John was there. He lived it. He experienced it. He knew Jesus, he loved Jesus, and Jesus loved him. He knew the Jesus that is not documented in the Gospels. He knew Him as a friend and brother. As a matter of fact, John was witness to Jesus’ biggest moments in His life – the transfiguration, Jesus’ ministry, he sat next to Jesus at the Last Supper, and of course the crucifixion just to name a few. But perhaps the biggest event was when he arrived at the tomb to see nothing but Jesus’ burial cloths lying there, rolled up and empty.
“They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.”
John knew at that moment that Jesus’ prophesy came true. He knew that this was a game changer. At that at that moment the world changed. And John knew this, which perhaps explained his reluctance to go into the tomb. Perhaps he simply had to take in what just happened and gather his thoughts. He knew that the world had changed, and that he would have a huge role to play. Happy Feast Day St. John the Apostle!
The readings today are pulled from two of John’s works, his first letter and of course his Gospel account. He is widely known as the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, and while it’s not likely that Jesus loved John any more than the other Apostles, it is undeniable that John had a significant role to play. He was the only one of the disciples to live a long life and not die a martyr’s death.
He is said to have died in peace after an extremely long life. His vision spawned his writing of the Book of Revelations, and he wrote other three letters and a Gospel. He validated Christ because He was there. He saw it. He witnessed all the major events, and he was given the duty and the ability to write it all down. John told Christ’s story from his own eyewitness account, summarized in the beginning of his first letter:
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life — for the life was made visible we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us — what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you.”
God was made visible to us in Jesus, and John proclaims a firsthand account of Jesus’ works and teachings to us now, today, through his writings.
As we are now continuing to celebrate the birth of Jesus through the Octave of Christmas, there is so much joy and happiness to reflect on. God came in the form of a baby and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. It’s interesting that Luke made note of this in his Gospel. Jesus came into this world and was wrapped in clothes so tight as to restrict His movement. Sure, this is how people wrap babies, especially back in that time, but why make note of that? Because, Christmas is setting us up for Christ’s death and resurrection.
The clothes in which Jesus was swaddled were similar in appearance and function to burial cloths. At his birth, they bound him, kept Him warm and safe. But they can also symbolize how we as humans are bound to sin. He came into this world as a human and while He did not sin, he assumed that bondage to sin that we all suffer from. His birth is immediately setting the stage for the events that John will witness and document, the events that will change the world and alter our understanding. It sets the stage for the ultimate event in Jesus’ earthly existence – when he is raised from the dead and sheds those burial cloths. When John witnesses this event, he understands this.
“he bent down and saw the burial cloths there… Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed…”
He sees the truth that Jesus came to save us from our bonds of sin, and knows the magnitude of what he is seeing, and perhaps that is why he hesitates to go into the tomb. He is taking it all in because he knows the truth, and that Jesus truly can save us from our bondage to sin. And perhaps he understands the task before him and his friends, that they have a job to do.
We all have the things in our lives that bind us, just like the swaddling clothes Jesus was wrapped in. We all have those things in life that we hate about ourselves, those things that we do we don’t like and our habits and addictions that we cannot stop. We say those words that continuously come out of our mouths that we try to stop, but cannot, and we have those angry, jealous, and envious feelings that control our thoughts and actions. We are all wrapped in similar swaddling clothes that continue to bind and restrict us from being who we are in God’s eye and who we were meant to be.
Jesus came and showed us the way. We will always be bound to an extent while here on this earth. However, if we stay true to Jesus and have faith, and listen to and act out those words that John and his friends wrote, we can shed those clothes, roll them up, and throw them aside for eternity. In this Christmas season, let’s be joyful, hopeful, and thankful for this gift.
