Bishop Barron's Gospel Reflection December 27, 2018 Feast of St. John

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Feast of Saint John

John 20:1A, 2-8

Friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. John is, of course, a spiritual master, but he is a literary master as well. We can see his skill throughout his Gospel, but perhaps especially in the stories dealing with the resurrected Jesus. We can find them in the twentieth and twenty-first chapters of his Gospel. Our passage for today is from chapter twenty, and it contains, in short compass, the whole of Christianity, if we have the eyes to see it. "On the evening of that first day of the week…" Easter Sunday is the new creation day. On the first creation day, God had said, "Let there be light," and now, on Easter day, the one who said, "I am the light of the world" has returned from the dead. And this means that everything has changed, and everything has been recreated. Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist Lectionary: 697 Reading 1 1 Jn 1:1-4 Beloved: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life — for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. Gospel Jn 20:1a and 2-8 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.