25 December 2017
Text: John 1:1-18 (Ex 40:17-21, 34-38; Titus 3:4-7)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
The
last word of the last line of the last stanza of the last hymn that we will
sing this Christmas morning is the word “appearing.” It’s from this line: “Word of the Father, now
in flesh appearing.”
Of
course, the reference to the Word is from our Gospel of John’s introduction of
Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But the reference to “appearing” is from our
epistle reading from St. Paul’s letter to Titus: “But when the goodness and
loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us.”
And
notice that “God our Savior” is exactly how the pregnant virgin Mary described
the baby Jesus in her womb – as we will sing in the Magnificat: “My soul
magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
Dear
friends, there is something magnificent and beautiful here that cries out for
our attention this happy morning. For
Jesus is truly the Word of God. By Him
all things were made. When God created
the universe, He spoke, and it came into being.
And this Word “was with God” and this Word “was God.” This Word in the original Greek of the New
Testament is Logos, where we get the word “logic.” By speaking it into being, God created an
orderly and logical universe, set into motion according to the laws of physics,
bodies of matter that interact with one another perfectly like a great precise clock
in space and time.
But
the Logos is more than just a cosmic brain that makes the galaxies whirl with
cold logical precision. There is
something personal and loving about this God our Creator, for by means of His
Word, He is also God our Savior.
To
save us means that He cares about us, and it also means that we are in trouble. We were created in His image, given a mind
and a soul and a heart, and the ability to think and to love, to study the
universe, and to discern the Creator from the created order. But we chose to rebel against our
Creator. We chose sin over the goodly
order that God placed us into. We vainly
imagined ourselves to be superior to the Word, uttering our own word instead:
“No.” We refuse to serve. We refuse to submit. We refuse to obey.
And
we are in grave peril, as if the galaxies of the universe were to suddenly
rebel against the laws of physics. Dear
friends, in our sin, we have placed ourselves on a path to destruction.
But
God is determined that He will not allow this to happen to us. For “when the goodness and loving kindness of
God our Savior appeared, He saved us.”
“He
saved us,” dear brothers and sisters, “not because of works done by us in
righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing and regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus
Christ our Savior.” And so when we
needed a Savior, He appeared: “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.”
The
Almighty Mind, the Logic, the Word that created the universe now appears in
time and in matter, appearing in flesh, appearing to us not mightily but
mildly, in goodness and loving kindness and mercy, making His appearance to us
as one of us, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” “God our Savior
appeared.” “Now in flesh appearing.”
The
Greek word for this appearing is where we get the word “epiphany.” The appearance of the Word of God in the
flesh as our Savior is a startling and universe-changing epiphany, a shining
forth of light into a vast darkness. God
has not revealed Himself only in words, but in His being, not merely by
enforcing the laws of the universe, but by graciously bending those laws by His
will, out of love for us. He wills to
appear in flesh and to reduce Himself to a microscopic speck in time and space,
to imbed Himself in the womb of a virgin in a tiny village in the middle of
nowhere, and to suffer, to be crucified, and to die for us – all in order to
save us, to rescue us.
He
does this out of mercy, dear friends, out of love. Not only the love for His creation, but love
for you as His beloved creature. He
became one of us, and dwelt among us, to save each one of us, and to join Himself
to each one of us out of love. We are
renewed and regenerated, by the Holy Spirit, washed in baptismal water “poured
out on us richly,” calling to mind that “in the beginning… the Spirit of God
was hovering over the face of the waters” just before the Word spoke, “Let
there be light.”
He
continues to appear in flesh, dear friends, in His flesh and blood given to us
in the Sacrament of the Altar. He uses
His Word to appear to us in space and time, appearing in the form of bread and
wine so that He might continue to save us out of “goodness and loving
kindness.”
Of
course, we give gifts at Christmas. Part
of the reason is because the magi bore gifts to the baby Jesus. But there is another reason: our gifts call
to mind the original Gift: the Word made flesh.
Our giving calls to mind His giving, that is, His appearing. Our gifts are small acts of love in time and
space, calling to mind His infinite love in robing Himself with time and space
in order to be our Savior, to love us by making Himself the ultimate gift at
the cross, and giving us the gift of resurrection to eternal life, even as the
Word took up His flesh again on Easter morning.
The
gift of the “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing is given to us for the
following reason: “so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.”
So
come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.
Come ye to Bethlehem (Hebrew for the “house of bread”), come to the
altar, come to where the Word of God, your Savior, is proclaimed and present
for you year after year, and week after week.
Come and behold Him, behold His goodness and loving kindness, behold the
“Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.” Behold the Lamb of God that takest away the sin
of the world!
“O
come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”
Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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