| Note: No sermon is quite the same when you read it. You miss the inflections, the expression that you gain in the hearing. The words below are only a close approximation of the sermon, taken from handwritten notes. Nevertheless, the words (as best as can be deciphered!) are shared with you here. The Webmeister |
First Sunday after Christmas No shepherds, no wise men, no couple in a manger, no baby. That's how John's Gospel begins, with that unusual prologue that is reminiscent of the beginning of the book of Genesis. "In the beginning…" both Genesis and the Gospel of John begin, and both books speak of great things that follow their beginnings. Genesis tells of the formation of the world, and John's Gospel tells us about the Word of God, and this "word" John explains is Jesus Christ. But where does John get that idea that Jesus is the "word" of God? In ancient Greek, "Word" is translated as "logos" And the term "logos" had been floating around in Greek culture at least since the sixth century before Jesus. For the Stoics, those philosophers in Greece who believed that detachment from emotions allowed a person to be a better thinker, the idea of logos, or word, became very influential. The stoics understood that the logos, the word, was what brought order to the world. Logos, for the stoics, gave the cosmos its character. Logos, Stoics, what am I talking about? Simply that the writer of John's Gospel, took this idea of the logos, the word, and applied it to Christianity. So that in the mind of the author of John's Gospel, Jesus Christ becomes the logos, the word that has existed throughout history. And John astounds us all when he writes that "the Word became flesh and lived among us." Again, no shepherds, no wise men, no couple in a manger, no baby. These familiar parts Christ's birth story are no where to be found in John's Gospel. Instead, John turns his attention to this idea of the logos, the word, which, as we have already seen, was popular in Greek philosophy. Why does John do this to us? And better yet, why do the people who pick out the readings give us this bizarre reading from John the first Sunday after Christmas? We are so steeped in the familiar, comforting story of the manger, of Mary and Joseph, of the wise men, the star. But today we hear none of that, and instead are given a very different take on the birth of Christ in the world. It's well known that John's Gospel, is the Gospel that stresses the divinity of Jesus most, whereas the other three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tend to stress Christ's humanity. We believe that Jesus was both, fully human, and fully divine. But the gospels differ in which side they tend to stress more. And so John's Gospel begins with a prologue that tells of how this word, this logos, is Jesus. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." In other words, John makes the marvelous claim that Christ has always existed, since before the stars and galaxies of our universe were birthed. Jesus, God's word, God's logos, has existed for all time. It's taken me awhile to get my head around that idea, especially after growing up always believing that Christmas marked the very first day of Jesus' life. And so when learned that Jesus actually existed well beyond his birth in Bethlehem, it was not something that I came to easily. What I couldn't understand then as I do now was that Jesus, even though he was born to Mary and Joseph, has always existed with God and the Holy Spirit. So Christmas is about celebrating the Incarnation, celebrating that the Word or logos of God, Jesus, took on flesh. Jesus entered into our world, and lived with us, out of love. God becomes human, so that we might learn what it means to become like God. And God's word, Jesus, is the means in which that is possible. That is the gift of Christmas. That we are not alone because God's eternal Word, Jesus Christ lived with us in Israel, and lives with us now through the Holy Spirit. And it is through opening our minds and our hearts and our lives to Christ that we learn more of what it means to become like God: giving, loving, serving. I don't know if I'll ever fully understand what Christ as the Word of God means. Does it mean that Christ is God' mouthpiece, proclaiming to all the world forgiveness of sin? Does it mean that Christ is the spoken word of God, God as a verb, God living and breathing and sweating and crying? I have more questions than answers. We are in the midst of Christmas, the time when we celebrate that the word of God became human, took on flesh and dwelt with us. But as we do so, we might remember that it didn't all begin in Bethlehem on a cool, starry night. It didn't all begin with the shepherds, the wisemen, the couple in the manger, the baby. It began way before, before there was life on earth, the Word of God spoke. Before the dust and particles accumulated into stars and planets, the Word of God was present. Before the birth of the universe itself, the Word of God spoke. Before everything except God, the Word existed. The Word has always existed. The Word will always exist. "And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." The Word became flesh, the Word lived with us, the Word lives with us still. Amen The Reverend James M. L. Grace December 31, 2006 *Past sermons may be found here. |
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