The world changed

 

A Sermon preached on Christmas Eve 24 December at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14

There’s been a bit of a debate again recently in Germany about banning private fireworks on New Year’s Eve. As a dog owner, I have some sympathy! On this holy night however, 2025 years ago (+/- a couple of years) there was no need for artificial fireworks to light up the heavens! As we just heard, the glory of the Lord shone around them, and the shepherds were terrified, and that was even before a multitude of the heavenly host appeared, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!" (Luke 2:14)

Why the celestial fuss, why was this so important? I have seen this event called the story that divided history in two, and that is of course also reflected in the way we number our years: BC/Before Christ (or more recently BCE/Before Common Era) and AD/Anno Domini (or CE/Common Era), but always before and after the supposed date of the birth of Jesus acting as the fulcrum of time. To quote the Church of England evangelist J. John: “In that Bethlehem stable, eternity stepped into time, majesty into a manger and divinity into humanity. The Creator became part of his creation. The Infinite became an infant. The Almighty became approachable. The Word became flesh and moved into our neighbourhood.” That is a massive claim, and it is what makes Christianity “special” or different.

Of course, even in the Old Testament, the Scriptures we share with our Jewish brothers and sisters, God is not just some distant and disinterested being. In the Garden of Eden, God walks with Adam and Eve. God repeatedly speaks with and even appears to Abraham, most famously as three visitors in Genesis 18: An image that the 15th century Russian painter Andrei Rublev used for his icon of the Trinity. Again, and again God talks to priests and prophets and through them to God’s people. God was physically present with the Israelites in the desert as a pillar of cloud and flame, and God was supposed to reside in the Holy of Holies, in the Temple.

But the God of the Old Testament was still very much Other. Even those like Moses, who God was in close relationship with, did not dare to look at God directly: “At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” (Exodus 3:6)  And when one man touched the Ark of the Covenant by mistake (2 Samuel 6:7), he was struck down and died.

So, it’s no surprise that people were afraid to come too near, and that all sorts of rules were written to restrict access to the place God was supposed to be especially present. God was also often given very human characteristics or attributes: anger, pride, even a desire for revenge. And despite this very real fear – or perhaps because of it? - God’s message just did not get through. Humankind continued its path of disobedience and destruction and did not fulfil its calling to act as beings made in God’s image. But then how could we, if we did not know the God in whose image we were made! And so, rather than send another messenger, God became the messenger and somewhat ironically; to make God known and to correct the far too human image of God, God becomes human to show us who God is.

This is of course the message of the prologue to John’s Gospel: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us. … No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (John 1:14, 18) or of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (2:6-7) “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” There is nothing more human, nothing more approachable, nothing more lovable than a baby (except perhaps early in the morning when they keep us awake). And yet at the same time this is no ordinary baby, as the prophet Isaiah foretells: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6)

In his life and teaching, in his death and resurrection Jesus showed us God: A God who loves unconditionally, a God who heals, a God who reconciles, a God who knows no boundaries, a God who sacrifices godself. And Jesus’ message, as the Word of God, was and is: Become like this. As C.S. Lewis said – in somewhat gendered language, ‘The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.’ (Mere Christianity) He became one of us so that we could become one with him and become more like him. Jesus came to show us how to be truly human and how to fulfil our calling as beings made in God’s image: Acting as stewards of God’s creations, sharing in God’s care for all of creation, including our fellow human beings.

That message was rejected then by those who love power and wealth and self; it wasn’t long before Jesus and his parents were fleeing for their lives and that message eventually led to his death on the cross in a vain attempt to stifle and silence it. And that message is still controversial to those who love power and wealth and self, and who therefore try and ignore or distort it! So where is the peace on earth and goodwill toward people that the angels declared? It sometimes seems to be moving even further away. But the world really changed on that holy night; God came down and has never left us. We were changed on that holy night and whenever and wherever we follow Jesus’ example and act as the human beings God always intended us to be, the real world, the changed world, God’s world and glory shines through and if we listen carefully, we will hear a multitude of the heavenly host saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace and goodwill!" .

Amen.