Jn 1: 1-18
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 into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Omnipotence and Love
Today’s Gospel reminds us of the singular act of God’s creation and redemption of the world. If God had created the world but didn’t redeem it, God’s action wasn’t necessarily loving. If God had redeemed the world but didn’t create it, then his omnipotence would be undermined (who else would have created the world?). Creation and redemption can’t be understood without the other.
Here’s a fun thought experiment–imagine yourself as God. I think if I were God, I might have created the world out of a sense of curiosity, just to see what happens. But after observing the world for a while (and maybe causing a few earthquakes and hurricanes), I doubt I would then go through the trouble of taking on flesh and redeeming it. Thankfully, our God isn’t like this.
Today’s Gospel describes the two sides of God’s nature. We hear both of God’s omnipotence– “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God…All things came to be through him”–and his love–“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
—Jim Gaffey is a science teacher at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for being both all-powerful and all-loving. Amen.
—Jim Gaffey