Christmas Day | December 25, 2022 | John 1:1-14 | Luther H. Thoresen |
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[d] from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Hodie Christus natus est. An ancient liturgy for Christmas day includes “Hodie Christus natus est” – Christ is born today. I knew it was a Latin phrase when I sang it as part of a college choir anthem many years ago, and our director translated it for us. It became part of a college choir Christmas concert. But what I didn’t know at the time was its origin in that Christmas liturgy that affirmed “Christ is born today!”
Last evening we heard the story in Luke’s gospel of the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, you probably remember the story of the babe wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger. What today’s gospel affirms is that somehow that child was God in flesh. This is a wonder. This is a mystery. This takes a lifetime for this to soak in…to soak into us and transform us. Transform us…like a frog?
Some of you might have read Henry David Thoreau’s On Walden Pond. In that book from the middle of the 1800’s by that American naturalist he wrote of a time when he spent a whole day up to his neck in water just to see and experience the world like a frog. Ha, but he did not become a frog.
There is a folk tale called The Frog Prince. Have you ever heard of it? There are forms of the tale from cultures all around the world. If I recall correctly, the storyline is something like this: the frog helps a princess…follows her…she kisses the frog, and the frog becomes a prince. In the Muppets “version” the princess kisses the frog…and she becomes a frog! We may laugh. It seems funny. But maybe it is a good picture for this gospel. Sometimes the mystery of God in flesh is like a princess kissing a frog.* (Pause)
With our Christmas Eve gospel in Luke 2, we heard of the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and the birth of the Child; we heard of shepherds and angels and more. It is a wonderful story. However, with today’s gospel from John 1, it is full of poetry about the Word – in the beginning…the Word was light…and life. There is mystery – light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it…the Word became flesh.
In this text two sets of seemingly contradictory statements are held together (this is often called a paradox)
One is this: the Word was God…and the Word became flesh.
The other is this: the Word was with God…and the Word dwelt among us.
Holding these two together, is to sit in the presence of mystery. Today, John’s poetry may help move us to wonder and awe in the presence of this mystery. (By the way, this mystery is not a puzzle to solve, like a mystery novel of “who done it?” But this mystery is a wonder-ful event in which we may sit in wonder, and soak it in.
There is a highly evocative poem by the Welsh poet and Anglican priest, RS Thomas (1913-2000) called The Coming. I won’t quote the whole poem, but I will note how it begins,
“And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look he said,
The son looked. Far off,
As through water, he saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour…”
(Then at the very end there is this phrase)
“…Let me go there, he said.”
Yes, we might say that God knew this world was a place of darkness and death. Yet, since the Word was light and life, “Let me go there,” said the Word. “Let me go there,” said the Word. To put it another way, the Word saw our need and came among us. The Light saw our darkness and came among us. The Life saw our death and came among us. In seeing our need, our darkness, our death, the Word which is light and life did not wait for us to be “ready.” As Paul puts in in the letter to the Romans, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (5:8 ESV)
This moves us to a second poem, “The First Coming” by Madeline L’Engle. Again, I will not quote the whole poem, but some selected lines.
“He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out…
He did not wait for the perfect time,
He came when the need was deep…
He did not wait
till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin…
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love..,”
God did not wait, says Madeline, and we cannot wait until the world is sane. Today, in hearing this scripture, we share in the mystery of the Word in flesh; and Today we share with others, in our actions, the same word “Today.”
Today is important. Remember that ancient antiphon, Hodie Chistus natus est? Do you sense that Today is not just a day 2,000 years ago when Christ was born in history and the Word became flesh in history? Do you sense that Today is this day, not just an “anniversary” of a great event, but somehow within God’s wonderful power the event is Now. Today the mystery is present! Today we are in the presence of Divine mystery.
An ancient poet put it this way.
“Today true peace has come to us from heaven.
Today the heavens drip honey upon the entire world” (Repeat these two phrases)
Yes, the Word dwelt among us, and we may also say “The Word dwells among us Today.”
- Today the Word dwells among us in our darkness.
- Today the Word dwells among us when we are depressed and hurting and sick.
- Today the Word dwells among us when we are hit with bad news.
- Today the Word dwells among us when we feel guilty or ashamed.
- Today the Word dwells among us when we are worried about someone we love.
- Today the Word dwells among us when we are caught up in a chain of events we are powerless to prevent.
- Today the Word dwells among us in scripture, in bread and wine, in prayer, in song, in fellowship.
- Today the Word dwells among us to bring light, life, hope, peace and salvation; all wrapped up in the flesh of the Child!
The carol, “Good Christian Friends Rejoice” had it right
Good Christian friends rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: Jesus Christ is born today;
Ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now
Christ is born today! Christ is born today! (Medieval Latin carol; tr. John M Neale, 1818-1866, alt.)
The Word was God and the Word became flesh. Today the word becomes flesh.
The Word was with God and the Word dwelt among us. Today the Word dwells among us.
Hodie Christus natus est” – Christ is born today!
Amen+
Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
Pr. Luther H. Thoresen, ELCA, STS, retired
* The connection between the adaptation of the “frog prince” by the Muppets’ and the incarnation may not be original with me, but I have no idea now where I first heard it. LHT
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