With Hope

Let us pray…Gracious, holy, and loving God, as we come before you on this second Sunday in Advent, our hearts and minds are focused upon what needs to yet be done before Christmas and we hope that we can get it all done. In this time and in this space, we ask you to calm our hearts and minds so that we focus upon what is really important, the hope that we have in eternal life guaranteed by your Son, whose birth is just a few weeks away. All this we pray in his precious name, Amen.

The story of Christmas

If you were asked to tell the story of Christmas, you’d probably mention a long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, shepherds and sheep, a sky full of singing angels, the wise men from the east, the inn with a “No Vacancy” sign and of course, a very pregnant Mary and a concerned Joseph. Right? Well, not that you would be wrong but today’s gospel reading doesn’t mention any of these events. So, what does John have in mind and why on Earth would he want to start the story of Christ’s life this way?

While we cannot know what Johns’ intention was, the reading of the gospel for this morning typically leaves us wanting more. It’s loaded with philosophical ideologies, it’s heavy with theological terminology, and it’s far from the warm and cuddly story that Luke tells about shepherds tending their woolly sheep under a starlit night, singing angels, and starstruck teenagers — one of whom is noticeably with child — who cannot find a place to crash for the night.

As the last of the gospel writers, perhaps he thought it was a story that had already made the rounds. So now, given that the facts are a matter of public record, he intended to explain, at least in part, the meaning of the story. And to do this, he has to provide context; he has to go back to the beginning.

In the beginning...

John starts his Gospel with the three words that take him and his first-century readers back to the first words of the Torah: “In the beginning, God ...”. It’s as though at the start of the Bible, God intends to remind us about beginnings, and that John, echoing this format, likewise affirms that humans have a history — a history that begins with God, continues with God, will conclude with God and in which God and Jesus Christ his Son are the major players, and here is how John writes it...

John 1:3 NIV

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

It’s difficult to imagine that sort of linear chronological distance. For most of us, history begins when we are about 5 years old, give or take. Everything else is ancient history and must be studied in a classroom.

Still, we can go back to our own personal beginnings. We remember the significant events of our lifetime, like the invention of the smartphone, the internet, personal computers, 9/11, the Challenger explosion, Armstrong on the moon and so on — of course this depends upon your age...

However, in school, we studied history to learn more about beginnings — the World Wars, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance, Shakespeare, the invention of the printing press. But after that, things get dark and murky — until we see a star lying bright on the dark velvety pages of history, a supernova that exploded in about 4 B.C. and which heralded the arrival of a child whose birth we celebrate in a few weeks.

But John takes this as his starting point and travels even farther back in time. He skips past all the prophets, all the kings, blazing past Moses the architect of the Hebrew nation and going all the way back past Abraham. He races past a global flood, humans who live for hundreds of years, until he arrives — finally — at Genesis (which means “beginning”). And here we are standing at the start of the Holy Bible, and the first three words read, “In the beginning ....”

And John uses these words to connect Jesus’ story with the beginning of time and the beginning of ours...So John repeats these three words, and explains why God became a human by emphasizing two attributes of the squalling baby of Luke’s account. He says in effect, “This baby is the ‘word,’ and he’s also the ‘light.’” In other words, this child came to say something, and to show us something. As we begin to hope for the future, this story also holds a beginning for us. As we delve into the passage for today, let’s look closely at these aspects of the baby in the manger.

What does this Child say to us?

It’s striking how easily today’s text reads. The author doesn’t waste words nor does he use a $20 dollar word where a 50-cent word will do. Here is the thoughtful and philosophical John essentially explaining how Christ came to be in this world. He announces the arrival of Christ, who is with God and is God. And he tries to do it in a way that everyone can understand as he uses one-syllable words to do so — words as simple and vulnerable as the baby in the manger.

The only place there is a word with more than one syllable is in the very first two verses…it’s as though John is saying that “This is not complicated.” The problems comes in when we try to place too much emphasis on what John means. And to put this passage in the simplest of terms, let me ask you this question…what do you think is the most important message Jesus came to share with us? While our answers will inevitably vary, let’s try this as a response to that question...I love you.

Now, don’t dismiss this answer as being too sentimental. Think about it. Just as the cross demonstrates God’s love for us, so does the cradle. What else but love can explain the willingness of the Son of God who was present at creation to leave heaven’s glory where he held the title of “God and God Alone,” or “I AM THAT I AM,” and to appear in human form as a crying, burping and pooping baby in a manger of straw? That’s love!

Not to mention the fact that God had tried to show this love before by sending messages to us through the prophets. But the life expectancy of these prophets was not long enough. Then, God sent Jesus, and it was an act motivated by love, as John himself notes in verse 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ...” . God’s Son was the Word, and is the word to us, among other words, was and is, “I love you.” It’s a very simple message: only three syllables.

In the beginning ... and the middle ... and the end

As the Word of God, Jesus clearly is someone you want to know and get to know better. Jesus is the one person you want to be a part of your history, someone with whom you want to have a beginning — a beginning that, well, never will end.

Not too much endures today. Buildings go up and come down. Businesses are here today and gone tomorrow. Relationships are fragile, often held together by only the thinnest threads of a prayer and a promise. And then, at Christmas, we affirm in the midst of all this uncertainty that “in the beginning, God ....” The Bible pushes further: In the middle, God. In the end, God. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Or, as Christ at the end of time puts it, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” The Be All and the End All. The First Word, the Final Word, the Last Word, the Only Word.

Christmas brings us to a new beginning and therefore a new hope. It comes as an infant that becomes the Word speaking to us. As we stand at this beginning, so much lies before us. The thing is though…the world did not recognize him then, but just maybe, and this is my ultimate hope that perhaps the world may recognize the eternal God today — in each of us! Amen.

Related Media

Related Sermons