In the beginning

Thursday June 16th: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Matthew wrote to the established Jewish culture and has the birth story and the three wise men from the East. Mark was the first Gospel written to the new Christians and doesn’t have a birth story but goes right to John the Baptist. Luke was written later and pulls in a well developed birth story including Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (John the Baptists mother) and the poetic rendition of what the coming messiah means in very revolutionary terms. John was writing to a different group. John was writing to the Gnostics whose focus was on preexistent spirits and the cosmic struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. For John what was important was not Jesus birth, but the preexistence of Jesus from the very beginning of time. What is the important narrative today?