1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things
were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was
life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent
from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning
that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was
not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light
that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in
the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize
him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive
him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his
glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace
and truth.
- John 1:1-14, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in our Newborn Savior,
From the book/movie/Broadway musical "Les Miserable," there is an illustration that may be useful to us on this high, holy day of Christmas.
The main character, Jean Valjean, is looking to rebuild his life after serving 10 years in prison. He goes from place to place looking for work and assistance, but because of who he is and what he was, he doesn’t have much luck. Finally, someone points him in the direction of the local priest.
Valjean’s cynicism toward mankind has been sharply refined over the course of a decade, so he isn’t expecting much. He is taken by surprise, then, when the priest invites him in to share a meal and spend the night. After the evening meal, the housekeeper shows Valjean to his quarters, and all go off to bed.
In the middle of the night Jean Valjean gets up, ransacks the house of the silverware and whatever else he could easily get his hands on, and prepares to leave. The priest is awakened by noise in the living room, goes out to investigate and is assaulted by Valjean, who then quickly makes his escape.
The next morning brought a knock on the door. It was the police, with a shackled Jean Valjean with them. They explained how they caught him and that they found the silver-ware and other valuables with him, which they recognized as belonging to the church. They just needed to verify their findings, and they could put this prisoner away for life.
After listening to the police and identifying the valuables, the priest thanks them for bringing the man back to him. Then, something truly remarkable took place. Looking him squarely in the eyes, the priest addresses Jean Valjean and says something along these lines: "I was hoping I’d have the chance to see you again. You left in such a rush last night. that you forgot the silver candlesticks I gave you." He then directed the stunned housekeeper to add them to Valjean’s collection and politely dismissed the equally stunned police.
No charges. No animosity. No vengeance. Jean Valjean was confronted by an act of grace so radical, so complete and so unexpected that it literally shook the very foundations of his being. And that was the turning point in his life. From that time on, touched by grace, he was a changed man.
Today we have gathered together to remember that, in a far greater way than this or any other illustration can convey, we, too have been touched by grace. In fact,
CHRISTMAS IS OUR CONFRONTATION WITH GRACE.
A grace so radical, so complete, so unexpected that if we can try to imagine we are hearing it today for the first time, it will catch us off-guard and literally take our breath away. Grace is what we needed and grace is what we got, because this morning we celebrate these two glorious facts:
1. The Word Became Flesh
2. And Made His Dwelling Among us
Today we have gathered to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it may seem basic, but let’s begin by taking up this fundamental Christmas question: Who is Jesus Christ?
Depending upon whom you ask, answers to that question will vary. There are many people in the world who will say that Jesus Christ is nothing more than an interesting historical figure who, over the years, has become shrouded in myth and legend.
Then there are those who will say that Jesus was nothing more than a great teacher, an enlightened soul who appeared on the scene at a time of intellectual and moral darkness.
Jesus Himself, more than once, put that very question to His disciples. "Who do men say that I am?" And the answer he received from them showed that the people of His day were not entirely sure.
In one sweeping, majestic and all-inclusive sentence, the Apostle John tells us not only who Jesus Christ is, but also what He is and what He came to do for us. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
Jesus Christ is 1) the Word who 2) became 3) flesh. We need to look at each of these three words. And to fully feel the weight of their significance, we need to go back to the original language in which the Holy Spirit inspired them to be written.
As we heard in our Gospel lesson for today, the term "Word" is one of the many names for Jesus Christ that we find in Scripture. It is such a striking and meaningful name that oftentimes Bible scholars and theologians simply refer to it in the original Greek: Logos.
Because it is more of an abstract name for Jesus (as opposed to "Son of God," "Son of Man," "Good Shepherd," etc.), literally thousands of pages have been devoted to plumbing the depths of all the ramifications and nuances contained within it. For our purposes this morning and in its most basic sense, words call to mind communication. We communicate through words. It is through words that we learn about each other, and everything else, for that matter.
Translate that idea into a spiritual sense. Jesus Christ is the Word. He is how God communicated to us in a very real way and made Himself understandable. We can understand God because we can understand Jesus.
The 1) Word (Jesus) 2) became 3) flesh. Let’s look at this second term. One Greek scholar has this to say: "The verb ‘was made’ [became] expresses that a person or thing changes its property and enters into a new condition, becomes something that it wasn’t before."
We should also note the verb tense. In Greek this is called an aorist. The aorist denotes a completed action.
And then there is the term "flesh." This is almost a crude word. John bypasses the gentler words "man" or "body" to make it clear how thoroughly Jesus identifies with us. He became one of us. He is "Immanuel," God with us. The Christmas account in Luke 2 fills us in on the details. Or in the words of the beloved Christmas hymn: "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity."
Put these three individual words together and we come up with this summary statement: God Himself broke into our space and time in a way that we can understand and relate to. In one of his Christmas sermons Martin Luther put it this way: "Divinity may terrify man. Inexpressible majesty will crush him. That is why Christ took on our humanity, except for sin, that he should not terrify us but rather that with love and favor he should console and confirm."
The Baby lying in the manger is the Word made flesh. This is the miracle of Christmas. This is our confrontation with grace. But there is more.
"He made his dwelling among us." Again, a little understanding of the original language will be helpful. Literally this could be translated: "He pitched his tent among us." And that brings a specific Old Testament image to mind that wouldn’t have escaped early Christians with a Jewish background, and it shouldn’t escape us either.
The image is this: Remember when the Children of Israel were wandering in the desert on the way to the Promised Land? Outside their encampment wherever that was and for however long it was they erected the "Tabernacle." The Tabernacle denoted the very presence of God in their midst. God literally pitched His tent among His people.
And that’s what Jesus did for us. He became one of us and made His dwelling among us. This is not mythology. This is not a pious Bible story. These are the cold hard, wonderful facts of Christmas: 2000 years ago, amidst a choir of angels and adoring shepherds, heaven intersected with earth and the world was confronted with a grace it had been promised, but had never experienced before.
But why? Because grace is what we need. The reason we need a Savior is because you and I were born differently than Jesus. Of us it cannot be said that we were conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Bible and an exhaustive amount of empirical evidence tell us that we and all the world bear the sinful image of Adam. Despite a full-scale attempt by the world to minimize or sanitize or reclassify it, the Bible says we are sinful by nature. Dead in our trespasses and sins. Doomed to eternity in hell because of our inability to live the perfect life God demands.
So this was God’s plan: The Word would become flesh and dwell among us. Jesus, who grew up and for every second of every day of His 33 years among us lived that sinless life as our substitute. Jesus, who grew up and voluntarily replaced the wood of the manger for the wood of a cross, there to suffer and die as the substitutionary sacrifice for your sins and mine. Jesus, who rose triumphant from the grave three days later to signify to the world and to us that His mission of redemption was complete and satisfactory.
And it all began at Christmas. Therefore, Christmas means that everything is okay. Even if everything is not personally okay, everything is okay according to the big scheme of things. Christmas means sins forgiven. Heaven reserved. Life overseen by a God who loved us enough to send us His Son, a Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh. Jesus Christ made his dwelling among us so we might dwell with Him forever. This is the message of Christmas. This is the blessing of the incarnation.
And this is our confrontation with a grace so radical, so profound that all we can do is fall on our knees in praise and adoration.
Christians, rejoice. For unto us is born this day a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.