The word became flesh

I have to admit, the prologue to John which we heard today in worship is my favorite passage of scripture.  John elegantly weaves together the complex relationship of God and the Word.  Although we could spend a lot of time exploring their relationship, and it is important, God's love for us shines clear in that the Word became flesh.  God entered into our humanity in the infant Jesus.  Babies aren't perfect, and neither are we.  But our human limitations are good enough for God.

First Sunday of Christmas

(Year B, transferred from Christmas Day)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lancaster, PA

Text: John 1:1-18

I just read to you the prologue to the gospel of John. It's a beautiful, brilliant, and poetic passage from scripture. In fact, it's my favorite. It's John's version of the Christmas story and he tells it from God's point of view. It's pretty complicated, actually. I could tell you all sorts of things about it. I even took a whole class on this passage last spring. But there is no Mary and Joseph, there are no shepherds, no angels, no Bethlehem, no manger. And there's no baby Jesus! Just this “Word” thing, whatever that means. But let's get back to babies, because there's no babies! No baby Jesus. Isn't Christmas about the little baby Jesus?

Now, I'm not an authority on babies. I haven't had any. I had no younger siblings or cousins, no nieces or nephews until very recently in my life. Until fairly recently, I hadn't held a baby in years. But all of a sudden, I'm running into them all the time. My friends are starting to have them. This past Monday and Tuesday, I met my little 3 month old niece Riley. And she was so interesting. She doesn't do a whole lot. She hangs out, lays down, gets held by people, sleeps. She tries to eat her hand a lot. She eats food, but doesn't keep it for long. She cries, she screams. She gets her picture taken. And then there's the um, uh, things that come out of her, a lot. Yeah. This is when I was glad she was only my niece. But there must be magnets in babies, or some mysterious chemical they secrete that hypnotizes adults, because I couldn't stop looking at her, and just sitting there in awe. This little one is a person. She's alive. She didn't exist not too long ago, but now she does. Where did she come from? I mean, I know where she came from, but I'm amazed by how God has created the unique person that she is, the one whom God has destined for great things.

And sure, babies are cute and they trick adults into adoring them and waiting on them hand and foot, but they're entirely self-centered. They're a little short on patience and they have a quick temper. They're not too concerned about what happens to the next baby over, much less adults. They are completely dependent on others, they are entirely vulnerable.

As adults, we see ourselves as having grown out of these limitations. I'll let you be the judge. We make new year's resolutions to improve ourselves. We expect that we will have great accomplishments or finally make that change in our life in the new year. And those may be very good resolutions we've made, and we may find success in some things. God may bless us with many accomplishments and the fulfillment of our hopes in 2012. But sometimes we'll go without the things we hope for and sometimes our best laid plans will fail. We'll probably fall short of our self-imposed expectations. And when we do we might discover we're a lot more like our infant brothers and sisters than we like to admit.

In today's passage John creates a beautiful and complex portrait of God and the Word. John is trying to describe the indescribable God. The “Word” John mentions is both the same as God and yet different and in relationship with God. The Word was present with God “in the beginning,” and in fact all things were created through the Word. The Word is pretty darn important. If you want to know more, come talk to me about it.

To keep it simple, Jesus Christ is the Word. Jesus the Word is God, but also distinct from God the creator. John will use the terms Father and Son to describe their relationship. For centuries, scholars have tried to describe all the metaphysical wonders of the cosmic relationship of God and the Word. To Jews, the Word was co-creator, the Wisdom of God. To Greeks, the Word was the organizing principle of the universe. The Word is eternal, alongside God, the Word is God. Jesus is truly God. Yep, it's true. We're ok with that. But almighty God is Jesus, the little baby? Wouldn't we rather God be known as the defender, the smiter of evil, the restorer of justice, the creator and judge? John tells us the Word came into the world, yet the world did not know him. The Word came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

You see, the Word became flesh, it took on our crying, screaming, self-centered, spitting up humanity, and lived among us. We have seen God, the God whom in verse 18 we're told no one has ever seen, in the Word made flesh, in the baby Jesus. The incarnation is radical. The Word of God showed up on earth in an occasionally smelly, sometimes fussy, little baby. That little helpless infant is our Savior.

So this has to always challenge, and redefine, our image of who God is. What John tells us here and through his whole gospel is that if you're looking for God, turn to Jesus. This means God was willing to be weak, dependent on us, vulnerable to our sin. Vulnerable enough to grow up to be the man dying on a cross. This means God embraces our fleshly nature. Our flesh was good enough for God. In becoming human, God fully committed to work through our limitations. God didn't create new super-spiritual-people who would never make mistakes. God instead decided to make you a part of the body of Christ. The Word has come to dwell in your flesh through your baptism, so that you may do God's work with your hands. God makes earthly things – human words, water, bread and wine – to be the means of salvation. God uses real people – you and me – to be the heralds of the kingdom.

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of an infant born in a nowhere town, to nobody parents. If you wish to see the glory of God, don't look to things that will make history, or even today's news. Don't look for success stories or great accomplishments. Consider when you were most weak and dependent on others. Consider the most deeply human parts of your life – the times when your best wasn't good enough, the times when you were completely alone, the times when you wept beside a loved one – and you will find the real God, the Word made flesh, our Savior Jesus Christ, there with you and for you in all his glory. Look to the forgotten places and the left-out people. Look to the resident aliens and the convicts. Look to the failures and the rejects. Look to the humanity which we all share, and you will find the Word made flesh, crucified and risen for you.

In this season of Christmas, John reminds us that you don't have to go looking for God anymore. God is close, with you before you even noticed, in front of you, between you, within you, through Jesus Christ. Amen.