John 1:1-18
In the beginning, the Word was already there.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the
beginning.
3 All things were made through him. Nothing
that has been made was made without him. 4 Life was in him, and that life was
the light for all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness
has not understood it.
6 A man came who was sent from God. His name
was John. 7 He came to give witness about that light. He gave witness so that
all people could believe.
8 John himself was not the light. He came
only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man
was coming into the world.
10 The Word was in the world that was made
through him. But the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to what was his
own. But his own people did not accept him.
12 Some people did accept him. They believed
in his name. He gave them the right to become children of God.
13 To be a child
of God has nothing to do with human parents. Children of God are not born
because of human choice or because a husband wants them to be born. They are
born because of what God does.
14 The Word became a human being. He made his
home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son.
He came from the Father. And he was full of
grace and truth.
15 John gives witness about him. He cries out
and says, “This was the one I was talking about. I said, ‘He who comes after me
is more important than I am. He is more important because he existed before I
was born.’”
16 We have all received one blessing after
another. God’s grace is not limited.
17 Moses gave us the law. Jesus Christ has
given us grace and truth.
18 No one has ever seen God. But God, the one
and only Son, is at the Father’s side. He has shown us what God is like.
Food for thought!
Today, 31 of December, is the last day of the
year 2013. Naturally, we are going to look back and see what this year has been
or not, for each one of us. If you keep your messages, on this day last year we
made a series of questions. We asked ourselves:
In 2012,
What has God taught me from failure?
What has God taught me from a lack of money?
What has God taught me from pain or sorrow or
depression?
What has God taught me through waiting?
What has God taught me through illness?
What has God taught me from disappointment?
Today, we have a different gospel reading and
therefore a different reflection. Today's gospel said of Jesus, that the first
time he came to this world he was not recognized by many people.
"The Word (Jesus) was in the world that
was made through him. But the world did not recognize him. He came to what was
his own. But his own people did not accept him."
The first time Jesus came around, many people
just missed him; he was around, living among them, but many people didn't
recognize him. I am afraid that as we prepare to end 2013, the same passage may
apply to some of us: The Word was in our world, our home, our place of work,
our neighbourhood, our life, and we just did not recognize him. He came to what
was his own. But his own people did not accept him.
In this year that is ending, did you
recognize Jesus when he showed up, the way he showed up, and the times he
showed up? The text is saying that "Everything was created through him;
nothing — not one thing! — came into being without him." In 2013
everything happened through Jesus. Everything we did, was through him because
as he told us, "without me you cannot do anything" (John 45:5).
In other words, let us look at our achievements
and acknowledge the Lord for them. Be thankful of your achievements and your
gains and profits. What you did was thanks to Jesus. He was there since the
beginning; everything was done through him; there was nothing that was done
without him. Jesus is always there, whether we recognize whether we don't. When
we do, he gives us the right to become children of God. Once we do recognize
him, we become God's favourites, who operate as Jesus himself; we become
partners of Jesus, enjoying special protection, privileges and favours.
Once we become like Jesus, everything
changes; even our failures. In the Lord we are always conquerors even when we
apparently seem to fail. As St. Paul reminds us in 2nd Corinthians 4:8-9, "We
have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to
do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does
not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed." This is what it means to be children of God.
We easily thank Jesus for our gains and
achievements. We seldom thank him for the pains, the difficulties and the
losses we encounter in life. But we should thank the Lord for both our gains
and our pains. The Lord is always with us, in good and not so good moments of
our life.
As someone once said, successful people
approach losing differently. They don’t try to brush failure under the rug.
They don’t run away from their losses. Their attitude is never Sometimes you
win, sometimes you lose. Instead they think, Sometimes you win, sometimes you
learn.
In other words, learn from your losses of
2013. A loss isn’t totally a loss if you learn something as a result of it.
This said, not everyone learns from losses. A loss doesn’t turn into a lesson
unless we work hard to make it so. Losing gives us an opportunity to learn, but
many people do not seize it. And when they don’t, losing really hurts.
So, can we end this year with Psalm 124:
If God hadn’t been for us
when everyone went against
us,
We would have been swallowed alive
by their violent anger,
Swept away by the flood of rage,
drowned in the torrent;
We would have lost our lives
in the wild, raging water.
Oh, blessed be God!
He didn’t go off and leave
us.
He didn’t abandon us defenceless,
helpless as a rabbit in a
pack of snarling dogs.
We’ve flown free from their fangs,
free of their traps, free
as a bird.
Their grip is broken;
we’re free as a bird in
flight.
God’s strong name is our help,
the same God who made
heaven and earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment