In A Plain Brown Wrapper

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

"In A Plain Brown Wrapper"

(John 1:1-14; Hebrews 1:1-12)

INTRODUCTION:

     Well, it's only a week away isn't it?  Seven days until Christmas.  Seven days of anticipation and expectation. In talking about all the excitement and anticipation, one little boy said, "Oh, I wish Christmas was like the VCR so we could put it on fast forward and make it get here faster."

     And we know how that young man felt, don't we.  Our kids certainly do. The air is charged with their expectation.  You can see the excitement in their eyes and hear it in their voices.  You can even see it in their behavior.  You don't have to say much more than Santa's watching to get them to do what needs to be done.  The expectation is so thick you can almost feel it rubbing off on you like a thick fog.

     And the advertising industry has been helping to build that expectation. All the ads depict the happiness, the warm glow and the great loving feeling that you receive if you only buy such and such a brand of coffee or drink a certain soft drink or wear the right article of clothes made by this certain designer or manufacturer.

     These same advertisers try to convince us that less is more in their packaging, advertisments and displays that call Small - medium; Medium - large; and Large - Giant or Ultra or Super or Gihugic, Isn't it wonderful that the old saying, "Great things come in small packages," still holds true, especially at Christmas.  That small bundle wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger was an incredible gift.  It wasn't very big and it wasn't wrapped in anything more than the simple beauty of God's love and a mother's love.  Yet is was the greatest gift the world has ever seen.  A gift that came in a simple plain brown wrapper.  But a gift that changed the world.  

I. THE WORD BECAME FLESH:

      A.  We'll all receive lots of gifts next Sunday.  There will be mounds of presents to wade through and a ton of wrapping paper to recycle.  After every present is opened, and our kids are standing knee deep in toys, one of them is bound to say: "Is that all?"

      In John's Gospel the answer to that is a loud, resounding "NO!" echoing from the song of angels and the joy of shepherds and the worship of wise men at a manger.

     The answer is "NO!" Christmas is more than the presents under the tree and all the parties.  Christmas is the day the promises of God were fulfilled.  Christmas is the day that God went to the closet; put on skin and bones; and stepped into a stable in Bethlehem to born of Mary and laid in a manger. This is the day that the Word and the Work and the creative, loving Grace of God was wrapped in the plain brown wrapper of the ordinary. The creative, loving God of all mercy came in the tiniest, most fragile package ever given--the Christ Child.

      And this is the wonder of wonders. For generations we thought God was just up there some place, watching but disinterested. Looking down with the same unconcern for our troubles as somebody watching a group of puppies tumble and play.  But this tells us that we're not alone. Someone is right beside us and that someone is none other than THE SON OF GOD.

      God is not disinterested. God is right smack dab in the middle of the pain and grief and joy that come with the struggles of life. Through Jesus, God is always there, so that in the loneliest of situations, in the darkest of despair, in the worst of our foolishness, we're never alone. Now we can draw strength and comfort from an all-sufficient God who has experienced what we experience. "THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US!"

      B. There was an elephant who was thoroughly enjoying himself as he splashed about in the river.  On the bank of the river there was a mouse who was obviously disturbed about something.  He jumped up and down and yelled at the elephant, "Come out of that water right now!"  The elephant just laughed and said, "Why should I?"   The mouse wasn't about to give up.  He kept yelling and yelling.  The elephant realized that if he wanted any peace and quiet he had better get out of the water.

      So, the elephant slowly climbed out of the water and stood towering over the mouse.  "Now, why did you want me to get out of the water?"  The mouse looked up and said, "I just wanted to make sure you weren't wearing my swimming suit."

      I know that's kind of dumb but sometimes I think it would be easier for us to understand how an elephant could be wearing a mouse's swimming trunks than it is for us to understand the awesome mystery of the incarnation that happened at Bethlehem  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  How do you explain that?  It's one of the profound mysteries of the faith. 

      C.  Believe it or not, there's an old "Sesame Street" skit which shed's a little light on this Christmas story. The skit was based on the old fairy tale where a beautiful princess kisses an ugly frog and the frog becomes a handsome prince. In the Sesame Street version, though, the princess kissed the frog, and "POOF" she turned into a frog herself. 

      That is what we celebrate at Christmas. God did not look down at the human situation from a safe distance. Instead, God hung up the celestial robes, stepped down into human existence and became one of us.

II. AND WE SAW HIM:

      And John says, "That's not all."  With the excitement of a child who has seen the sleigh and reindeer on Christmas eve, John writes, "The Word became flesh, dwelt among us, AND WE SAW HIM!!!" It wasn't a dream. He was right here with us. We saw Him. We walked and talked with Him. He touched us, He led us, He fed us. We beheld His glory. He truly was the Son of God. I know it's unthinkable and unbelievable, but WE SAW HIM!

     You know, there's a great difference between letters and phone calls. Anybody who has ever been away from home for a long time knows what I mean. Phone calls are great. They have the advantage of immediacy, you instantly hear the person's voice and know their mood, but once you hang up the experience is over. There's a lingering memory but not much else.

     A letter, on the other hand, is tangible. You can see it and feel it and touch it and read it over and over and over again. Letters are physical, a message to hold and to grasp. A message to clutch to your heart or wave in the air.

     In this babe of Bethlehem, in Christ Jesus, God sent us a personal letter. A tangible, physical, personal love letter. The message of God's love became the messenger. The messenger became the message. It came special delivery in a plain brown wrapper.  It was laid in a manger in Bethlehem and the world has never been the same. And we can say: "WE'VE SEEN HIM! WE'VE BEHELD HIS GLORY! GLORY AS OF THE ONLY SON OF GOD!"

CONCLUSION:

      In his book, If God Is In Charge, Stephen Brown tells a beautiful story about a young couple that I think gets to the heart of the Good News the Incarnation:

     "She was eighteen and he was nineteen when they met. They fell in love, and one year later they were married. Some six years and three children later, she decided while standing before the kitchen sink with a pile of dirty dishes and with a pile of dirty diapers on the floor, that she just couldn't stand it any more. She took off her apron and just walked out the door.  Sometimes she would call home to check on the children, and on those occasions he would tell her how much he loved her, and he would ask her to come home. Each time she refused.

     "After a number of days, he hired a private detective to find his wife. The report said she was living in a second-class hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. He packed his bags, placed the children under the care of a neighbor, and took a bus to Des Moines. He found the hotel and made his way to her room. When he knocked on the door, his hand trembled because he didn't know the kind of reception he would receive. His wife opened the door, stood for a moment looking at him in shocked silence, and then fell apart in his arms.

     "Later, at home, when the children were in bed, he asked her a question that had long troubled him: `Why wouldn't you tell me where you were when you called? You knew I loved you. Why didn't you come home?'

     "She replied, `Before, your love was just words. Now I know how much you love me because you came.'"

     God so loved the world. God came.  That's the glorious message of Christmas.  God came, not wrapped in glitz and glitter.  God came in the vulnerable plain brown wrapper of humanity just to show us how much we are loved. That's the gift of Christmas.

      The question is what are you going to do with this gift?  What are you going to do with this treasure wrapped in the plain brown wrapper of humanity? What difference will it make in your life?

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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1.    Stephen Brown, IF GOD IS IN CHARGE, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983).