The First Sunday after Christmas Day

December 28, 2008

Year B

John 1: 1-18

St. Francis, Norris

My dad has a lot of pet peeves. He isn’t as bad as Andy Rooney maybe but he comes in a close second, in my opinion. At least he doesn’t whine like Andy. My dad is a physician, long since retired. Growing up as the son of a doctor meant that we hardly ever got to see dad. As a result my brother and sister and I would often ask to go on a house call with him in order to be able to spend a little time with him. We had to sit in the car and wait while he went in but that was worth it to us sometimes.

I remember one such time for me. It must have been in the winter because it was dark and I wouldn’t have been able to go, if it might have interfered with my bedtime. We had a hard time finding the house because it was dark and my dad could not find the house number. I got a lecture on how the house numbers should be placed beneath the porch light where they could be easily seen from the road. He went on and on (ala Andy Rooney) about there not being any rhyme or reason, much less standards for where a street number is placed on houses. You never knew where to look for it in the daylight, much less in the dark.

So who would have thought that one incident, about fifty years ago would pop into my mind with the reading of this scripture for today? It just made me think about Jesus and his being the light of the world. The Word was God and people were having a difficult time seeing the Word. The Word had always been there, since the beginning of creation. What John is telling us is that Jesus was never a non-entity, He has always been. Just not in the human form that was now coming into the world. As He is coming into the world He is the light of everyone. The Word has always been but now we have a light in which to see that word.

It’s just like that address that was on the side of the house my Dad was looking for. The number was always there he just couldn’t see it in the dark. John continues, telling us that Jesus has always been but we couldn’t see Him. Now that He has come into the world we should be able to see Him.

The gospel of John is very different than all the other gospel accounts. A well known saying describes it as a swimming pool that is both safe enough for a child to paddle in while at the same time it is deep enough for an elephant to swim. I find it to be a very colorful and metaphoric work that can be intimidating and welcoming at the same time. More than the other Gospels, John has me scratching my head, thinking, I wonder what he meant by that. For lack of a better understanding of how I describe it, I think of it as circular poetry.

A good example is this one section where John, the Gospeler, is talking about John the Baptist. (not the same John). He says/: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world[1]/ After I read this enough times it makes sense to me. He is saying that John the Baptist is not the Messiah but came to tell of the Messiah’s coming.

It’s like so much of scripture, the more you read, the more understanding or the deeper your understanding becomes. For example, did you notice how the Gospel of John starts? In the beginning! In the beginning…just like the book of Genesis. That is of course by John’s design, not by co-incidence. The Word has become flesh, the light of the world is here. Moses gave us the law; Jesus gave us grace and truth.

This is known as the prologue of John. He is not telling the story tike Matthew, Mark and Luke did. He is telling it from the perspective that the story has already unfolded. He tells that way because all who would read it already know how it will end. Keep in mind that he did not write it as though he were writing the fourth chapter in a gospel book. The books of the Bible for the Christian Church had not yet been determined. There was no Christian Bible yet.

The house that dad and I went searching for had a street number. It always had a street number. We just couldn’t see it. God had always been there for us. We just couldn’t see Him. God allowed us to be able to see by becoming flesh. Prior to this God was word or even law. God allowed us to be able to see by sending the light…Jesus.

There were a lot of houses on that street that night. We saw a few numbers on other houses and were able to determine which one it was. Then we finally found the number on the house. It was a good lesson in deductive reasoning for me. Little did I know it would be used in this way though…as sermon fodder? I guess that is how the light of the world works, sometimes. That little flicker of light grows brighter and brighter as we grow into Christianity and out of the darkness of inability to see God.

The Gospel of John is the last Gospel. It casts some more light to improve our ability to see God. I think John requires a deeper thought process that the others even though many parts are the same stories as Matthew, Mark and Luke. Requiring more depth means digging deeper and the deeper one digs the more important the light becomes. Dad and I were searching for a destination that night. That destination was partially hidden and it took effort and reasoning to find our goal. That is the way life is. That is the way God is. To be sure we are at the right house we need to work a little bit now and then. All those houses looked alike that night but only one was the right one. We needed a little more light to be sure and we did find it.

God sent his only begotten to shine the light and to show the way. It isn’t always easy to use that light the way we should but if we persevere we most definitely find the house we are looking for. And when we find it, all of our pet peeves will become insignificant because when we find the right house we find peace. And that peace is in the light of the world.

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[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Jn 1:6-9