Incarnation Continued

​We continue our Christmas celebration this morning, but with an important shift in tone. On Christmas Eve, we heard Luke’s version of the Christmas story. It’s the most famous version, with shepherds and angels and the birth of the Christ child in the manger.
 
Today’s Gospel reading is not as obviously a Christmas story, but we get Christmas today too. It comes in a single line. “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” That’s Jesus being born.
 
I love Luke’s version, of course. Everybody does. But in some ways, I have come to prefer John’s.
 
So, several years ago, I made the mistake of choosing our reading for this morning as the reading on Christmas Eve. For my sermon, I preached on the doctrine of the incarnation, on the very Word of God, through whom all things were made, becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
 
As I was coming to the end of that sermon, I could see that I had made a mistake. Harassed parents were trying to contain fidgety children, without much luck. People who rarely attend Church were looking confused and bored.
 
Afterwards someone sent me a nice note that included the suggestion that I never do that again. She reminded me that Christmas Eve is not the best time to go deep into Christian doctrine. Better to keep my Christmas Eve sermon light, accessible, and upbeat. Keep the focus on baby Jesus.
 
It was good advice, and I’ve tried to follow it ever since.
 
But what I was trying to say on that Christmas Eve, in my misguided way, is really important. That’s why I am glad to use John’s Gospel on Christmas Day, and glad to have it again today, when we can go a little deeper. Because what makes Christmas special, what makes Christmas holy, what counts as the good news of great Christmas joy, is the fact that baby Jesus was not just a normal baby. Jesus comes to us as God in the flesh. That is what John communicates so beautifully.
 
I want to work through the passage. You may want to follow along on your insert for the next bit.
 
John begins where one should, in the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That’s how John introduces us to the eternal Christ, God from God, light from light, true God from true God. It is a mysterious first sentence that theologians have been contemplating for two thousand years.
 
Then John tells “all things came into being through [this divine Word], and without [the divine Word] not one thing came into being.” Christ, the eternal Son of God, is creator even before Christ is redeemer.
 
Only after reminding us of Christ’s role in creation, does John get to the event we celebrate this season, and even here John is all about Christ’s divinity. I already quoted it. “The Word became flesh and lived among us.”
 
The very Word of God, through whom all things were created, became flesh for us. It is hard to wrap our minds around news that good. Incarnation is ultimately a mystery beyond our comprehension.
 
The proper response to this mystery, which is at the heart of our faith, is awe, wonder, gratitude, and adoration before God in the flesh. That was certainly John’s response. “We have seen his glory,” John says, “the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” 
 
John is talking about what happens on Christmas, but not only on Christmas. I sometimes envy the shepherds who saw the baby Jesus on that very first Christmas Eve. But John reminds us that the good news of great joy was not limited to that day. After all, John wasn’t there either. John probably wasn’t even born yet.
 
But in his own time, John did come to know Jesus, to see in Jesus the Word made flesh, and to recognize Christ’s glory as God’s only Son, full of grace and truth. I doubt John could make sense of incarnation. Who could do that! But John knew that he could see God in Christ. And John could worship.
 
How about us, two thousand years later? We weren’t present when Jesus was born. We weren’t companions of Jesus during his lifetime. We can’t see Christ’s glory in the same way the shepherds did, and John did.
 
So, did we just miss out?
 
If we focus only on Jesus’ humanity, we did miss out. Jesus lived and died two thousand years ago, and we weren’t there to witness it.
 
But Jesus was not limited to those thirty or so years. John tells us, darkness could not overcome the light of the divine Word. Death could not be the end of Jesus’ story. Jesus rose again, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. Christ lives still as the Father’s only Son, full of glory, source of grace and truth.
 
And we can still witness that glory because, before his ascension, Jesus promised to be with us always (Matt 28:20).
 
I take Christ’s promise to mean that we shouldn’t think of the incarnation as simply a one-time event. Two thousand years ago, the Word became flesh to live among us. And the divine Word continues to live among us, to live in our hearts, to make our bodies the temple of his presence, to be with us especially when we gather in his name, to be with us most tangibly of all in the sacrament of his body and blood.
 
We didn’t get to see the human Jesus all those years ago. But we are invited to see the divine Word, which continues to come into our lives and into our world, shining with divine glory, overflowing with grace and truth. And we, too, are invited to respond with awe and reverence and worship.
 
Much of the time, unfortunately, I don’t have eyes to see Christ. The world around me can look pretty bleak, as if darkness is in the process of overcoming the light.
 
And then, thanks be to God, a little light shines in the darkness, and I know that Christ is present, that Christ’s incarnation in our world continues, and that I, too, am invited to be a witness to Christ’s glory, like the shepherds, like John, like millions of Christians from then until now.
 
The challenge is opening my eyes to Christ’s presence, learning to see Christ’s light, getting a little better at witnessing Christ’s continuing incarnation, at understanding that every day can be like Christmas, a celebration of Christ’s presence with us.
 
The easiest place for me to see Christ is here, in Church, when we gather for worship.
 
But Christ’s presence is not limited to Church buildings or Sunday mornings. Christ is also active in the world. Whenever we see acts of Christian love—and acts of Christian love are common at this time of year—whenever we see acts of Christian love, we are seeing the God who is love. We are glimpsing divine light shining in our world. We are witnessing incarnation happening.
 
And, of course, we are called to do more than witness. We are called to be channels of the love and light we sometimes see in others.
 
When love happens around us, we glimpse Christ. And when we love, we give others a glimpse of Christ. That’s what Christmas means.
 
My prayer for us, who celebrate Christ’s birth two thousand years ago, is that we continue to experience God’s love in our lives, and to share God’s love with each other and with our world. In Christ’s name. Amen.