Christmas Day (December 25, 2023)

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

In Revelation 4:6-7 and Ezekiel 10:14, we are given a glimpse at the worship in heaven and, as part of the “whole company of heaven” are four creatures, one like a man, one like a lion, one like an ox, and one like an eagle, worshipping God. Christian tradition posits that each of these creatures corresponds to one of the Evangelists, one of the saints credited with writing a Gospel. The characteristics of each of the creatures correspond to some aspect of their Gospel. The creature shaped like a man is typically taken to be St. Matthew; the creature shaped like a lion is taken to be St. Mark; the ox is St. Luke, and St. John is depicted as an eagle. Lancelot Andrewes, the great Anglican divine, points out two Scriptures that pertain to eagles and help us understand St. John:

First, Job 39:27: “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, And make her nest on high?” No one ascends to the heights of theological clarity and profundity like St. John does. His prologue that we just read is incredible; his “in the beginning” is arguably much higher than the one of the creation poem in Genesis 1:1 because John has the Trinity in view, especially emphasizing the relationship of the Father and the Son.

A second feature of eagles though can be found in S. Matthew 24:28 “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” So yes, eagles fly higher than most other creatures; but here, our Lord emphasizes their ability to swiftly swoop down. For Lancelot Andrewes, this demonstrates St. John’s ability to swoop down from the lofty heights at the beginning of his prologue to focus on the Incarnation: “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”.

And so today, we’ll focus on verse 14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” It has two parts. First, there’s the part outside the parenthesis: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” and second, the part inside the parenthesis, “And we saw the glory thereof, as the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father.” There are three features of the text to draw attention to: First, the mystery: the Word made flesh. Second, the benefit: The Word dwelt among us. Third, the duty: The Word was full of grace and truth. Truly, in verse 14, the story of our salvation is so beautifully distilled.

The Mystery: The Word Was Made Flesh

The Word is the “only-begotten Son of God; Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God; Begotten not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made.” The Word has always existed. As we affirm in the Nicene Creed, the First Person of the Trinity is a Father. To be a Father, what does he need to have always had? A Son. This relation between the Father and Son is so close, it’s like the relationship between a though and word. Just as our words spring from and convey our thoughts, so the Son is “begotten” of his Father and always shows the Father to us (John 14:10).

But the mystery in John’s prologue isn’t this beautiful relationship between the Father and the Son so much as the fact that the Word was made flesh. Flesh is the worst and most base part of who we are. It’s in our flesh that we experience concupiscence, temptation towards immoderate desire, lusts that pull us towards things that are harmful for us. But the word was willing to take even that part of us. And if he was willing to take the most base part, we can have confidence that he tool all of our human nature, a body and a soul. It is important to remember, when we conceive of the Incarnation, that we not think of Jesus as a human person, that could get us into the heresy of Arianism—that Jesus was created and not eternally God—or Nestorianism—that Jesus is actually somehow two persons instead of one—but rather, Jesus is a divine person who has always existed but has assumed a human nature, a body and a soul, that are joined and united to his person, showing us what it looks like for us to be fully human, to show us what human nature looks like when it is divinized through union with God.

By taking on our flesh, the Word solves our dilemma. It was Adam and Eve who gave into their fleshly impulses and committed the first sin. Humanity was the guilty party. But the Word, the one who was our Creator and the offended party, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:6-7). In taking on our flesh, justice was satisfied and the Word became not just our Creator, but also our Redeemer. The benefit here is not purely or even primarily a juridical one, but a relational one: God is with us. God become man that man might become God.

The Benefit: “And dwelt among us”

And in this way, we see the benefit: The Word “dwelt among us.” It has often been said that “the end of making is being”: we make something so that it can be what it is. What does it mean to be human? To live in relationship with God and each other, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and love thy neighbor as thyself.” So it’s not just that the Word became flesh; he dwelt not at a distance, he didn’t keep us at arm’s length. He dwelt among us. His body knew our aches and pains, his feelings ebbed and flowed, he loved those close to him, he experienced being the subject of ridicule and gossip, and all the other things that come with being human. He dwelt among us, a phrase that is reminiscent of pitching a tent or building a tabernacle. The tabernacling of God reminds us that jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. The tent imagery makes us consider him as a soldier, waging war against the devil, sin, and death via exorcisms, healings, and absolution of sin and “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:15). “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).

The Duty: “Full of Grace and Truth”

In the Incarnation, the human nature of the Word has been transfigured; the overflow of his abundance means he is “full of grace and truth”; that grace and truth overflows from him to us. In his outpouring of grace, he makes us sons when we had been rebels. In his outpouring of truth, he sets us on the right path after we had “erred and strayed” from his “ways like last sheep.” Grace comes first because without it we couldn’t stand, but in Christ, grace and truth meet and kiss each other. He is full of both; there is no shortage of either. As our benefactor, as our brother, he pours them out for us in abundance. He dispenses grace and truth chiefly by the means he has ordained, his Sacraments, grace, and the Word of God, truth. Through these means, the Word is not in us and we incarnate him in our contexts. We are called to be little Christs, to make jesus present in all the various contexts that we inhabit. And in this way, we are to make every day Christmas as we live out the Gospel.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.