The Greatest Poem Ever Written

          The Greatest Poem Ever Written

Sixty years after Jesus died, a community of those who believed in him produced a document history has referred to as the Gospel of John. The author(s) of it had  at their knowledge source writings referred to as the Synoptic Gospels and other oral sources which provided them with theological proclamations as to Jesus’ identity, actions, teachings and most  importantly his  death and Resurrection.   In time, the nascent Church contemplated the mystery of what Jesus’ relationship was to God and expressed it in what has come to be known as the Prologue of the Gospel of John. To me, it is the most beautiful poem ever expressed.

A poet has an idea, or an experience, and until he expresses it, it remains within himself. It may be expressed in words, or in song so that it may be shared with others.

That is what the author seems to be trying to express.    Namely, that God had the greatest idea he could ever have, i.e., himself. Having that “idea”, he expressed it, and the cosmos came into 3 dimensional existence in time. In other words, creation is God’s idea of Himself, and it includes Himself as a participant, i.e., Jesus. Jesus thus is the Word of God. This was attempted to be expressed in the greatest words ever written:

       “In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was with God

         And the Word was God.

(The Word) was in the beginning with God

All things began through Him

And without Him

Became nothing which has become.

In Him was life

And the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness,

And the darkness could not comprehend it.

It was the true light that which enlightens every man

Coming into the cosmos.

He was in the cosmos,

And the cosmos began through Him

And the cosmos did not know Him.

To His own He came,

And His own did not receive Him.

But as many as received Him,

He gave them the right

To become the children of God.

And the Word became a human

And pitched His tent with us.

And we beheld His glory,

Glory as of an only begotten from a Father

Full of grace and of truth.

No man has ever seen God,

The only begotten of God,

Being in the Heart of the Father

He has proclaimed Him.”

                                   [Jn. 1:1 ff]

In a sort of astrophysical spirituality, if one believes the above, then science and theology are infinitely compatible and we too can begin to look at creation and say also, “We see that it is good”. [Gen. 1:25]