Christmas
Day
Jn
1:1-14
12/24/24
Recently
I had the ballast in one of the fluorescent lights in the train room go
bad. The train room where my model
railroad is located is the unfinished side of our basement. The basement windows there are no longer
visible because a background for the scenery runs around the entire
layout. It extends from the layout up to
the ceiling, and it has been painted blue with clouds.
I
turned the power off to that part of the house so that I could replace the
ballast. But I soon realized that this created an unforeseen problem. With the power out, the train room is
completely and utterly dark. There is no
source of light whatsoever in the room, and you can’t see anything. I found that I would have to bring a source
of light in so that I could see what I was doing and repair the light that was
supposed to be there.
In
our Gospel lesson today, the apostle John describes the world as being a place
of utter darkness. This darkness is a
metaphor for the rule of the devil, and the sin and death that he brings. This darkness encompasses all people, because
since the fall, all people have been conceived and born in sin. We are born
with the devil as our lord. We are unable to escape the sin that the always in
our lives. And this sin leads to death
for all people.
Today,
as we celebrate Feast of Christmas, we learn from our text that God acted to
change all this in his Son, Jesus Christ.
The baby in the manger on Christmas Day was God present with us to bring
the light of life.
John
begins our text by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John refers to the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God. He describes him as the Word because he is
the revelation of the Father – he is God speaking to us.
John
tells us that the Son is God. He was
with God in the beginning. All things were made through him, and without him
was not any thing made that was made.
Then
at the end of our text John writes, “And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only
Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This verse captures
the mystery and wonder of what we are celebrating today. John tells us that the Word – the Son of God
– became flesh. God became man, without
ceasing to be God. The baby in the
manger is the creator of the cosmos.
John
says that the Word became flesh and “dwelt” among us. With this word the apostle signals that
incarnate Son of God was the fulfillment of how God had dwelt with this people
in the Old Testament.
God told Israel in Exodus, “And let
them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Yahweh commanded Israel to make the
tabernacle. In our Old Testament lesson
we hear what happened when the tabernacle was completed and was set up. We learn, “Then the cloud covered the
tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” The glory – the perceptible presence of God –
filled the tabernacle. The same thing
happened when the tabernacle’s replacement, the temple was dedicated. God demonstrated that through the tabernacle
and temple he dwelt in the midst of his people.
It was the place of his located presence.
John tells us that now, the same
thing is true of the flesh of Jesus Christ.
He is the located presence of God in the midst of his people. And just as the temple and tabernacle were
the place where sacrifice occurred, so Jesus Christ came to be the sacrifice
for us.
John says that we have “we have seen
his glory.” During his ministry Jesus
revealed his glory. John says about
Jesus’ miracle of turning water in to wine, “This, the first of his signs,
Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his
disciples believed in him.”
Jesus revealed his glory, and this
pointed forward to ultimate way in which he would reveal his saving glory – in
the cross. John tells us that during
Holy Week Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
bears much fruit.” Then Jesus went on to say, “Now is the judgment of this
world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself.” John adds, “He said this to show by what
kind of death he was going to die.”
The
Son of God became flesh to be nailed to a cross. Jesus was the Lamb of God who was sacrificed
to take away the sins of the world. Christ died because you do not fear, love,
and trust in God above all things. He
died because you do not love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus
gave himself into death on the cross.
But he had said, “For this reason the Father loves
me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one
takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father.” On Easter Jesus took
it up again as he rose from the dead.
Sin
brings death. But by his death and
resurrection, Jesus has brought life.
John says in our text, “In him was life, and the life was the
light of men.” Jesus Christ, the
incarnate Son of God, was the light that entered into the darkness of this
world.
John
tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it.” The darkness of Satan, sin, and death were not able to overcome
Jesus. Instead, he conquered them as
died on the cross, was buried, and left the tomb as the risen Lord
Jesus
is the light who gives light to all and rescues them from the darkness. John says in our text, “The true light, which
enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” However, many do not want this light. They want to hang on to their sin. They refuse to give up their false gods. John says, “He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came
to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Yet
for those who are called to faith, Jesus gives us the right to be the children
of God. We hear in our text, “But to all
who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God, who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
We
learn that it is only God who can give us the gift of faith. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last
day.” And so in the water of baptism,
God gave you new life. You were born
again of water and the Spirit. By his
grace God has called you to faith in Jesus Christ, and so you are God’s
children. John said in his first
epistle, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should
be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world
does not know us is that it did not know him.”
Jesus
said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk
in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Our life is lived in the light of the life that Jesus gives. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal
life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to
life.” Because of Christ we already have
eternal life now. We live in the forgiveness that Christ has won, and know that
this forgiveness will be true on the Last Day.
Because
of Christ, we have already passed from death to life. For this reason, physical death cannot end
our life with God. Jesus told Martha, “I
am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in
me shall never die.” Our life with God will never end, even if our body
dies. And Jesus the risen Lord will raise our bodies and transform them to be
like his on the Last Day.
As
we live in this new life, Jesus tells us that we will be different from the
world. The Lord who served us by giving himself into the suffering and death of
the cross, now sends us to serve one another.
Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
At
Christmas, the Word – the Son of God – became flesh. He became flesh to reveal his saving glory by
dying on the cross and rising from the dead.
He was the light of life that came into a world of darkness. We already share in that life through
faith. And the risen Lord will enter
this world once again on the Last Day to give us resurrection life that will
never end.
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