Cosmic Christmas

John 1:1-14

Christmas – Profoundly Human

A man and his wife are on their way home to the family reunion. They are joyfully greeted at the door. The family bedroom is full, the guest bedroom is full, but they are welcome to setup in the Living Room. The family goats and sheep are in for warmth and protection.

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 he 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.

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.

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.

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 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 testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came 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 Shakinah 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.

God With Us, Christmas right Now

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.

In talking with a friend a few weeks ago, she made a passing remark. “I’m just into Jesus, that’s not my thing, I’m not into someone who was, you know?” and she blazed on making the point that she was making.

And I wasn’t in a context where I could respond but that stuck with me. Not because I disagreed with what she said.

I’m not into someone who was either. That is historical curiosity and I only have so much. Read a good biography and be done.

I am far more interested in someone who is. I am interested in Jesus because He is. Now. Here. Emmanuel among us and in 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.

Message – John 1:1-14

1 1-2 The Word was first,

the Word present to God,

God present to the Word.

The Word was God,

in readiness for God from day one.

3-5 Everything was created through him;

nothing—not one thing!—

came into being without him.

What came into existence was Life,

and the Life was Light to live by.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;

the darkness couldn’t put it out.

6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:

Every person entering Life

he brings into Light.

He was in the world,

the world was there through him,

and yet the world didn’t even notice.

He came to his own people,

but they didn’t want him.

But whoever did want him,

who believed he was who he claimed

and would do what he said,

He made to be their true selves,

their child-of-God selves.

These are the God-begotten,

not blood-begotten,

not flesh-begotten,

not sex-begotten.

14 The Word became flesh and blood,

and moved into the neighborhood.

We saw the glory with our own eyes,

the one-of-a-kind glory,

like Father, like Son,

Generous inside and out,

true from start to finish.

The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. Merry Christ-mas!