Poet Jane Hirshfield writes that in good poetry ‘there is always something startling and absolutely unexpected, some undertow, some magnetic pole of a fuller truth.’

In the poetry of John’s prologue, the absolutely unexpected arrives in verse 18. By the time we get to it, our imaginations have too often dropped off, already inundated with the weight of ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’, our imaginations already soaring off with verse 14 ‘and the Word became flesh and pitched its tent among us.’

Verse 18: most English translations tell us that the Word made flesh is close to Creator God’s heart or ever at Creator God’s side. The problem is the Greek words for heart and for side are elsewhere in John’s Gospel. Those are not the word used in John’s poetic prologue. The word used is bosom or breast. The Word, the Son of God, always at the breast of Creator God.

Not just at Creator God’s side, not just close to Creator God’s heart, but at Creator God’s breast – which in the fullness of human understanding is an image of self-giving love, the parent, nursing the child, giving of herself, giving of her energy, often through pain and exhaustion.

Why? Why translate the word breast as heart or side? New Testament scholar Karoline Lewis explains that the mistranslation began around 1750 with the advent of pornography and the sexualisation of the female body. She writes:

‘Translations of John 1:18 after 1750 represent this remarkable shift in the perception of the female body. To depict Jesus nursing at the bosom or breast of God would then appear sexual. To eschew this image in favour of a more socially acceptable portrayal is problematic on several levels. First, the meaning conveyed in this picture of Jesus at the bosom of God is extraordinary tenderness. One would be hard-pressed to secure a description of relationship more intimate than the nursing of a child. God is a life-sustainer in the Fourth Gospel, and this is not a metaphorical platitude. God, quite literally, will reveal everything that we need for life, right here and right now. God will give, over and over again.’

Always at the breast of God: the Word witnesses to who Creator God is – a parent, embracing us in her warmth, resting us by his heartbeat, nurturing us at their breast, giving us everything we need for life, right here and right now.

Always at the breast of God: a stunning image to help us understand who Jesus is – the very life of God flows into him, sustains him, nurtures him.

It is not just God giving of Godself to Jesus. The word breast appears one more time, in John 13:23. The setting is the Last Supper, the night of Jesus’ betrayal, the evening before his crucifixion. For the first time, the Gospel speaks of one referred to as Jesus’ ‘beloved disciple’. We do not know who this unnamed beloved disciple might be. There is space enough to imagine we might be the beloved disciple. When we first meet the beloved disciple at the table of our Lord, the text says the disciple was positioned on the breast of Jesus. Once again, the image is lost in many English translations, though some of the oldest ones are faithful to it, like the King James Version: ‘Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.’

This is the love we celebrate at Christmas, even in the darkness. The powerful, life-sustaining, creative love of God flows into the Son, giving him everything needed for life in this world. This same love flows from the Son into you and me as we follow in the life-giving, creative love of the Way of Jesus.

It is the image John wants us to start with – an image of salvation through the self-giving, nurturing love of Creator God to the Son. An invitation to rest ourselves on the breast of the Word who is God, freely giving us everything we need for life.

Poet Jane Hirshfield writes that in good poetry ‘there is always something startling and absolutely unexpected, some undertow, some magnetic pole of a fuller truth.’ This Christmas, let us celebrate the fuller truth of the life-sustaining Love of God coming into being.

REFERENCES:

Zen and the Art of Poetry: An Interview with Jane Hirshfield. Interview by Ilya Kaminsky and Katherine Towler. AGNI, July 2006.

Lewis, Karoline M. John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries (Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2014).