The prologue and beginning of the Gospel according to John appears on the 3^rd Sunday of Advent (Year B) as well as the gospel for the Mass on Christmas during the day (all years) and in some small part on the 3^rd Sunday of Christmas (all years). In all the uses John the Evangelist is orienting the reader of the gospel with a fusion of traditional materials: a hymn about the pre-existing Word of God, John the Baptist, as well as many OT images. The goal of the fusion is most powerfully seen in the closing verses of the Prologue (vv.14-18) in which the language about God and Word (v.1) become the language about Father and Son (v.17). The story of the Word becomes identical with the story of Jesus. The Word becoming flesh (v.14) is the defining event of human history in which the relationship of God and humanity is forever changed in the Incarnation. The Incarnation means that people can see, hear, and know God in ways never before possible. Such is the effect of the divine light in the world. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race (vv.3-4) Continue reading →