[1] B.C., creator: Johnny Hart, unknown date of cartoon.
December 28, 2003; the First Sunday after Christmas, Year C
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, tracing his heritage back to King David and Abraham before he tells of his birth. Mark ignores Jesus’ birth and childhood altogether. Luke gives us the most detailed information about the conception, birth and childhood of Jesus. It is the Christmas story we are all familiar with. Now comes the forth Gospel, John, which goes back, way back, to the very beginning.
In a beautiful poetic style, John, tells us that the story of Jesus does not begin with his conception and birth in Bethlehem, but rather at the beginning, the very beginning of everything.
“In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Word is a literal translation of the Greek word Logos, which means divine utterance or emanation. In Old Testament thought and usage the Word of God is God’s manifestation, the revelation of himself. John blends these understandings together in an attempt to state that the Jesus, born in Bethlehem, has a cosmic existence that predates the world. As a matter-in-fact, John intentionally begins with the words we find in Genesis, “In the beginning,” to link Jesus, the pre-existent Logos, to God’s act of birthing or creating our world.
“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life.” Perhaps the simplest way to understand what John is talking about is when in Genesis it says, “God said,” that is the Logos. It is Jesus, pre-existent in his divine essence as Logos, that gave life to the world when it was created.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” It is this same Logos who is born of Mary.
However cute Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is, John challenges our thinking that this is a local event that will only affect a few people. John provides the big picture of the incarnation of God in Jesus. John points to the infant Jesus in the manger and says this is more than another cute baby; this is God, the creator, the life giver, and sustainer of the universe. The abstract God is shattered by his arrival in Jesus Christ. The God from out there somewhere, comes to live and walk among us.
I ran across a B.C. cartoon in my files that appeared at Christmas time several years ago. It shows, I believe the cartoon character Peter writing the following on a stone tablet. (1st frame) “It seems to me that since the ‘fall’ – (2nd frame) without even thinking it odd (3rd frame) that man has had no trouble at all (4th frame) believing that he can be God. (5th frame) How he would do this I cannot conceive, (6th frame) tho, he certainly thinks that he can (7th frame) – and yet, he cannot bring himself to believe (8th frame) that God can become …man”[1]
One of the claims that John boldly states in his Gospel is that it Jesus is God. God did not choose a human being to represent him and he did not send another heavenly or divine being. God came to earth himself in the person Jesus Christ.
The greatest gift we have to offer someone else is ourselves. Our presence is more valuable than any other gift we can give. I believe that God knows this, and that is why he came to us on this earth in Jesus.
This past week it was nice to open all of the presents. But what was even nicer was to have three of our children and our grandson with us. For me, that is the best present they gave us, coming up here to spend some time with us.
That is the true present of Christmas, God presence with us. To walk with us in our everyday lives and personally experience what we experience. To know that Jesus is present with us in our trials and tribulations as well as our successes and joy, gives us hope and strength.
It is one thing to know about God, but another to know God. We know about God through the Bible and other people. We know God by experiencing his presence in Jesus Christ.
It is as different as light and darkness. Jesus, as the light, reveals to us who God is, how he thinks, how he feels, and how he loves us. Darkness hides and conceals. It is in darkness that we become disoriented and lose our way. But the light of Jesus pierces the darkness, shattering the seclusion we feel from God, bringing us into his divine light and the presence of God his father.
The Gospel this morning reminds us that the fundamental Christian claim is that in Jesus, God has brought salvation to all people. Christmas is not the celebration of a beginning, but the beginning of the end. It is about birth and rebirth. It is about life in this world, and the offer of life in God’s kingdom.
[1] B.C., creator: Johnny Hart, unknown date of cartoon.