"In him was life..."

Reading John 1:3-4
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

The fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. The whole physical universe has its explanation in him. Jesus was the executor of the Father's command: "Let there be...". All of the physical sciences sit on the foundation of the creation. The Psalmist says that "the heavens declare the glory of God...". We have not understood the creation if we only see it as a wonder. The message of the physical is not simply that nature is a marvel but that God is glorious. Nature is never fully understood until it is understood as a creative work.

John tells us that not only the fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus but so also is the meaning of existence. The meaning of life can be seen in an encounter with the living Christ. "In him was life and that life was the light of men." The answer to what we are here for, what life is all about, is fully discovered by reflection on the life of Christ. This is John's introduction to his Gospel. He is telling us that as we read about Jesus, about all that he said and did, that we will discover the meaning of life, of our life. The incarnate life of God translates something that is eternal and distant into something that is finite and near. We can grasp the meaning of life when we look at Jesus' life.

Later John records that Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). It was God's intention that we would not only understand the fact and meaning of life but that we would participate in it to the full. When I read the Gospel I am intended to see in Jesus' life something about my life. I am intended to see what God has in mind for me. I have been invited to participate in the life of God as the ultimate fulfillment possible in this world. This is reflected in Jesus' prayer in John 17: "I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me...".