In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 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, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 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. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
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Grace to you and Peace, on this day, the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
There is a notable absence in today’s Gospel reading. Notice anything missing from the Gospel of John? There’s no Christmas story! Or rather, what we think of the Christmas story.
None. There is no Bethlehem. No Inn. No Shepherds. No Angel. No Multitude of the Heavenly Host Praising God. No wisemen bearing gifts. No Star up in the Heavens to Guide Them. No Animals. No Joseph. No Mary. No Virgin birth. No Manger. Not even a baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. None of these. None of these are in John’s Gospel.
So what do we have? We have a different kind of Christmas story. One not as romantic. John’s Gospel was written sometime in the early part of the second century. To a second century person of faith, God was distant. Very far away, in the heavens, controlling our destinies. And the word, that is logos in Greek, means Reason. Language. Wisdom. Teaching. Knowledge. These are all things that belong to God. These things are from God. These things even are God.
If I were reading the beginning of John’s Gospel as a 2nd Century Jew, to start out with, I’d be at ease with John’s Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – Yup, that make’s sense. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being – yup, this makes sense. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. – Still sounds good to me.
But then there’s this little phrase in verse 14, that little verse, my 2nd century Jewish mind was just thrown out of order. “And the word became flesh.” God became flesh. No manger, but still a Christmas Story. God isn’t so distant anymore, hanging out in the heavens. But God is here, on Earth, with us. God came to us. God became flesh.
See, early second century readers of this Gospel might have had a tough time reading that last phrase. “Word became flesh.” God was all-powerful. Omniscient, omnipotent. But not in our world. God was distant. If we lived at this time, our minds would lead us to ask where was God when our temple in Jerusalem, our way of religious life was destroyed? Where is God in our Roman occupation and persecution? Where is God when we are forced to worship the Roman Emperor and treat him as a God? Our minds might have said, “God is not with us here.”
We have a lot in common with 2nd century Jewish Christians. We ask these same questions. Where is God in our pains and our sufferings? Where was God in the Holocaust? In WWII? Korea? Vietnam? Where is God in our invasion of Iraq? Where is God when our sons and daughters and friends are serving far away in the deserts or the mountains? Where is God in a difficult housing market? Where is God in low paying jobs? Where is God when we don’t have health insurance? Where is God when we’re lonely? Where is God when our families are far away from us, in other states, on Christmas? Where is God when our family member, maybe a spouse, a sibling, a child, died and is not with us to celebrate Christmas on this day? Where is God when our own health fails? Where is God in our families? In school? In our work places. In Tyler? At First English?
John’s Gospel isn’t so different in our time. It’s a tough message to hear. That is God has come to us. The answer to all of these questions is that the word became flesh. God has come to us. God is not a distant God, in the heavens, but here on Earth, with us.
There’s a song by an artist name Joan Osbourne. Her song was called “What if God was one of us.” The song goes “what if God was one of us, just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.”
This is exactly what John means when he wrote “The word made flesh.” God was one of us. And God still continues to be with us, as the word made flesh. The word made flesh is with us when we partake in communion. When we witness a baptism.
So, there may be no Bethlehem. No Inn. But really, the entire world is God’s birthplace.
And there may be no Shepherds, no Angels, and no Multitudes of the Heavenly Host Praising God – but here we are, at First English Lutheran, and thousands of churches around the world. Praising God just the same.
In John’s Gospel there are no wisemen. No star guiding them. But really, all of us come to God, being guided by a Holy Spirit, bearing gifts.
No animals. But there is the creation of God that surrounds us all. Not just animals, but trees, and mountains, and rivers. And all creation has made – buildings, and cities and art and music, and books – all of creation, which pays homage to God.
No Joseph. No Mary in John’s Gospel. – But the love we receive from God – the love a mother or a father gives a child.
No virgin birth, No manger, No baby Jesus. But in John’s Gospel – there is just as much. That God came to us, to dwell among us. To be with us. To be flesh. To be with us, as we are.
Amen.
