Take us to Bethlehem, House of Bread
Where the hungry are filled
And the satisfied sent empty away
Where the poor find riches
And the rich recognize their poverty
And all who worship are filled with awe.
Song “Canticle of the turning”
When the light in us is low
Kindle in us hope, compassion, breathing life into the
early embers of change and empathy.
The candle is lit.
We light a candle for light, sending our
prayers high into the inky heavens and
dreams deep into our human soul.
We light a candle for light. May it guide us on our way.
We say the Lord’s Prayer in our own language
Reflection on John 1v6-8, 19-28
There are so many evocative symbols surrounding John the Baptist in the four Gospels. Each gospel emphasizes a different point of view about John. Mark and Matthew emphasize the prophetic nature of John, noting that he is out in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey. They link John the Baptist’s message to Isaiah 40:1-11, that emphasizes him as the prophet preparing the way for Jesus, through making the highway straight in every heart. Luke emphasizes the concern for the poor and the ethical demands for justice. In Luke we hear John the Baptist’s preaching, urging people to share their cloaks and food with the needy, demanding that tax collectors not line their pockets by taking more than is required from people and challenging soldiers to not use their force to extort and threaten people, urging people to share their cloaks and food with the needy, demanding that tax collectors not line their pockets by taking more than is required from people and challenging soldiers to not use their force to extort and threaten people.
Here in John’s Gospel we get a more philosophical treatise on John the Baptist. The first chapter of the Gospel is a description of what it means to call Jesus the Christ. He is the light coming into the darkness, the logos, the Word of God made flesh. The author has eloquently expressed the meaning of the Messiah in ways to which the Greek philosophical mind can relate. Jesus is Plato’s true logos and the Gnostics true light. The Christ is not just another wandering Sophist, but the fulfillment of what Greek philosophy was striving to understand. John is firmly within the tradition of contextualizing the gospel message to gain a hearing. Here in the first chapter he has done this well and also has been clear to show that John the Baptist points the way, though he was not the light himself.
Much of the pain and suffering around us comes from people imagining that they are the light themselves. Carl Jung warned of the dangers of trying to live only in our light. The shadow within is dangerous when ignored. Jung believed that the things that we repress that we don’t want to know about ourselves create this shadow within us. In our attempt to be “children of light” we often repress and try to hide from our greed, selfishness, hostility, grandiosity and pain. We push these things from our conscious selves, but they rise up from our unconscious and control us.
John developed a great audience and power, but he also knew his role. He was a messenger, not the message. He baptized with water, but one was coming who would baptize with the power of fire. John was not about self-aggrandizement, knowing that there was a point where he had to decrease so that Christ could increase. We are not the light, but we point towards the light that enlightens us. As St. Francis said “We are the moon reflecting the rays of the sun from our surface.” The light that shines from us may be great as we allow more of ourselves to be open to the true light of Christ, but the source of light is still Christ.
Our prayers for others and our world
Song “Let all mortal flesh keep silence”
Come to us Holy one
shatter our coldness
Whisper through our lives
Scatter the darkness
Be born in us today.
