In the New Beginning

Readings
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-5, 9-14

The birth of Jesus marks a new creation, the start of a new heavens and a new earth (see Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13). That's why the first words of today's Gospel reprise the Bible's first words - "In the beginning" (see Genesis 1:1).

Jesus is the Word that God spoke when He said, "Let there be," and all things came to be (see Genesis 1:3, 26). The Wisdom through whom all things were made (see Proverbs 8:22-31; Wisdom 7:21-27), Jesus is also the mighty Word by whom God sustains all things.

The Word of God (see Revelation 19:13) has become flesh. This is the mystery we sing of in today's Psalm - the revelation of mankind's salvation in the sight of the nations.

The Word comes as God and king, we hear in today's First Reading. Enthroned at God's right hand (see Psalm 110:1), He is the royal Son who has recevied all the nations as His inheritance (see Psalm 2:8).

The Word comes, too, as a heavenly high priest, as we hear in today's Epistle. Through His blood, He accomplished atonement and purification from sin (see Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 6:20; 10:3-7, 11-13).

And by this, He has made it possible for each of us to live as children of God, as "new creations" (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).

In the beginning, God made men and women in His image (see Genesis 1:27). In the new creation, He brings that divine image to perfection in Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, and the firstborn from the dead (see Colossians 1:15,18).

Let us resolve this Christmas to give Jesus rule over our hearts, to ever more mold our hearts in the image of our Creator - that the Christ-child may be the firstborn of a worldwide family of God (see Colossians 3:10; Romans 8:29).

Biblical Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings