John 1:11
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
John adds this sentence and the verse to the one that preceded it, I think, to make sure we know just how personal is the advent and coming of the Word. It’s one thing to say that the world created by the Word did not recognize him, and it’s another altogether to say that his own people did not accept him. All that happens across the pages of John’s very theological gospel will also and always be quite personal. There is nothing theoretical, academic, or remote about what transpires here. God comes in person in order to save God’s own beloved people.
John’s description that “his own people did not accept him” is, of course, a somewhat polite way of saying that they rejected him. And this terse acknowledgement of Jesus’ rejection by his people anticipates the drama and agony of Holy Week and the cross. But lest we imagine that it was only those people back then, we need only to take stock of our own lives and the manifold ways by which we still refuse to accept or recognize God’s Word. In what our forebears called both sins of commission – those things we do to hurt each other, the world, and ourselves – and sins of omission – those things we do not do that might have helped each other, the world, and ourselves – we continue to refuse to accept God’s Word into our hearts and lives.
These verses that we call the beginning, or prologue, of John’s Gospel are often read during the Advent season for just this reason: that we might once again prepare to recognize, receive, and make a home for the coming Word, Jesus the Christ, in our hearts and bear witness to his light in word and deed. May it be so this year and among us.
Prayer: Dear God, open our hearts that we may receive, be transformed by, live, and share your word of grace and love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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