2017-12-25

朋友们，圣诞日福音聚焦于成了血肉的圣言。古犹太人思想里有着各式各样精炼的方式来表达天主既活跃于世间又超然于物外。他们特别强调天主那创造万物的圣言。

 

我们来看看《若望福音》的序言：“在起初已有圣言…”他写的是全新的《创世纪》——他在向我们指出天主的圣言，即天主那强而有力、悦耳动听、创造宇宙、统领天下的呼吸，即等同天主的圣言。

 

而这圣言成了血肉。这里用的希腊词语意指“在我们之间扎营”，该词也用来表达天主的智慧常驻于耶路撒冷的圣殿。“我们见了他的光荣…满溢恩宠和真理。”光荣，是因为祂赏心悦目；真理，是因为祂就是新律法。《旧约全书》中所有关于天主深入尘世的表述都在若望这个形容耶稣基督的句子中得以融汇归一。祂是强有力的圣言，只有在达成目标后才会归来。

 

Friends, our Christmas day Gospel focuses on the Word made flesh. Ancient Jewish thought found all sorts of sophisticated ways to say that God was active in the world without ceasing to be transcendent over it. Above all, they spoke of God’s holy Word, a Word by which all things were made.

 

Now listen to the Prologue to John’s Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word…" He’s writing a new Genesis—and he is drawing our attention to this word of God, this powerful, musical breath of God that makes and governs the universe and speaks through the prophets, this Word that is the same as God.

 

And this Word became flesh. The Greek term means "pitched his tent among us," the very phrase used of God’s Wisdom inhabiting the Temple in Jerusalem. "And we saw his glory…and he was full of grace and truth." Glory, for he is beautiful to look on; truth, for he is the new Law. All the ways that the Old Testament spoke of God’s involvement with the world come together in this description of Jesus Christ. He is the powerful Word that will not return without accomplishing his purpose.