September 20 / John 1:1-18

John 1:1-18

Dear RTB’ers,

Based on familiarity alone, there are probably few passages in all of Scripture with which I am more familiar. As a child in the Catholic Church, until I was almost twenty years old, these first fourteen verses in John’s Gospel were spoken at mass as the Last Gospel, the final words spoken or sung before our Amen at the end of the service. But familiarity does not imply comprehension or understanding. To get into John’s Gospel, where we are now headed, we truly need the Holy Spirit as our guide, as our interpreter, as our teacher. That will be my prayer for us as we move forward these next few weeks.

I have long found John’s Gospel to be the most difficult for me to understand – especially Jesus’ answers to his listeners’ questions. Today’s prologue has none of that, only John’s narrative. John uses simple sentences to amplify eternal truths – Jesus as God, from the beginning the Creator, Who became our earthly Brother, Who was scorned by those to whom He came, and then became our Savior.

Having read or heard these words so many times, the verse that stood out for me today was verse 11, He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. In another study that I am doing we are at the point where the Scribes and Pharisees are asking Jesus questions. These are the people that I see as His own people [who] did not receive Him. And just yesterday I read one of my posts from 2019, my incredulity that these people could continue to scorn Him, in spite of the miracles, the teachings, and the answers to their questions that overwhelmed them: And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions. (Matthew 22:46) He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. What verse stands out for you? Share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Blessings.

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See also: October 9 (2023) / John 1:1-18; Luke 1; Matthew 1:1-17.