Reading this passage about the Word made flesh takes us to a world that is not apparent even in other Gospel’s Christmas stories. The Word who has become flesh is not just the child of Mary, cared for by angels, witnessed first by shepherds and visited by visitors from the East, nor the one who posed such a threat to king Herod. The Word is God reaching out to humanity from the beginning of all things. Stepping back from the canvas of the Christmas stories, we no longer see and hear a story from the past: we come into contact, into relationship with God who from eternity has been reaching out to come into the lives of each one of us. That’s ultimately what we celebrate on Christmas Day.
