Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Dwelling Among Us

Friends, our Gospel for Christmas day is the prologue to the Gospel of John. In many ways, it is the entire Gospel, indeed the entire Bible, in miniature.

Let’s turn to the central passage: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The word used in Greek here for “dwelt” is eskenosen, which means literally, “pitched his tent among us.” Don’t read that in a folksy way. It is meant to call to mind the tabernacle of the temple.

The Word becoming flesh is God coming to dwell definitively in his world, undoing the effects of sin and turning it into what it was always meant to be. Notice, too, what we see in the wake of this tabernacling: “And we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

So John is telling us that Jesus is the new Eden, the new temple, the restored creation, the realization of God’s intention for the world. And our purpose is not simply to gaze on this fact with wonder but rather to enter into its power: “From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace.”

Reflect: Faith in Jesus Christ gives us the “power to become children of God,” and also to participate in the power of Jesus. How are you using this power? How will you use it more effective- ly in the future?

+++ In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”+++

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