Dec 30, 2024 Written by 

2nd Sunday after Christmas

(Jn 1:1-18)

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,

the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

 

John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God:

 

John 1:3 all things were made through him,

and without him nothing was made of all that exists.

 

John 1:4 In him was life

and the life was the light of men;

 

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness,

but the darkness did not receive it.

 

In vv. 1-5 there is a descending logic, which sees the Logos, first, in relationship with God (vv. 1-2), then, in relationship with himself (vv. 3-4), finally, in relationship with men (v. 5), so that from his being with God he finds himself being with men. A descent, therefore, spent on behalf of men.

We speak of a principle, which recalls by its formulation - "En archē" - the Genesis principle (Gen 1:1) and intentionally refers back to it. Here (Jn 1:1), in fact, as there (Gen 1:1), it begins with "En archē"; it continues with a reference to light and darkness (Jn 1:5), which in some way reflect Gen 1:3-5; the Word of the prologue is the exclusive creator protagonist of all that exists, possessing life in itself; similarly, the Genesis Word, which is repeated, almost like a litany, nine times ("And God said"), is creative power, which emanates life. There is in John a clear intentionality in assimilating the events of the beginnings of his Gospel to those of the Genesis creation, as if to indicate to the reader how the occurrence of the Jesus event constitutes the beginning of a New Creation.

Although there is a substantial reference to the first chapter of Genesis, the two "En archē" are substantially different, constituting two completely different contexts. The Genesian 'En archē' constitutes the temporal beginning of creation, merely indicating its divine origin. It is not a metaphysical origin, but a historical one. Of a different nature is John's "En archē", whose content is the transcendent, metaphysical existence of the Word. It is an absolute principle, which takes us not to the origins of creation, but to the very life of God. There is no longer the doing of God, but the Being of God, which is Word. The single and dominant verb in vv. 1-2, in fact, is the verb 'to be', which by its very nature always indicates the essence of its subject, always says something about its being and transports us into the area of ontology. It is here always placed in the imperfect indicative ("was"), highlighting the persistence of the Word's Being, which is placed in a principle that has no beginning, but which indicates the Word's absoluteness and its pre-eminence.

V. 1 presents the Word, or Word, in its relationality with God, which in John indicates the Father: 'the Word was with God'. Here too the verb 'to be' appears to indicate a constitutive aspect of the Word's being. Here too the verb is placed in the imperfect indicative, to signify how the Word's being with God is a permanent and persistent condition, the proprium of the Word's existence, highlighting its co-eternity. Its relationship with God is qualified by the particle "pros", which here holds the accusative ("ton theon", God), thus opening the relationship to a plurality of meanings, describing in different ways the relationship of the Word with the Father. The particle expresses a motion in place; it possesses, therefore, in itself a dynamism of its own, which indicates the direction of the Word: it is not only at the Father, from whom it comes, but is directed, by its very nature, towards the Father, expressing a strong relational tension, which attracts it towards Him and binds it inseparably to Him. The particle "pros", moreover, also takes on the meaning of cause, reason, purpose, highlighting another aspect of the Word in its relationship with the Father: its reason for being is its being for the Father, in His function and in His favour; in Him it finds the meaning of its existence and in Her the Father is reflected and found. She is a Word that is nourished by the Father's will, so that doing His will becomes an essential and constitutive element of her very living and being, indeed she is the very Dabar (Heb.: = word) of the Father. There are no personalisms or private initiatives, but the Dabar of the Father, by its very nature, reflects the Father in itself and gives effect to it in its saying/acting, becoming its witness and revealer in the midst of men.

"And the Word was God". The noun "God" is not preceded by the determinative article as is the case with "The Word" (kai theos ēn ho logos), suggesting that the noun "God" is predicate of the Word, which is the subject of the verb, thus emphasising its divinity on a par with the Father.

The intention of v. 2, "He was in the beginning with God", is to focus attention on the Word-Father relationality, a relationship that was such from the beginning. The focus, therefore, shifts to the relationality of the Word with the Father, whose eternity is attested with the expression "en archē". No longer the Word, therefore, is "en archē", but rather the relationship of This with God.

If vv. 1-2 contemplate the Word in its triple condition of eternity, of relationality with God, and of divine nature, focusing attention on the relational aspect, vv. 3-5 highlight the Word's double dynamism, placing it in close relation to men (v. 4), which is realised in its appearance among them (v. 5).

V. 3 opens with an absolute in the plural "panta" (all things), devoid of a determinative article, therefore all-encompassing, which has no limits and embraces everything without excluding anything, making the Word the exclusive source, first and last, of everything that exists. This exclusivity of this originative source of the All is reinforced by the following expression, placed in negative form, which excludes anything from occurring without its intervention. This absoluteness goes far beyond mere creation, to embrace the whole of what exists either as already in being, becoming or simply in potency. But what is most emphasised is the mediating action proper to the Word. The emphasis, therefore, falls not so much on the "panta" as on the prepositions "dià" (through) and "chōrìs" (without), which emphasise the mediating nature of the Word.

"In him [the Word] was life and the life was the light of men". Light and life, a binomial that closely recalls the very dimension of the divine Being. Light because by its appearance it has made itself visible and accessible to men; light because it becomes the revelation of God's will towards men; light because this is God's dimension, in which the new creation is placed, to which men are called to adhere existentially. A light that recalls Genesis v. 1:3. There, too, light appears, which constitutes the environmental context within which the first creation was placed. It is not the light of the stars, which will only appear on the fourth day, but the very dimension of God, in which the Genesis creation was placed, clothed and permeated. That is why, at its end, God will find himself in it and be reflected in it, recognising that "what he had made was a very good thing" (Gen 1:31). A creation, then, clothed and glowing - of God.

V. 5 closes the descending concatenation of the Word, which, contemplated in its being in the beginning with God, now appears in the midst of darkness. This bipolarity is part of the pattern of the human mind, which by contrast associates the positive with the negative, opening up a wide range of nuances between these two poles. The coexistence and co-existence of light with darkness belong to the primordial context of the Genesis creation. There, too, light appeared in the midst of darkness. It did not dissolve the darkness, but created a new context, a new reality, which contrasted with it, so that God separated them (Gen 1:4), assigning them their own role (Gen 1:5). Light and darkness, therefore, stand at the origins of life as two separate and irreconcilable entities, since they have to do with the deepest dynamics of man and life. Light and darkness speak of the dialectic of opposing views between God and fallen man. Darkness, as well as describing man's condition after the primordial fall, speaks of his inability to grasp the light, since darkness, by its very nature, is blind and encloses everything in its blindness. It is precisely this dialectic of contrasting light and darkness that characterises the history of salvation. That is why "darkness did not receive it" (v. 5).

There are two meanings of darkness in v. 5: in the first part, it indicates in a general sense the fallen human condition, shrouded in ignorance of God, so that the appearance of light in this context emphasises the illuminating and revelatory function of the incarnate Word, taking away all alibis from fallen man, bringing him to the knowledge of the divine will, before which he is called to take a stand. In the second part of v. 5, darkness is historicised and embodied in the pagan and Jewish worlds, as the historical places where it took root and opposed the Word. The first 'darkness', therefore, indicates the state, the condition of man before the coming of the Word; the second 'darkness' historically identifies the actors who embody it.

 

 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 

(Buyable on Amazon)

                                                                          

  

212 Last modified on Monday, 30 December 2024 22:12
Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

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We see that the disciples are still closed in their thinking […] How does Jesus answer? He answers by broadening their horizons […] and he confers upon them the task of bearing witness to him all over the world, transcending the cultural and religious confines within which they were accustomed to think and live (Pope Benedict)
Vediamo che i discepoli sono ancora chiusi nella loro visione […] E come risponde Gesù? Risponde aprendo i loro orizzonti […] e conferisce loro l’incarico di testimoniarlo in tutto il mondo oltrepassando i confini culturali e religiosi entro cui erano abituati a pensare e a vivere (Papa Benedetto)
The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life (Pope Benedict)
I Padri […] dicono così: per il pesce, creato per l’acqua, è mortale essere tirato fuori dal mare. Esso viene sottratto al suo elemento vitale per servire di nutrimento all’uomo. Ma nella missione del pescatore di uomini avviene il contrario. Noi uomini viviamo alienati, nelle acque salate della sofferenza e della morte; in un mare di oscurità senza luce. La rete del Vangelo ci tira fuori dalle acque della morte e ci porta nello splendore della luce di Dio, nella vera vita (Papa Benedetto)
We may ask ourselves: who is a witness? A witness is a person who has seen, who recalls and tells. See, recall and tell: these are three verbs which describe the identity and mission (Pope Francis, Regina Coeli April 19, 2015)
Possiamo domandarci: ma chi è il testimone? Il testimone è uno che ha visto, che ricorda e racconta. Vedere, ricordare e raccontare sono i tre verbi che ne descrivono l’identità e la missione (Papa Francesco, Regina Coeli 19 aprile 2015)
There is the path of those who, like those two on the outbound journey, allow themselves to be paralysed by life’s disappointments and proceed sadly; and there is the path of those who do not put themselves and their problems first, but rather Jesus who visits us, and the brothers who await his visit (Pope Francis)
C’è la via di chi, come quei due all’andata, si lascia paralizzare dalle delusioni della vita e va avanti triste; e c’è la via di chi non mette al primo posto se stesso e i suoi problemi, ma Gesù che ci visita, e i fratelli che attendono la sua visita (Papa Francesco)
So that Christians may properly carry out this mandate entrusted to them, it is indispensable that they have a personal encounter with Christ, crucified and risen, and let the power of his love transform them. When this happens, sadness changes to joy and fear gives way to missionary enthusiasm (John Paul II)
Perché i cristiani possano compiere appieno questo mandato loro affidato, è indispensabile che incontrino personalmente il Crocifisso risorto, e si lascino trasformare dalla potenza del suo amore. Quando questo avviene, la tristezza si muta in gioia, il timore cede il passo all’ardore missionario (Giovanni Paolo II)
This is the message that Christians are called to spread to the very ends of the earth. The Christian faith, as we know, is not born from the acceptance of a doctrine but from an encounter with a Person (Pope Benedict))

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