1st Sunday after Christmas

Sermon given at St. Stephen's.

Today’s gospel reading, John 1:1-18, is often identified as the prologue of John’s gospel—it could also be described as John’s Christmas story. It’s a bit different than the Christmas story we are familiar with and that we heard last week. There is no manger, no angels, no shepherds. We don’t hear about Mary and Joseph or a baby. Instead we are looking behind, above, and beyond the manger scene. We move to eternity, to creation, to redemption, soaring above the angels and shepherds. John’s prologue is unique and awe-inspiring.

When we look at the four gospels side by side, it is clear that one of these things is not like the others!! Matthew, Mark and Luke all share a narrative style, more like a reporter’s eyewitness report. Many people love the brevity of these works, and especially the terseness of Mark. But at least as many people also are attracted to the majesty and depth of John. And the Gospel of John is my favorite, and of course I appreciate any opportunity to preach on it!!
It is impossible to adequately address this passage in a short sermon, so I will focus on just a few of the significant themes: The Word, who gives power to all who believe in him to become children of God, the Word made flesh, and the uniqueness of this Word.

The first three words are: “In the beginning”—the same words that open the book of Genesis. Genesis reads: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In today’s text we read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

This Word, who was with God before creation, was the logos, the creative force of God. To speak of the Word in relation to the beginning of creation would make sense to both Jews and Greeks. In some schools of Greek thought, the universe is kosmos, an ordered place, and what lies behind the universe and orders it is reason or logos. . For the Jews, creation took place through God’s speech. In Gen 1:3, God said let there be light and there was light. God’s speech, his word, caused creation to come into being. And God’s speech, his Word, is Christ. All things came into being with him, and without him not one thing came into being. There were no exceptions; the existence of absolutely all things came by this Word.

In vs. 11-13 we read “11 He came to what was his own,1 and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. Those who believe in his name have the power to become Children of God.” This power is something that we must exercise. But this power comes from God. Those who are receptive to the Son are offered the gift of becoming children of God themselves. Everything depends on our response to him. Then as children of God we begin to share his divine life. We reflect God’s character. Most importantly, believing is not just an intellectual assent to some ideas but a relationship of discipleship to Jesus in which we trust and obey his revelation and receive his ongoing presence through the Holy Spirit.

In the next verse comes the break with all non-Christian thought. The Word became flesh!! The Word, the agent of creation, has now become a creature! He who brought the universe into existence is now born within the universe as a human being. This idea is so familiar to us that we don’t get it. The Word became Flesh! God became Man. It is beyond our ability to comprehend. The Word became flesh! Philippians ch. 2 tells us that The Word, “Jesus Christ though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” The Word who was with God and was God became human flesh, born as a baby, and dwelt among us! Imagine that!
In our world today, we hear many voices, many words. But when we hear that the Word became Flesh, we understand that God is intent on communicating about himself. The Word, is accessible. The Word lived in the world and was touched and heard by many. The Word became flesh tells us that Jesus was God himself, taking on the clothing of humanity. Something definitive, objective and absolute has happened in time and in history. It must be made clear that Jesus is not one savior among the world’s many saviors, nor is he one good man among many men. Jesus is God in flesh. The Nicene Creed tells us that Jesus and the Father share the same essence; and there was never a time when the Son did not exist.

God is the architect of creation and of history who delights in revealing himself. He enters our reality through word and miracle, showing his glory and power. Christ is God at work, disclosing himself to his creation. Christ is God reaching into the realm of men and women; he takes their form in order to give exhaustive and certain revelation of who he his. Jesus is God’s intervention in the world. He is greater than Moses and came before Abraham. His history goes back to the beginning of time and beyond.

Jesus makes God accessible. The last verse of today’s text says “8 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,1 who is close to the Father's heart,2 who has made him known.” In chapter 14:8, Jesus claims that “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” If you want to know God, look at his Son. The son is the same as the Father, the same substance, the same nature. The incarnation has brought a new way to comprehend God. We can only know the Holy God of the Universe through Christ, God made flesh, born in humility in a filthy stable, walking in poverty, teaching the un-teachable, dying a horrible criminal’s death and then rising from the dead and again walking among his disciples. Through the approachable and knowable humanity of Jesus, the Word made flesh, we come to know God. And any attempt to know God that is not centered in Jesus is defective. No one has seen God, but now the one who was with the Father reveals the glory of God that he shared with him before the world began. Jesus is the only way to the Father. He is not one path among many, but the only true and real way by which we know God. In chapter 14 Jesus says "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know1 my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Jesus shows us the Father, and if we believe in his name we are given the power to become children of God—God’s very sons and daughters. In Romans, Paul says we have received the spirit of adoption that we may cry Abba, Father. God is our Daddy, and we are his children, his sons and daughters. What a great thing!!

In today’s world, there isn’t much that feels secure, and too often we feel rejected and alone. We feel uneasy and uncertain. And while we know that no human relationship can truly provide security, God can. In the midst of this troubled and troubling world, we are privileged to have the most secure relationship that there is—we are adopted into God’s very own family. Through faith in Christ, through believing in his name, we become his brothers and sisters, children of God, and co-heirs with Christ. We belong!! This is the ultimate family! Our adoption is for real and for sure and for always! We have the power and privileges as God’s children—what an amazing and wonderful thing! When we comprehend this truth, our hearts will overflow with joy.

The cosmic Christ, the Word who was in the beginning, has revealed to us the way to be with God our Father, our Abba, and this Daddy will never ever let us down, and we will be his beloved children forever and for always.