Sermon -- Christmas Day (December 25, 2022)

JOHN 1:1-14

MARVEL AT THE WORDS WHICH DESCRIBE THE WORD MADE FLESH.

In the name + of Jesus.

     When St. John introduces his Gospel, he piles up the words to reveal who Jesus is.  They include: the Word, God, life, light, glory, grace, and truth.  In just a few verses, St. John is telling us that Jesus is not merely someone special.  In fact, there is nothing on earth or even in heaven which is like Jesus.  He is the man who is God, and he is God who is now a man.  John calls him the Word.  (In the clip art on the left, you see o logos, the Greek term for “the Word,”.)  The Word is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son.  So, he is God—uncreated, eternal, almighty, and so on.

     God the Son shows up throughout the Old Testament because God deals with us in words.  St. John wrote, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).  When we read in Genesis the phrase, “And God said,” that is the Word at work.  All things that were made by God the Father were made through the God the Son.  Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.  He is life, light, glory, grace, and truth. 

     Now, of those words, each has its opposite.  Jesus Christ is life.  He is the source of all living things.  The only reason anything comes to life is because he commands it to be so.  When he chooses, he withdraws his sustaining word from us, and we die.  When he created Adam and Eve, he made them living beings.  He intended them and everyone who would descend from them to live forever.  God never designed us to be disposable.  He put us on earth to serve and to work.  Work provides purpose for us and benefit for others.  For Adam and Eve, God gave the opportunity to demonstrate loving obedience to him.  He gave them two trees by which he would bless them.  One was the Tree of Life.  The other tree had this command attached to it: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).  To depart from the word meant death.  It still does.  With God, there is life.  Apart from God there is only death.  Jesus came to deliver us out of the reign of death and to give us a life that has its purpose restored and that endures forever.  For, God did not create you to be disposable, but to live in joy now and forever.  Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.

     The next word is light.  Its opposite is darkness.  Many people live in a dark place.  They don’t know where they are going.  Some don’t even know why they are here.  Navigating any place in the dark can be frightening and frustrating, whether it is your bedroom, a cave, or in life.  The devil has darkened the minds of people so that we do not know what is good or true.  Everyone makes up his own mind about what is good and true.  And that sounds fine, until someone else’s truth attacks you.  So, you might think that someone telling a lie to get ahead in life is no big deal, but is it okay if that person tells lies about you?  You might think that someone cheating a large company is justified, but is it okay when that person cheats you?  Then you acknowledge that there has to be a standard of truth that applies to everyone.

     That standard is God’s word.  God’s word shows us what is good and true, but it also highlights that we are not.  When the light of Jesus shines upon you, it is not to shame you, but to save you.  He is the light that reveals all that is good and true.  He is the light that shows you that God is not out to get you, but is merciful to you.  Jesus rescues you from a dark and dismal existence and shows you where you can find peace and comfort.  He enlightens you to see that life is not pointless, but a gift.  Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.

     That brings us to the next word: grace.  Grace is the opposite of merit.  It might seem sensible that God would judge people according to their merits.  We want God to uphold justice upon the wicked.  They should get what they deserve.  Often times, the wicked in this world seem to get away with everything.  They benefit from their money, their friends, their power, and their prestige.

     The problem, however, is not how God will judge the wicked.  Our problem is that we think we should be rewarded because we are better.  If that is what we want, we will get it—but that is not good news.  We are all guilty of sinning against strangers and loved ones.  We have been short on patience.  Our kindness comes with strings attached.  We have hurt people with harsh words.  We have withheld mercy from those who need it.  We have merited God’s punishment.  And there is little consolation that others have merited a worse hell.

     But Jesus came full of grace.  He came to save us from our sinful condition.  He came and to give us gifts that we have neither earned nor deserved.  Jesus’ perfect life has merited God’s favor.  For, Jesus did everything that God demands of us faultlessly.  But what Jesus has earned he has given to us.  The Bible reminds us, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).  So, you have received this precious gift—cleansing from all your sins.  Jesus, on the other hand, has received what you and I deserve.  He made himself accountable for our sins and was put to death for them—because that is what sins deserve.  Jesus suffered the torments of hell when he died on the cross.  He was judged for our merits, and we have been credited for Jesus’ merits.  That is God’s grace, that he gives us forgiveness we don’t deserve, and that he gives us a future of heavenly glory that we have not earned.  He who is full of grace has poured that grace out upon us.

     This grace is what makes us children of God.  St. John wrote, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).  By grace, you are now part of God’s family.  He loves you dearly.  You are not just his creation (which you are), but now you are beloved child of God—redeemed, restored, and reconciled to him through the blood of Jesus.  Just as you and I have not earned God’s favor by our doing, neither have we merited our place in God’s family.  It is not our natural right.  It is not our decision.  It is not our work.  Rather, God has brought us in because he is full of grace.

     Now, if we are the children of God, then we are heirs of his glorious kingdom.  We are children of the resurrection to life everlasting where there is perfect peace and endless joy.  It is far more than the joy of Christmas where the presents can break and where there are tensions in the family.  Instead, it is perfect harmony with God and with all others.  This is God’s gift to you, given by the Holy Spirit through the words of the Word made flesh.  Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.

     Jesus is not only full of grace, he is also full of truth.  In fact, Jesus says of himself that it IS truth.  What a blessing to know this!  You and I have been taught many things throughout our lives—math, reading, science, and so on.  We have been taught what is acceptable and what is offensive.  The media report stories about social and moral issues.  From those stories, we make judgments about other people and events. 

     How disturbing it is to discover that we can’t always trust what we’ve been told and taught!  For decades, scientists have taught that the universe was formed by the Big Bang.  You were considered a backward thinking imbecile if you did not accept that as fact.  Now images from the James Webb telescope have scientists reconsidering that theory.  Science updates its truths often.  In society, what is considered acceptable or offensive changes regularly.  What is acceptable or offensive can even get reversed!  Updated news reports cause us to change our opinions.  New information reveals that someone was not as noble or as terrible as we first thought.  Truth in our world is adjustable, which means it is unreliable.  And what good is truth if it keeps changing?

     Jesus Christ, however, is truth.  His word does not change with the times, with the culture, or with the company he keeps.  That does not mean everyone likes what Jesus has to say.  Many despise Jesus and prefer their fabricated truths which continue to be adjusted with each new cause.  But Jesus Christ is God who does not change, who is pure, who tells us what is good, and who will vindicate every word he has spoken.  Jesus teaches you what a good and godly life is.  It is love for God above all things, which means hearing his word, holding to his word, and putting it to action in your life.  It is also loving your neighbor and seeking his good as God defines good. 

     Above all, it is trusting that God’s favor rests upon you.  You will have many times when you wonder if you matter to God.  You will face fears about God’s anger and doubts that God can be trusted.  God’s love for you does not mean you won’t have struggles or problems or pain or sorrow.  In a sinful world, these are bound to occur.  But these are no proof of God’s love or anger.  If you want to be sure of God’s love and care, then listen to Jesus.  He tells you the truth because he is full of truth.  He IS truth.  God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.  “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).  This is how God shows us love to you.  God the Son became flesh so that he could give his life to redeem yours.  Since God does not change, his love for you remains constant.  You can be sure of it because he tells you, and his word is true.  Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.

     The final word we will consider is glory.  St. John wrote, “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” (John 1:14).  Everything about God is glorious—his power, his holiness, his omniscience, his wisdom, and so on—but his greatest glory is his that he loves sinners and saves them.  That is the glory which is revealed in Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate today.  God the Son has become one of us to live for us, to die for us, and to conquer death for us.  Because he has done this, we live for his glory in this world, and we will live with him in glory in the world to come. 

     Marvel at the words which describe the Word made flesh.  Those words reveal who Jesus is.  They reveal what Jesus does.  And they show you that it is all done for you.  This is the only Christmas gift that truly matters; for, it is the only gift that produces light, life, grace, truth, and glory.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.