Sermon on John 1:1-14 | by Walter W. Harms |

Have You Answered the Phone?

What kind of phone do you have? Do you have one of those that identifies the caller? Then if you know the caller, you may or may not answer. If you don’t know the caller, you may answer if you are bored or not if you don’t wish to be disturbed.

It’s kind of trivial to call Christmas a phone call. I know that, but still, have you answered the call that is Christmas? Christmas is very simply God wanting to talk, and, yes, talk to you. That baby is more than a newborn, he is God’s Word to you. He is God wanting to speak to you. Are you listening? Have you answered the call from Jesus as yet?

I don’t know what Christmas means to any of you. It may mean family gathering to catch up on stuff, hopefully the „family“ gets along with all its members. It may mean an exchange of gifts, with a fulfillment of hopes or disappointments or worse a total disaster if it is a re-gifted present (you know the one you gave the giver last year). There may be lots of feasting and drinking and who knows what. But have you answered the phone call from Jesus? He is God and he is God’s Word, God’s message to you.

But, of course, you know that. Perhaps you knew that for a long time. Perhaps these opening verses of St. John’s account of the life of this person Jesus are anchored in your memory and when you begin to hear them, you can replay the whole telephone conversation from God which these words remind you of.

The conversation bears repeating; I say it again: it bears repeating; it needs to be seared in our minds, for our world does not answer this phone call. It is not interested in hearing about truth. It is interested in scandal and the dark side of things.

And truth? In an election year which is coming up, we all become Pilates, questioning again and again: What is truth? We have come a long way in this mode of hearing words, but not being able to trust them or base any kind of life style or moral standard on them.

Truth is what I believe, right? What you believe, right? No more absolute truth. The old expression: what is good for the goose, is good for the gander, no longer applies. We are like wild animals, released from captivity-we go in our own direction, assured that anything is better than to be hampered by some kind of absolute truth. We live in a world which despises anything but its own truth, as it sees and believes it. And that world is the one we live in and it is in that world that the phone from God is ringing, as it does every day but more especially at Christmas.

Who is this Jesus most of us here say we believe? He is God, he is God’s Word with a capital W. It is by hearing him, seeing him that we hear who God is and what God wants to show us and tell us. He lives among us, now in this place, in this city, in your life!

He was there when the world was created. He was the One who said: „Let there be light,“ and there was light. He created the zillions and zillions of worlds out there-the devouring black holes, the worlds some think is very much like this world.

He is the author of life. Your life and my life are his creation. In fact, he is my life for without him my world, your world, your life is chaotic, a swamp with all kinds of quick sands to lure you to lose your life. He is the only light that gives any clarity to anything.

Without the light of this person Jesus, the phone would never light up, would never ring. There will be only silence and darkness in your life. There will only be uncertainty, anxiety, depression, apprehension, fears, and all our attempts to find the door of escape will only lead to more rooms of the same.

If you have e-mail, I am sure you have been invited, perhaps you felt cajoled into entering the Publisher Clearing House sweepstakes. As someone said: you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. How much more true isn’t this phone call who is Jesus, God’s Word, God’s only Word to you important, valuable, a pearl without price, a treasure in the field which must be had at any price.

You who have answered the phone call, who have received Jesus, God’s Word, you who have believed in his name as the name above every name, you who see the world through the light of Jesus, you have more than won any lottery, any sweepstakes. You have the right to be God’s children. You are in his family. You and I are a new creation by the will of God.

As a result we have heard and seen that God is full of grace and truth. We didn’t deserve to be chosen by God because we had rejected him. We had no inner clout to receive the Word made flesh. God has had undeserved kindness toward us. He has called us, and we, you and I who deserve nothing but wrath and eternal punishment now see how great God really is.

His world which we entered by his grace is the one true world. As his disciples once said, „Where shall we go? You, Jesus, have the word of eternal life!“ He came to bring you life. He gave up his life on the cross so you could have it. He paid the entrance price to his kingdom-his death for your sins, his death for your death and now, and now, and now you have life which never ends.

Can you see how great God is? Can you see what lengths he will go for you to be his child? He became a child so you could be his family, his new creation, his „baby!“

Aren’t you glad you answered the phone when it rang for you? Hear the ring tones in all the songs of the season and rejoice that you have been chosen to win. Would you help others to hear the Word made flesh so that they too might become his family and receive his grace and truth? And life? Amen.