Texts: Hebrews 1:1-12; St. John 1:1-14
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Did you notice that none of this morning’s appointed lessons say anything about the beautiful Christmas stories? No angels and shepherds, no stable and manger in Bethlehem, no star and wise men from the east, no wicked Herod; for that matter no Mary and Joseph and not even Baby Jesus. We had some of those stories yesterday in the Christmas Eve services. Not today.
Furthermore, if you were to go back to the old Book of Common Prayer, especially the one that came to the American Church from the Church of England, this morning’s Epistle and Gospel would be all you would find for the Birthday of Christ. So what we have this morning is what the Anglican, Episcopal Church and its most ancient tradition regard as the heart of the matter concerning Christmas.
It’s not that the Christmas stories aren’t important. They’re very important; they are Gospel truth and Holy Scripture. The point, however, that the Church makes today is this. If we do not grasp what this morning’s Scripture readings tell us, then we do not understand Christmas. Today’s Scriptures are the backbone of the whole body of the Bible’s Christmas literature; or, to use another image, today’s scriptures comprise the foundation of rock upon which the whole edifice of Christmas stands.
That backbone of the body, that foundation of the edifice, is the definition of who the child born in Bethlehem is, his identity. We call this the Incarnation. God, we say, is incarnate, united to the flesh, body, soul and spirit, in the Person of Jesus Christ. God, we say, reveals himself in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. In Jesus Christ, Almighty God discloses himself, addresses us in human terms we can hear, see, and understand, and reveals just who God is, what God is like. He also reveals to us what our fully human nature was created and meant to be before the calamity of sin so diminished us. Christ is not only God incarnate; he is the One True Human Being.
The Word, who was and is God, by whom all things were made, was made flesh, says the Gospel; and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Son, says today’s epistle, is the brightness of God the Father’s glory and the express image of his Person; he upholds the universe by his word of power. And he has come to take away our sins, to bestow life upon us, and, having done that, now reigns in the throne of God’s majesty on high, far above all angels, spirits, and powers.
I know a boy who came home from church one day in great excitement and exclaimed to his mother, “Mom, did you know, Jesus is God!” His mother replied, “No, sweetheart, Jesus isn’t God; he’s God’s son.” The mother meant well, but she had it wrong. Her denial put her on the sand of misunderstanding – of a sub-Christian heresy actually! – on which the whole edifice of the Christmas lore she loved so much would crack, buckle and collapse. She needed to step onto the rock, where her young son was (which she eventually was led to do). The little boy had it right.
Christ was in the world, says Saint John the Evangelist, and the world was made by him; yet the world knew him not. He came unto his own, he says, and his own received him not. But to those who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God – who were born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Except ye become as children, said Jesus, ye cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The child, the little boy, who was so excited about who Jesus is, that child was standing on the rock. Let us join him. Then we will behold Christ’s glory, we will love his appearing, and he will be born in us today. Then it will truly be Christmas.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
