December 27: St. John, Evangelist

Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12); John 1:1-14

(Again, not his readings, though we do read him.  These are the readings for the third service on Christmas.)

“And the Word was made 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” (Jn 1:14).

This sentence shines light in so many directions!  This is the sacramental vision that sees miracle in the everyday.  John doesn’t have a birth narrative, there are no angels or magi to attest to the unique glory of this birth.  He doesn’t need them.  This person came among us, and for those who saw him with sacramental eyes he manifested glory.  But notice how John describes this glory: “as of a father’s only son.”  OK, I’d like John and his culture to value daughters as highly as sons, but let’s take him as he is.  He’s describing a mystical perception of a cosmic Savior, but he needs human referents to do it.  In so doing, he shines a light on just how amazing all life is.  He reminds us that the only son, the only human son of a human father, is also a pinnacle of glory, grace, and truth.  

Today children are being born.  Imagine how different their world can be if we look at them and, turning this sentence around, describe them thus: “And s/he came into the world and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen her glory, the glory as of the Word made flesh.”

Sacrament runs in two directions.  In one direction, we use everyday visible and tangible referents to gesture at a truth beyond sight and touch and sound.  Sacraments are “outward and visible signs of inward invisible grace.”  But in the other direction, sacrament points to the holy already present in the tangible.  When we look with sacramental eyes, every child, every adult, every animal and rock is holy.

During this season where the divine and the human (and all the rest of creation) come together, practice seeing with sacramental eyes.  Each day look for the signs of grace and truth creation, in those around you, and in yourself.  Where do you behold the glory?