Christmas Present

John 1:1-14

Jesus doesn’t do much in the Christmas story. He is just there. He shows up. While drama and mess unfolds all around, while angels show up, shepherds freak out, families shuffle, wise men travel, and kings tremble… Jesus just arrives. This sounds like the smallest thing, but it is the most profound happening in all Creation. God took on flesh and moved into the neighborhood, and the Universe changed. Immanuel, God is with us, and nothing will ever be the same again.

Thanks for Coming

Jono at a baseball game. I asked him the team name and he said something about Newport Ponies. It might have been “Pony League” but let’s just go with that as the team name.

They won, and at the end of the game the coach went around the circle congratulating each player on some way they contributed to the win. Johnny, nice catch in the 2nd inning. Todd, great sacrificial bunt to bring home the winning game. All the way around the circle. Peter and Frank, that double play was incredible!

Everyone had done something amazing to contribute to the game. And he came to Jono. And he said “Jono… thanks for coming.”

Thanks for coming.

Now there is a story that makes it make sense. My parents had a rule about not playing sports on the Sabbath, it was one of the ways we chose at that time to keep the Sabbath separate and sacred. So we didn’t play games. But this day Jono’s team had an important game, and several people couldn’t make it and they were going to have to forfeit the game. So Jono and my parents made an exception that day, and moved everything around so that Jono could be there. The coach understood this and so just the fact that Jono had shown up gave the whole team a chance to play. “Jono, thanks for coming.”

Just a chance for victory. Without him there, no one else even gets to play.

The very best thing, the most impressive thing, the most needed thing he did that day was show up.

Jono, thanks for coming.

Profoundly Human

Here is the Christmas story. It’s all about Jesus, right?

What does Jesus do in the story?

Here is the part with Jesus in it:

Luke 2:4–7 ESV

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Forget for a moment all the crazy angel stuff that led up to this, and all the crazy angel stuff that is about to come after this… and just sit in this moment.

Forget the polished and perfect nativity sets.

Gene and I were talking about this last week. Smells the smells, hear the sounds, feel the feels.

A man and his wife are on their way home to the family reunion. Joseph is going to Bethlehem because that is where his people are from. And whatever family he has, they are living there or headed there too. They are joyfully greeted at the door.

“Inn” is not a thing, there is no Motel 6, you stay with family. “Guest room” is better, and my Bible has an asterisk for that, maybe yours does too. That is already packed full, maybe two families already, wall to wall, so you get to bed down with the animals. That could be a cave nearby… but more likely it’s what we would think of as the Living Room, the main room, animals kept in for security and warmth.

So picture, instead of this, your living room. We had a dozen boys sleeping over last week. Some had beds, most crowded in on the couch and floor. You make room. The dog comes over and gets in wherever they can. And they have more animals. Goats, sheep, perhaps. Probably the donkey Mary rode in on at least.

It is crowded. It is loud. But hey, it is family. It is Mary and Joseph home in Bethlehem for the Census family reunion.

That night, Mary’s contractions begin. The women chased the men out of the common room and assisted Mary in giving birth, just as generation after generation had done before them. And after they had cleaned him up, after Jesus had nursed for this first time, they swaddled him up tight, and laid him down to sleep. Lying in a manger.

A profound moment, but a profoundly human moment. Baby Jesus is now present to the world for all to see, starting with his human family. Strange things may be going on at the outskirts of town with shepherds and angels in the sky, but in that room, around that manger… it is a profound human moment. It is beautiful. It is Christmas.

Profoundly God

Before Christmas. Before Mary and Joseph. Before Bethlehem. Before the world, before the cosmos, in the beginning, there was God.

There was God, and we believe this strange thing about God. We believe that God was one thing, one substance, but three persons. The only reason we believe that is that God showed up and said that’s what He was like and we thought we shouldn’t argue with Him.

He was God the Father, by whose will all things happen.

God the Son, for whom and through whom all things would be made.

God the Spirit, by whose power God would act.

And they had this eternal, perfect, love relationship with one another. And God decided to make the Universe we call home. And he decided to make the people we call us. And he decided that He wouldn’t stay far off from this world, but would instead make Himself known.

And I don’t know how it was decided, but it was decided, that when God made Himself known, it would always be through the Son. When God spoke to His people, the Word spoken would be the Son… in fact the Son would be the very Word of God.

And God spoke a Word, and the Universe exploded into being. And God spoke to His people and that was His Word. God revealed Himself to person after person, family after family, giving of His Word, Revelation of Himself, always the Son of God.

John 1:1-14

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.

The Word

John uses this word “the Word.” Logos. It is a word rich with meaning, heavy with philosophical meaning, and carrying a rich tradition from the Hebrew word davar. Every revelation of God, the ground of knowing and knowledge itself, the very basis of mind and thought.

John 1:1 makes this amazing claim, that in the very beginning, the Revelation, the Word was with God and in fact was God.

The gospel of Mark starts in a sensible place, with the ministry of Jesus. With the action.

The gospel of Luke captures the play by play, probably on the testimony of Mary who, by tradition, spent some time in the company of Doctor Luke who was interviewing all the eyewitnesses. We hear about that profound human moment in Bethlehem.

The gospel of Matthew begins further back with the human lineage of Jesus, grounding the birth of Jesus in the story of Israel.

John, probably writing latest of all of them. He knows the Christmas story. He knows Jesus. He knows Jesus as a man, intimately. He calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.

But he starts with this: in the beginning. John gives us the Cosmic Christmas story.

John gives us a Profound Divine Moment

John walked with this guy. Saw him with his eyes, touched him with his hands. And along their journey he realized that even though this guy Jesus was every bit as human as he was. Every bit. Completely and totally human. There was also something more going on. Something impossibly Ancient. Insanely powerful. Something Divine.

His beloved friend and Master was the very root and cause of Creation itself, God himself.

John 1:1–14 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word Became Flesh

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. This is the central and defining moment of Creation: the Word became flesh, God dwells with us, Emmanuel.

This is Christmas.

A profoundly human moment. A profoundly Divine moment. It is both. God with us. Emmanuel.

At Christmas God dove in headfirst. He was omni-present before, sure. He visited before in Shekinah glory. He had pitched his tent metaphorically and symbolically and in power before.

But in Jesus, He became one of us, one with us. I hope Jesus was born headfirst, because it really carries the analogy. God went all in, headfirst, part of it.

He looked at our world and saw the damage we had done and how damaged we are. And he didn’t just condemn us. He didn’t just judge us. He didn’t give up on us. He entered in.

Emmanuel. God with us. God became Emmanuel… and he never stopped.

And the Word became flesh. Here is what I love about Christmas. Jesus didn’t say anything. He could have come out of the womb and started teaching. It would have been creepy, but certainly miraculous. Amazing. He could astound the elders in the temple day one. Mid-circumcision on the eighth day.

But Jesus didn’t say a Word. He was the Word without saying a Word. And people who saw him: Anna, Simeon… they knew. They knew Emmanuel. God with us.

Jesus says more with His presence than with words.

His presence lying in a manger.

Than his presence on the cross.

Than his presence, alive and resurrected.

Now his presence here by faith in us.

Just by showing up, he is the Word of God. Now I love the words of Jesus. They explain, they clarify, they teach and guide and correct. They gave context and correction. His teaching ministry was necessary and powerful. But Christianity is not built upon the teachings of Jesus.

It is built on the person of Jesus. Emmanuel – God with us.

God didn’t save us through the words of Jesus. He saved us in the Person of Jesus, the Word himself.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. That is Christmas.

The baby lying in a manger. A profound human moment. A profound God moment.

Jesus, Thanks for Coming

Emmanuel

This is what we remember and celebrate together this season. This is the true meaning of Christmas. It isn’t family, though family is a good thing. It isn’t giving, though giving is a good thing.

It is Emmanuel. God with us.

Christmas started in the beginning “was the word and the word was God.”

Christmas had that moment of entry, where the incarnation of the Word in the flesh became visible and announced to the world in that profound human moment in Bethlehem. A babe lying in a manger. But Christmas never stopped. God never stopped revealing Himself by the Word, who is the Son, who is Jesus, who is Emmanuel.

The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. And he lives here still. Welcome to the neighborhood. Merry Christmas.

God shows up. And he never left the neighborhood…

God IS With You

From the moment Jesus shows up, even within the womb, from first incarnate life… everything was different. God was in it.

I don’t know what this week has looked like for you.

But I know this: to all who believe and call on His name, He is with you. Immanuel.

Jesus is with you, the same Holy Spirit that empowered his life is given to you. He will never leave nor forsake you. Nothing can separate you from his love. His greatest gift to you, His Christmas gift to you, is Himself. His forever presence. His forever love. His forever life.

And I know many times in my life, when God doesn’t do the things I want Him to do… or hasn’t done them yet, it gets hard to believe and trust the story. Hard to trust God.

Because all I am seeing is the circumstances. Maybe Mary is ticked that her in-laws put them in with the animals. Maybe Joseph’s dignity is offended by that.

Maybe they are worried about the unsanitary conditions, it’s a mess.

But God is there, in the midst of all of it. And everything is different because of it whether they see it or not, know it or not, believe it or not.

God is with you, now and forever.

Merry Christmas.