Inbox InspirationsDecember 18, 2024
"In the beginning was the Word..." - 1
John starts his gospel with these unforgettable words: “In the beginning was the Word…”Let’s first place these words in context.
Two of the four gospels, Matthew and Luke, begin by telling us about the birth of Jesus. From these two gospels we have those warm stories and vivid images: an angel appearing to Joseph; the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary; the journey to Bethlehem; the birth of Jesus in a manger; the visits of the shepherds and of the magi. These stories convey in a very memorable way the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Mark’s gospel does not tell these stories. Instead, it starts with the adult Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist and then beginning his public ministry. Nevertheless, at Jesus’ baptism there is a voice from the heavens saying to him, “You are my beloved Son.” So, while Mark doesn’t tell us about Jesus’ birth or attribute the name Emmanuel to him, he still wants us to know right away Jesus’ identity as the “beloved Son.”
Then, there is the fourth gospel, with its first words quoted above. Like Mark, John gives us no details about Jesus’ birth. His is the last of the four gospels to be written and maybe John figures that everyone already knows those details. Unlike the other three gospels, John begins in his very first sentence with an understanding of who Jesus. He begins with theology.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The first eighteen verses of this gospel are called the Prologue –the preface or introduction. No question, the Prologue of John’s gospel sets the stage for the entire narrative that he tells. It tells who Jesus is, the Christ, the Word spelled with a capital W.
So, I recommend that we read this Prologue, John 1:1-18 here in this late Advent time and/or in the Christmas Season. It will inspire us in an entirely different way from the other gospels. I will be commenting on several of the key points in this Prologue in my next two Inbox Inspirations, those of December 25 (Christmas Day) and January 1 (the Octave Day of Christmas and New Year’s Day). John’s Prologue will enrich this season for us.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
December 25, 2024
“In the beginning was the Word…” – 2
Dear Friends,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” These words are chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 of John’s gospel. John is focused on what he calls “the Word.” What is this “Word”? And why is there a capital Where? To try to understand this, we must first go back to the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are many passages about the “word” of God – spelled with a small w. In Genesis, God creates the world by speaking (Genesis 1:1-5). Other texts state that God has created through his word: “By the Lord’s word the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6). The prophet Jeremiah speaks of his calling: “The word of the Lord came to me” (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
Then the “word” also came to be identified as God’s wisdom. “Lord of mercy, you have made all things by your word and in your wisdom have established humankind” (Wisdom 9:1-2). The next step is that some texts personify God’s wisdom as some kind of heavenly figure who was present when God created (Proverbs 8:27-31). In other words, the “word” was more than other creatures or created beings, but not a divine person or deity separate from the Creator himself.
The next and crucial step comes with John’s gospel. He has reflected on the reality of Jesus, the Christ or Anointed One of God. John makes the breakthrough in seeing that “the Word”shares God’s identity in such a way that God’s unity is not affected. The Word is one with and yet distinct from God (the Father). Therefore, the use of a capital W for “the Word”! So, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then, to make it absolutely clear, John adds: “He was in the beginning with God.”
John is saying that everything that the Father is, the Word is. They are one and yet they are two.
This is the breakthrough and revelation of the first two verses of John’s gospel. I will continue with this next week and hope it is a helpful reflection for this Christmas Season.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
My primary source for this is The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV.
January 1, 2025
“In the beginning was the Word…” – 3
Dear Friends,
So, in the first two verses of his gospel, John is very clear: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). The Father and the Word are one and yet they are two. Maybe we need to quickly recall two things here: this is only chapter 1 of John’s gospel and eventually John will also talk about the Spirit, and the word or concept of Trinity was not yet in use when John was writing.
John goes on to say more about the Word of God or the Word that is God. “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (John1:3). The understanding I have learned about this is that the Father’s expression or thought of himself is the Word. In fact, the Word is such a perfect image of the Father that it is also a person, the Son. “The Word perfectly reflects all that the Father is, expressing all that can ever be created. God the Father creates what he sees imaged in his Word, and thus nothing came to be without the Word.”
John continues. “What came to be through him was life” (Genesis 1:4). Genesis reveals that all things, both animate and inanimate, were created by God. With John’s insight in 1:3, we know also that all is created through the Word. Nevertheless, animate or living beings were and are the highest forms of creation. This includes plants, animals, and humans. And the highest of these is human life since we have a soul or spirit and have the capacity for a relationship with God.
I have to think that this is why John goes on to say that “this life was the light of the human race” (Genesis 1:4). Light is attributed to God throughout all of Scripture and, later in John’s gospel, Jesus himself (the Word made flesh) is called “the light of the world” (John 8:12 and 9:5). So, the life given to us is the light for the human race.
I will conclude these reflections on the Prologue to John’s Gospel next week.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
Non-Scriptural quotation is from The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV.
January 8, 2025
“In the beginning was the Word…” – 4
Dear Friends,
John realizes that Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, is the Christ. The name or, more accurately, the title Christ literally means the Anointed One. It meant Messiah and was another way of referring to the One who was long ago promised by God. In identifying Jesus as the Christ, John also realizes that in him God is fulfilling all the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures and revealing himself fully to us. There had been many things spoken by God to his people through the centuries. There had been many words. But now, John realizes that in this one person, Jesus, the Christ, God has spoken fully and completely. Jesus himself is the full communication of God to us.
And so, as John says right in chapter 1, verse 1 of his gospel, Jesus is “the Word.” He is not just a word or another word of God. He as a person is “the Word,” the full expression of the Father to us. And so, John spells this word with a capital W. It is the name of this person.
John also realizes that “the Word” was always with God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). And now, the Word has entered the world and taken on our humanity as the person Jesus. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Notice: John now also speaks of “the Word” (and this means Jesus) as “the Father’s only Son.” The Son and the Father are one and yet they are two. They are distinct and yet the unity or oneness of God remains. The Word is “full of grace and truth,” as is the Father. Because of this, we know the Father, God, in and through Jesus. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, Jesus, the Word, the Son is our light (John 8:12), and, as John says, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
I hope these columns (the Inbox Inspirations of December 18 and 25, of January 1 and today) have been good reflections for this Christmas season.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
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