His Own Did Not Receive Him!

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

1 Jn 2:18-21; Jn 1:1-18

The Hymn on the Word highlights the rejection that Jesus is subject to in history. 

The beautiful hymn celebrates the preexistent Word and its activity in creation. 

It underlines the fact of Jesus’ incarnation only with the purpose of enabling humans to partake of divine fulness. 

But Jesus the Word only meets with rejection as the world fails to reckon with the purpose of his coming into the world. 

The world not only fails to understand the Divine plan but also proves totally unresponsive to the generous initiatives of God to relate to His people. 

Though Christmas celebrates the visitation of God, it also points to the unfortunate reality of Jesus being rejected by his own people. 

The reason for the world’s rejection of Jesus is found in Jn 3:19, which reads, ‘God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.’

Though Divine magnanimity forgives human failures and redeems the world through the same Messiah it rejected, humanity still carries the blame for rejecting its Redeemer, who came in search of it. 

Divine magnanimity is not a license for humanity to continue its evil ways because the ‘God with us’ came with an express purpose of elevating it to godliness. 

The nobility of such intention demands an unconditional response on our part. 

Let us pray for the grace to embrace the Word Incarnate and be responsive to his saving action in history. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar