poetic Scriptures – the first chapter of the Gospel of John. 

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race; 

The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it.

A few verses later it says:

And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us …

The Gospel of John reminds us today that although Jesus came into the world as a baby at a particular time and particular place, he has really always been with us and remains with us. Jesus, born of Mary, and the Word, the Son of God for all eternity, are not two different persons, but are the same. He always was, is and always will be.

We rejoice today not only for the birth of the human baby Jesus but also for the incarnation, the Word, the light of the world, who was made flesh, who dwells within us and who is always with us. Thanks be to God!