Seeing in this world

Our Gospel [today] closes with the words: "We have beheld his glory. . ." (John 1.14) These could be the words of the shepherds as they return from the stable and sum up what they have experienced. These could be the words in which Mary and Joseph describe their memory of the night in Bethlehem. Here, it is the disciple who looks back and tells us what happened to him when he encountered Jesus.

As Christians, we ought teally all to be able to say: "We have beheld his glory." Indeed, these words explain what believing means: it means seeing his glory in this world.