That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 1 John 1:1-2
Our Twelfth Night party is over, our guests have gone home, and the remnants of Christmas are waiting to be cleaned up and put away until next year. Tomorrow we will unclutter the living room, and, for the first time, I will allow the girls to help me put away the Christmas ornaments. It will likely be a disaster, but I will try to make it a sweet memory for the children.
Christmas is always pregnant with memory. People love Christmas for recalling to them their childhood, or hate it for the same reasons. Many, many people mourn at Christmas because it reminds them so intensely of a loved one who has died.
The First Epistle of John begins with an emphatic assertion of memory. John repeats the message he has preached from the beginning, and when we read John’s words, we continue this act of memory. John reminds his readers that his message has not changed over time; he continues to preach to them the same things that he himself witnessed about Jesus, whom he here calls the “Word of life.”
The Word as a title for Jesus has a rich history, full of trinitarian implications of his relationship to God the Father. The Word of Life appeared in Bethlehem, able to be touched and held by the rough, hardworking hands of Mary and Joseph. Jesus burst into the world which had been made through him. He gave this world life the first time; he gave us life again when he came to die.
Jesus as the Word of Life is holy generosity, endlessly renewed. Making and sustaining the universe, awakening in our souls a taste and longing for eternity, he is both the source and satisfaction of our hunger. People talk about the “magic” of Christmas, something children believe in that fades with adulthood. But the Life of Christmas is permanent, and it will still be here when the ornaments are packed away.
Every day, whether the tree is up or not, my daughters and I live with the Word of Life. In life or in death, he sustains us.
On Christmas, and every other day of the year.
This was gorgeous, Veronica. This whole series was magnificent. You have an astonishing talent at theological writing, while I’m like “me like God!”. Good work.
“Making and sustaining the universe, awakening in our souls a taste and longing for eternity, he is both the source and the satisfaction of our hunger.” Yes. Just YES. You are a gifted writer, to tell truths so well and yet so simply. Thanks!