A Sermon preached on Dec. 24 Christmas Eve at
St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Isaiah 52: 7-10, Hebrews
1: 1-4, John 1: 1-14
The four Gospel writers each have a different approach to the story of
Jesus’ birth. Mark doesn’t bother with it at all. His story only starts with
the beginning of Jesus’s adult ministry and his baptism by John the Baptist. While
Matthew and Luke both tell us the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, each has
a slightly different focus. Luke writes more from Mary’s perspective, Matthew
from Joseph’s. Luke focuses on Jesus’ mission to the poor and outcast of
Israel, like the shepherds for example. Matthew wants us to know from the very
beginning that Jesus did not just come to save Israel, but the whole world –
like the three wise men or kings from exotic, foreign lands.
But you didn’t hear either of those versions in tonight’s Gospel reading,
although they are still present in our Christmas creche scene. Instead you
heard the Prologue to the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
One of the problems with Luke and Matthew’s versions and what we have
made out of them – what we might call the
‘manger danger’ – is that they can focus on a harmless, innocent, unthreatening
baby, something that can arouse little more than affection and admiration:
sweet baby Jesus. The explanation of Jesus’ origin in John’s Gospel on the
other hand can also be problematic from the opposite angle – sounding too abstract
or philosophical, too distant, too transcendent! In both cases, the danger, the
risk is to think that these stories, these passages have nothing to say to us, nothing
to do with us, and no impact on our lives.
But both of those problems can only come from a superficial reading of
the Gospel passages. That sweet baby can’t really be harmless as he sounds.
Even at his birth, Jesus arouses much more than simple affection. He is immediately
worshipped and adored by common people, by strangers, and by the heavenly host.
There is a manger danger, the manger is indeed dangerous – for Jesus, for those
who follow him, and for those who feel threatened by what Jesus stands for. He
is feared by those in power. Rome’s puppet king Herod tries to have him killed
and his family have to flee the country to save their lives. Later one of Herod’s
sons will be involved in Jesus’ death.
From the beginning, the baby is identified as the savior – as the one
who will bring hope, healing and liberation for those in need and salvation –
new life – for anyone who turns to him in love. Both Luke and Matthew’s birth
narratives therefore make very clear that something very special is happening
on this holy night: this child is the savior, the Messiah, the Lord, God in
human flesh.
John’s prologue covers much the same ground – it just goes back even
further, before the very beginning of time and uses more poetic language. The “Word
who was with God, and the Word who was God” is not just some abstract principle of
divine reason and creative order – instead this Word became flesh, literally
meat, and lived among us as the human being Jesus Christ. For those who believe,
the Word is worshipped and adored as “the glory … of a father's only son, full
of grace and truth” (1:14) and as the one who brings life – who is the very
source of life – and as the divine light that shines in the darkness and shines
especially bright for those who are in darkness: the poor, unloved, rejected,
oppressed, those who have lost hope. The Word, who is Jesus, brings hope,
healing and liberation for those in need and salvation – new life – for anyone
who turns to him in love.
Just like the baby, John’s mighty Word who came to live among us was perceived
as a threat and was rejected and in the end killed by those for whom his
message was a threat: “He was in the world, and the world came into being
through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and
his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:10-11)
The Christmas story is not about a baby and not about an abstract philosophical
concept. To paraphrase the Letter from the Hebrews (1:1), “in their many and
various ways” the different Gospel writers tell us that over 2000 years ago, God
sent a Son, as “the reflection of God's glory” to speak to us, to live with us,
to share our lives – good and bad, and to transform us and our lives into
something better. We are all already created in God’s image – we have that “exact
imprint of God's very being” in us. We just don’t act that way. But if we
follow the one who became flesh and lived among us, using his life as our
guide, and abiding by his teachings, and loving one another and God as God in
Jesus loves us, then that imprint of God's very being, that imprint that is
love, will become visible in us and will begin to shape and reshape our lives.
My boss, well one of my many earthly bosses, our Presiding Bishop Michael
Curry just loves the prologue to John’s Gospel. It was the theme of his Christmas
message this year. I’ll finish with his summary of what that prologue means for
us today:
“But there is a God. And there is Jesus. And even in the darkest night.
That light once shined and will shine still. His way of love is the way of
life. It is the light of the world. And the light of that love shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not, cannot, and will not overcome it.”[1]
Amen.
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