Gospel Reflection – 2nd Sunday of Christmas- Cycle B

In this, our first Sunday of 2021, the Gospel is John’s proclamation of Jesus as Word of God. Nothing could be more keenly needed in this year, nothing more longed for, than Jesus living among us.
Everyone has their own hidden depths, their own concealed darkness. And 2020 has exacerbated much of this. But today’s Gospel is our new goalpost for the year ahead, because we hear in it that Christ is the light in that darkness. He, the light of the world, the word made flesh, shall make us new.
Trusting in God can be a white-knuckled ride. Much of what we go through on a day-to-day, year-by-year basis can remain beyond our comprehension. But to trust, to place our life in Christ through the Gospel message, is to find the beginning of freedom. Freedom from a world of harm and unrest, freedom from a loveless life. And, whilst this newfound joy in life can play out so quietly, without garnering a million followers or bringing in financial wealth, our work will be made new through the light of Christ’s message. And we shall be richer in love than we could ever imagine.
Yet, it is more than a message. A messenger can deliver the message and then go away. No, Jesus is making his home in us, he is here to stay, trusting us as he asks us to trust him, coming to us a thousand times a day in gentle whispers and inspiring thoughts, in the word of God that we find in the Bible, a book that we might find a little dry were it not for our listening ears, attentive to his call, taking on the presence of Christ in those words.
So, as 2021 begins, let us read today’s Gospel in a new way, listening attentively as though Christ is saying these words to us, personally, and asking us what kind of reflection we make of his message. As the saying goes: start as you mean to go on.
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower.
A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.
The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had its being through him,
and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock
or urge of the flesh
or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh, he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his
as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me
because he existed before me’.
Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.