Christmas Day Mass 2023
Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18
You may remember when that Gospel was read every day at the end of Mass. The priest would dismiss the people—Ite Missa est—but nobody left. Instead, we all stood as the priest and one server made their way to the “Gospel side” of the altar, where the priest would read the Last Gospel, as it was called; this passage from the Gospel of St. John.
Historians of the liturgy could no doubt tell you when and why this was tagged onto the end of Mass, as tagged on it was. I am assuming that it happened at the time of, and in response to, some heresy which denied the divinity of Christ. At any rate, it was thought important enough to be proclaimed to the people, albeit in Latin, every day for centuries.
And today it is read as our Christmas Gospel. Why? I would say that it explains the full meaning, the full significance, of the event. From St. Luke’s Gospel, and to an extent from St. Matthew’s, we hear what happened. That s fine, as far as it goes. From Luke, we learn of the fulfilment of God’s promises to the Jewish people; whilst Matthew, by telling us of the visit of the Wise Men, reveals that this child was not only the Jewish Messiah, but was born for the Gentiles also, the non-Jewish people, you and me.
Yet without John’s account, it might still not be clear who this Messiah, this Redeemer, actually is. The angel told Mary that He would be called Son of God, but St. John takes us further and deeper, revealing that the Bethlehem event is nothing less than the Incarnation, the taking flesh, of God Himself.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…..and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.”
This is the final piece of the jigsaw. Luke shows us the Jewish Messiah, Matthew shows us that He was born for Gentiles as well as Jews. John now reveals His full identity. He is the Word made flesh, God from all eternity, sharing God’s work of creation, enlightening all humanity, and now being born as the human being named Jesus. The history is complete: salvation is brought to us by One who is both God and man. He would have to undergo death and resurrection to complete His task, but now salvation is revealed, and it is John, at the beginning of His Gospel, who reveals it.
