Christmas Day Sermon Text


Christmas Day - John 1:1-18

            

O Lord, Your Word is lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

 

Many of the books I read have introductions written by the author or someone else.  In general, a good introduction lets the reader know what the theme is and what direction the book is going to go.  Sometimes, the reader may even surmise the conclusion.

            

The Gospel reading is a brief, poetic prose, introduction to the life of Jesus Christ.  Reading the prologue carefully lets us know what is coming. If we were hearing the Gospel for the very first time, we would discern that Jesus is the focus of the rest of the book and that He is unlike any man born. He is co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the light that shines in sharp contrast to enveloping darkness. He is the everlasting Word. He precedes the creation that He brought into existence. Jesus comes to make those who receive him into children of God. He is grace and truth. 

            

As we read the gospels, we learn that Jesus is God incarnate, the WORD made flesh.  The way that John begins, “In the beginning” helps us to understand that Jesus is no mere mortal.  Nor is Jesus a demigod, or “hero” of the Greek and Roman myths.  The heroes have super-human abilities, but they are born, and they eventually die.  They live on only in song and stories. 

            

Jesus is different. Jesus is the WORD made flesh.  This WORD is the Son of the Father and is from the beginning.  John intends for us to catch the connection that he is making between Jesus as the WORD and Genesis 1’s description of the creation of the world by God. John confesses that “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  Jesus, the WORD, precedes the existence of the world because He is God. So powerful is the WORD that he speaks the universe into being and sustains all life. No tools are used. Only His words. His words creates all that is seen and unseen.

            

The WORD enters its creation to bring light and salvation to all.  This is good news for us because our world is filled with darkness.  The Gospel of John uses the imagery of darkness to illumine the ignorance and sin and lack of faith in the one true God. The darkness that pervades the world darkens men’s minds and hearts.  Humanity does not recognize God and His goodness. So God brings light and salvation into the world. We do not go to God but God comes to us. In the incarnate WORD, he dwells with us. 

            

We know from Matthew and Luke’s Gospel that Jesus is born into obscurity.  Who is going to pay attention to a child born in a manger in a little town like Bethlehem?  The Angels are watching. For a brief joyous moment, the veil that separates the seen and the unseen is pulled back so that the Angels announce the coming of the Messiah.  Shortly before Jesus begins his ministry, a herald announces his coming. John the Baptist is the one the gospel identifies as “He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.”  The light is here. Prepare thyself you sinners!  The burning white-hot light of the truth of God comes to punch a hole through the darkness so that it may shine upon and melt away the pervasiveness of sinful ignorance and lack of faith. 

            

The WORD comes into our midst. Jesus is God’s gift. Jesus is the Word that is grace and truth.  Jesus is the Word that is the light. Those that receive the Word of God with faith receive the grace of life and the truth of salvation. The Word blesses us with the forgiveness of our sins and the peace that comes from knowledge of eternal life with God.

             

Not everyone desires the WORD of God.  Not everyone wants the ultimate truth of God.  Not everyone wants to have faith in a God that cannot be manipulated or controlled.  Not everyone wants to leave the warmth and familiarity of ignorance or sin or darkness.  As the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus, we see hearts harden and The WORD was rejected.

            

The rejection led to the cross and then the radiating mystery of resurrection life.  This is the promise of the Word of God. Have faith in the Word made flesh.  Have faith in the Christ child. His resurrection is your resurrection.  He promises that you will not die but live for He is the source of life itself.  In faith we receive the promise of the Word that through Him we have life. “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”

            

This morning, we join the church in heaven and earth in praising `God for the gift of faith in Christ who is the Word made flesh. 

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

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