‘In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Tags: Jesus, Nativity, Incarnation, Advent, God

‘In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it’ (John 1:1–5)

What does Advent means for us? For me, Advent is symbolised in these few verses of John chapter 1 which provides a brief glimpse of the Incarnation of the Word.

The Incarnation of the Word fulfills what Isaiah and many prophets said earlier in the Old Testament. John the Baptist in the New Testament ‘came as a witness, to bear witness to the light’ (John 1:7). In this light that comes in the darkness of the light, is Jesus, whom we can now see through him, what God desires for his people. In other words, Jesus is a physical manifestation of God. He is divine, yet he is also human.

Blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

Elizabeth cried out as she saw Mary in Luke in Mary’s visitation. Elizabeth recognised that Mary is carrying baby Jesus in her womb, and acknowledges the divinity of God in her visitor.

In many ways, this poignant scene tells and reminds us that through the coming of Jesus, God wants us to remember that He is within every one of us. We can no longer deny God in us, just as how Elizabeth could not deny that there is something sacred about Mary’s pregnancy.

In the birth of Jesus, we have heralded a new order to proclaim the coming of the Lord as God desires us to look to Jesus as a way to heal our pains and sufferings. Jesus is the ‘third way’ in Richard Rohr’s words in helping us to look at ourselves and the rest of the universe as beings with a consciousness of God and to live in accordance to God’s will.

The birth of Jesus broke the ordered world of following the laws of the temple as set by the Pharisees. We no longer worship God as a higher being. We look at God as a higher being in us, within us, in union with us. When we go the mass in Church, we no longer worship God, but we turn the church sanctuary into a sacred space where we welcome and acknowledge God within ourselves. In our prayers, we call on God to conversion, because we intuitively recognise the inherent nature of God as symbolised by the crucified Christ on the cross.

The coming of Jesus brings light. It does not mean that darkness will be gone. Light will only exist when there is darkness. Jesus in his journey ate and drank with tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers and the shunned in the society. In their darkness, he healed them, rewarding the poorest with the richness of God. They go away proclaiming God’s glory, full of joy.

In our daily lives, even as we are baptised, every Advent that we experience, is a reminder of God’s glory. Aside from the celebration of the birth of Jesus, which would have come to nought if we merely look at it as a standalone event in Christian history, each Advent reminds us of how connected each and every one of us are to each other.

Just like Mary, each of us carries the temple of God within us. As human beings, we must acknowledge our fallibility. This is our darkness. In acknowledging our blindness, only then we will allow the light to shine within us, to point us to the way of Christ.

We must examine our prejudices, our hatred and our biases. We need to lift our weaknesses up to the Lord and be honest about ourselves. We need to examine the norms of our society and acknowledge that norms are not the absolute right. Norms can change for the betterment of our society. Just as how Jesus overturned the laws of the temple and led the way to love and mercy.

Source: Unknown

Oh Holy One,

In your grace and mercy

You sent Jesus to us

To teach us your way.

We, who are blinded

by sins, do not see the light

That you so mercifully sent us.

Help us, teach us, your children,

The way to love

That we will be healed from our sufferings

To be reunited back with you

In your glory.

Amen.