Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
The Church celebrates the Fourth Gospel on the third day of Christmas because this Gospel insists "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
Matthew, Mark and Luke are equally aware of Jesus' body, his very real presence and I am reluctant to say that Saint John says it better than any one of them; but we cannot let Christmas go by without reflecting on the "sarx" of Jesus, that flesh in which he appeared.
Sarx is the Greek word for flesh, as in sarcasm, sarcoma and sarcophagas. The word applies to both animal and human flesh. When Saint John tells us in the fourteenth verse of his first chapter, the prologue of the Gospel, "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" he leaves no possibility that the Son of God moving among us might have been an apparition or a specter. He was flesh and blood, bone and marrow.
We have celebrated his birth of a Virgin in the last few days and, hopefully, our imagery has reminded us of his real presence among us. The manger and stable, the sheep and shepherds, Caesar Augustus' census, King Herod's ominous presence: these things don't belong in fairyland or Middle-earth. They are very familiar to us.
The Holy Spirit and the Church have continually tried to impress upon us this mystery of Incarnation. Saint Francis felt the urgency of Jesus' fleshy presence when he organized a Christmas midnight mass in Greccio. The earliest accounts of this story describe only straw, an ox and an ass but the people were overwhelmed by the experience. Could God be born as the smells of warm, familiar cowplop floated around his Virgin Mother?
The young artist Giotto caught the spirit of Incarnation when he painted frescoes in the basilica of Assisi. On one side of the church he created frescoes describing the life of Jesus; on the other, scenes from the life of Francis. On both sides there were olive trees as might be seen in any part of the Mediterranean world. On Francis' side the visitor saw pictures of "the saint" walking amid the familiar buildings of Assisi. There he is walking right in front of the Roman "Temple of Minerva," which remains in Assisi to this day.
The obvious lesson was, "If a saint could live in our town, the Lord God of heaven and earth could live in it too."
If this doctrine doesn't astonish you, stop and think about it. It's really important that we "get it." Without the doctrine of the Incarnation, Christianity is only another silly religion, built on fantasies and myths:
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)
If we don't believe that "the word became flesh and dwelt among us" then nothing else we say or do can make a difference. Jesus makes no difference if he is only a story like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
If God has actually been born of Mary, lived in Galilee, died on Calvary and been raised up again, then the world can be saved after all.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.