John 1:1-14 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Christmas Day Wednesday, December 25, 2019 “Live in the Light of God’s Christmas Love”
It is a beloved story. Maybe you heard it in the last few days as many of us did last night. Maybe it is a story that you know almost by heart. Maybe it is a story that you have only begun to love, or one that you would like to get to know better. It’s a story that begins with a young woman named Mary. Young Mary lives in the town of Nazareth, where she is engaged to the carpenter, Joseph. It sounds like a love story. No doubt the two of them had plans to raise a family and live a happy life in their town. But this story has much more drama than that. Mary is going to have a baby. The baby isn’t Joseph’s. Neither of them know quite precisely what to do, except that God sends his angel to help direct them, to share with them his plans. It is a love story, just of a different sort. It turns out that God’s plan is for the couple to travel to Bethlehem, far south of Nazareth, in Judea. They have to go, because the Caesar, the man in charge, wants everyone to register for a census, and registration will take place in your ancestral home. That’s Bethlehem. The journey begins, and eventually it ends. But there is a new problem in Bethlehem—no room. The hotels are booked solid, the guest houses and Airbnb’s are all taken. The only place for these two-plus weary travelers is a stable, a barn, maybe a cave that served such a purpose. It really is the only place, and so that is where Mary and Joseph make their bed (as much as they can). And there the baby is born. There is no crib to lay him in, so they use what is available to them and place him in a manger, a feeding trough. They may have thought that the rest of the night would be calm and uneventful. They may have wanted only to get whatever sleep the stable might allow them. Instead, suddenly some unfamiliar men burst into the door. It doesn’t seem that they are trying to be rude. They are just so excited that they can hardly contain themselves. They talk about angels that appeared to them while they were tending sheep, who told them where they would find a very special baby who was lying in a manger of all places. And they found it, just as the angels had told them. And when those excited shepherds left, Mary and Joseph could still hear their voices echoing as they repeated the story to everyone they came across. And Mary sat quietly, just thinking, thinking about all that had happened both that day and in the months leading up to it. Why do so many people love that Christmas story? What is it about the story that they love? Is it that there is a happy ending after all the uncertainty and all the challenges to this young couple, who nearly got divorced earlier? Is it the fact that no one, or at least not many, can resist a cute and cuddly baby? Is it that we feel we can relate to these people, the characters of this story, in some way or another? Perhaps it’s any of these things or even all of them. But there are much deeper and more important reasons to love that Christmas story, reasons that go far beyond the outward circumstances, reasons that you don’t find in a paraphrase like mine, reasons that are not always noticed as that story is told. The Gospel writer John tells the story in a different way. His account doesn’t start with Mary some 2,000 plus years ago. His account starts in the beginning. “In the beginning…” If that phrase sounds familiar, it is good that it does. The entire Bible starts with that phrase, “In the beginning.” “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). John’s Gospel takes us back to that very same point, to a time before time itself existed and there was only God. Before anything that we see came into existence, God was there. And at that time, God spoke his powerful word and formed the universe that we see all around us. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He spoke into existence dry land and seas, fish and birds, plants and trees, and animals of all sorts. And God has John take us back to that point because God wants us to know something amazing. He wants to teach us about that powerful Word. He wants to share with us information that is too wonderful for us to really even begin to comprehend about God himself, about the Word that was with God and was God. In these powerfully brief strokes, the Gospel writer paints a picture of a God beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension, a God who is at the same time one God and somehow more complex, a teaching that the Bible expands on in other places as the doctrine of the Trinity—our three-in-one God. And God has John start at the beginning to make it clear what the Christmas story is all about. There is much more to it than what we can see on the surface. We can appreciate the difficulty of a long journey for a young
expectant couple. We can imagine the challenge of a stable birthing room with its manger bed. We can envision the dirt and the noise of the animals and the visitors, and we can picture the little newborn baby lying so helplessly there. But we can barely even comprehend who that baby really is. The angel announced it to Mary, who understood that this was no natural conception. She was unmarried and had never been intimate with a man. The angel explained it to Joseph, too, who likewise knew that he was not a father yet. That baby was and is God himself. The one with the power to create the universe lowered himself to lie helpless and powerless in a feeding trough. The Word, God himself, the Son of God, became a true human being, conceived in the womb of Mary and born into this world on that special and sacred night. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” And he did it to bring to us the light of God’s love. John writes, “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” God is light. By his very nature he is holy, glorious. Another Scripture writer describes God as “the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:15-16). The light of the Creator stands in sharp contrast to his creation, his people who have sinned against him. They wandered away from him and have instead lived in darkness. John mentions that contrast when he speaks of the light shining in darkness. He uses a word there—our translation says “the darkness has not overcome it,” but it could also mean “the darkness has not understood it.” Either way, it is true that the sins of mankind are not able to overcome the light of God, nor are sinful human beings on their own able to understand or appreciate his light. The darkness of our world is at times all too apparent. While Christmas time brings with it talk of peace on earth, joy, hope, and love, our world still struggles with war and violence, with all sorts of atrocities. Our own family strife perhaps becomes quieter for a season, but if it does it quickly returns. And we personally may want to love and help and serve others, but don’t we constantly find ourselves helping and loving and serving just ourselves? That is the darkness that not only fills the world, but fills my own heart as well. To that darkness, the light of God incarnate, the light of God-made-man, came. He came to bring light. He came to bring life. He came because of God’s great love in order to fix sin and dispel the darkness. The God of the universe came to live under his own law. He was born as a baby and had to grow and learn and mature. He came to live and to die because that was the way to break the hold darkness had on us and on the world. But for many, the darkness remained. “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him.” The darkness remained. Every year at this time we find those people who will celebrate anything and everything except for this baby in the manger. They will love anything as long as it is not the light. And, sad to say, there is a bit of that in all of us, too. The part that loves the gift instead of the giver, that loves the temporary things instead of eternal things, that loves the flashy and spectacular more than it loves the baby in the manger who hides from our sight who he really is. Thankfully, God tells us who he is. When Jesus was about to begin his earthly ministry, John the Baptist prepared the way, preached the message of the need for a Savior and the Savior God had sent. He receives special mention in our verses as one who points to the light, who testifies about the light. Through the proclamation of Jesus as Savior, that light shines forth into the darkness of this world. That good news is what has changed so many hearts to know and love their Savior, and it is what will continue to change hearts as we share it with others. Living in the light of God’s Christmas love means sharing that light. And the results for those who live in that light are amazingly wonderful. Those whose hearts God changes through the incredible message of his love become his own dear children. Just as Jesus was born into the world in a special, miraculous way, so also we are born into God’s family not in a natural way, but by God’s own doing, God’s adoption of us. And when he makes us a part of his family, he promises to never turn away from us. Jesus came to live with us on earth for a time so that we could live with him in heaven forever. People may love the Christmas story for all sorts of reasons, but John tells us the reason that this should be a precious story to us. God from before the beginning of time has come into our flesh, into our world, into our lives. His light has shone in our darkness. We have seen his glory. Let us live in the light of his Christmas love, now and forever.
The Text: John 1:1-14 (EHV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 The light is shining 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 an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9
The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God. 14
The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.