Christmas Day, 2014

JOHN 1:1-18
SOMETIMES WE TALK ABOUT JESUS AS A GREAT TEACHER.  I DON'T THINK HE ACTUALLY TAUGHT ANYTHING NEW.  EVERYTHING HE TAUGHT CAN BE FOUND IN THE WRITINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, SOMETHING MANY EARLY JEWISH LEADERS RECOGNIZED.  BUT, YOU SAY, WHAT ABOUT HIS PROCLAMATION THAT GOD WAS FATHER?  WELL, GOD IS ADDRESSED AS FATHER IN THE PSALMS, IN ISAIAH AND A FEW OTHER PLACES.  WHAT ABOUT HIS PROCLAMATION OF LOVE AS THE BASIS FOR HUMAN BEHAVIOR?  LONG BEFORE JESUS, IN THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS, THE COMMAND IS GIVEN, “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”.
SOMETIMES WE TALK ABOUT THE MIRACLES OF JESUS, AND SAY, THAT PROVES THAT HE SPEAKS FOR GOD.  BUT JESUS WASN'T THE ONLY MIRACLE WORKER AROUND IN THOSE DAYS, OR BEFORE, OR AFTERWARD.  I'M SURE YOU REMEMBER THAT PETER AND PAUL BOTH ARE DEPICTED AS WORKING MIRACLES IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.  THEY BOTH EVEN RESUSCITATED DEAD PEOPLE.  AND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THERE ARE PLENTY OF HEALINGS WHICH TAKE  PLACE AT THE HANDS OF PROPHETS LIKE ELIJAH.  SOME OF THE NON-JEWISH HISTORIANS WHO WROTE ABOUT JESUS' TIME DESCRIBED HIM AS A “WONDER WORKER” BUT USED THE SAME TERM TO DESCRIBE OTHER PEOPLE, BOTH JEWISH AND NOT JEWISH.  IN THOSE DAYS BEING ABLE TO WORK A HEALING MIRACLE WOULD NOT PROVE THINGS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.  AS THE PHARISEES SAID, “HE CASTS OUT DEMONS BY BEELZEBUB, THE PRINCE OF DEMONS.”  WE MIGHT REALLY BE IMPRESSED TODAY BY A REAL MIRACLE, BUT IN THOSE TIMES, PROBABLY IT WAS NOT AS IMPRESSIVE.
SO IT ISN'T THE TEACHING, AND IT ISN'T THE MIRACLES THAT MAKE JESUS SPECIAL; WHAT IS IT?  IT'S EXACTLY WHAT JOHN IS TALKING ABOUT IN TODAY'S GOSPEL, THE GOSPEL ASSIGNED BY THE CHURCH FOR THE MASS OF CHRISTMAS DAY.  NO ANGELS, NO STABLE AND MANGER, NO SHEPHERDS – JUST A KIND OF A DRY BLOCK OF THEOLOGY.  BUT THERE IS SOMETHING MARVELOUS HERE.
KIERKEGAARD, THE GREAT DANISH PHILOSOPHER, TOLD A STORY ONCE.  THERE WAS A GREAT KING WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH A PEASANT GIRL AND WANTED TO MARRY HER.  HE HAD ONLY SEEN HER FROM AFAR AND HEARD ABOUT HER THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE, BUT HAD NEVER SPOKEN TO HER HIMSELF.  SO HE DECIDED TO SEND HIS SERVANTS TO BRING HER TO THE PALACE WHERE HE WOULD DECLARE HIS LOVE FOR HER AND TAKE HER AS HIS BRIDE.  SURELY NO GIRL WOULD EVER SAY NO TO A GREAT KING.  BUT THEN HE THOUGHT, “IF SHE SAYS YES, I'LL NEVER KNOW IF SHE LOVES ME FOR MYSELF.”  SO HE DECIDED TO TAKE OFF HER ROBES AND CROWN AND DRESS UP AS A PEASANT, AND GO TO HER VILLAGE AND MEET HER.  IF SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM. THEN HE WOULD KNOW IT WAS REAL.  THEN HE THOUGHT A LITTLE MORE AND REALIZED THAT SHE WOULD NOT BE FALLING IN LOVE WITH WHO HE WAS, BUT WITH WHO HE WAS PRETENDING TO BE.  FINALLY THE KING REALIZED WHAT HE HAD TO DO.  HE GAVE UP HIS KINGDOM AND BECAME A PEASANT.
THAT IS WHAT MAKES JESUS UNIQUE AMONG ALL THE HUMAN BEINGS WHO EVER LIVED.  HE IS HUMAN, JUST AS HUMAN AS YOU AND I.  IT ISN'T A MASK OR A DISGUISE; IT ISN'T GOD IN A MEAT SUIT.  THE KING HAD TO GIVE UP HIS KINGDOM TO BECOME A PEASANT SO THAT THE GIRL MIGHT FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM.  MIGHT, NOT WOULD.  JESUS LIKEWISE BECOMES MAN IN THE HOPE, NOT CERTAINTY, THAT WE WOULD FALL IN LOVE WITH GOD.
THE GOSPEL SAYS THESE THINGS ABOUT JESUS:
JESUS IS THE WORD; HE IS GOD MADE UNDERSTANDABLE.  JESUS SAID, “HE WHO SEES ME, SEES THE FATHER.”
JESUS IS THE LIGHT, THAT IS THERE FOR EVERYONE.  IF WE FIX OUR GAZE ON JESUS, WE SEE HOW OUR LIVES MAKE SENSE, HOW OUR PLEASURES AND PAINS, EVEN OUR DEATHS, HAVE MEANING.  BUT NO ONE HAS TO LOOK AT JESUS.
JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF GLORY.  GLORY IS A WORD THAT MOST OF US DON'T GIVE A THOUGHT AS TO ITS MEANING.  WE TALK ABOUT THE GLORY OF GOD, BUT ALSO THE GLORY OF A SPRING MORNING.  BUT GLORY IS A QUALITY THAT WE PERCEIVE WITH A SUPERNATURAL SENSE, AND JOHN, WHO IS WRITING HIS GOSPEL A LONG TIME AFTER JESUS HAS DIED, HAS SEEN JESUS REFLECTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE JOINED THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT.  THAT IS WHAT CONVINCES JOHN OF JESUS' DIVINITY – THE FACT THAT JESUS SO CLEARLY LIVES ON IN THE LIVES OF HIS FOLLOWERS JUST AS LONG AGO HE PROMISED THAT HE AND HIS FATHER WOULD MAKE THEIR DWELLING IN THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM.
JESUS IS FULL OF GRACE.  GRACE IS NOT A THING, IT IS WHEN SOMEONE GIVES YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO.  AND JOHN TRIES TO PUT INTO WORDS WHAT HE HAS EXPERIENCED – MERCY, PEACE, JOY, THE CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE OF BEING LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY.
JESUS IS TRUTH.  A FEW YEARS AGO PEOPLE WENT AROUND WITH BRACELETS AND TEE SHIRTS AND BUMPER STICKERS THAT HAD THE INITIALS WWJD ON THEM.  WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?  THAT'S KIND OF TRIVIAL, BUT IT GETS AT HOW JESUS IS THE TRUTH.  HE IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS.  WE MEASURE OURSELVES AGAINST HIM.  IF WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE LIVE LIKE THIS.  WE STUDY JESUS, WE IMITATE HIM, WE CONSCIOUSLY CHANGE OUR HABITS AND OUR BEHAVIOR TO BE LIKE HIM, SO THAT WE CAN SAY WITH PAUL, “NOT I, BUT CHRIST IN ME”.  AND WHEN WE REACH THAT STATE, AND WE CAN, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR FURTHER GROWTH, THAT IS WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE BORN AGAIN, THAT IS WHAT JOHN MEANS WHEN HE SAYS THAT JESUS GIVES THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIM THE POWER TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD.
SO THAT IS WHAT WE CELEBRATE TODAY – THAT THE GREAT KING FELL IN LOVE; NOT WITH A PEASANT GIRL, BUT HIS BELOVED WAS ABOUT AS UNLOVELY AS YOU COULD GET.  BUT THE KING SAW WHAT HIS BELOVED COULD BECOME, IF SHE RESPONDED TO HIS LOVE, AND SO HE BECAME A HUMAN BEING IN THE HOPE THAT WHEN THE ONE HE LOVED COULD EXPERIENCE HIS LOVE FOR HER, SHE WOULD LOVE HIM BACK, AND HER LOVE WOULD MAKE HER BEAUTIFUL AND WORTHY OF BEING THE BRIDE OF THE GREAT KING.  AND THE NAME OF HIS BRIDE IS THE CHURCH, AND SHE BECOMES MORE BEAUTIFUL THE MORE SHE LOVES HIM.  AND JUST AS GOD CONCEIVED JESUS IN MARY, HE GIVES US WHO ARE MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH THE POWER TO BECOME SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD, BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF JESUS.