A lot HAS ended, don’t get me wrong.
Gone are the countdowns of shopping days left.
Gone is the stressing about whether the gifts will arrive by the
morning of Christmas Day.
Gone is the wondering “what to get so-and-so.”
But other things have begun, like having to remind yourself what
the return policies of the store you bought that gift in.
Begun is the going to the stores to stand in lines which go, not
to the checkout stand, but the customer service lane.
Begun is the preparation for another New Year’s and the stress
that goes with thinking about a resolution that you’ll really stick to this
year.
In the midst of all this we pause to listen to the voice of the
Evangelist John.
John, that Maverick gospel-writer, eschews the Mary and Joseph
stories. John doesn’t seem to care about dating Jesus’ birth in the calendar of
the Roman overlords.
John forgoes the visitations of angels and the heavenly
chorus. John goes where no gospel writer
had gone before, to the ethers of the most outer of outer space.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the
Word WAS God.
Its like John is saying, "Lets really get to the heart of
where Jesus came from, and it starts with God and God's Word.
There are a couple of things going on here and we really need to
be aware of them to see where John is coming from. John has obviously read his
Genesis creation story. You could even quote it could you? "In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless
and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was
hovering across the face of the waters." John seems to be writing a
prequel to the Genesis one story. John is answering the question, what happened
before God created the world? His answer? Word happened. Word happened before
World.
We witness in John's writing the invention of a new Christian art and
artistic license. It’s as though he was pondering the significance of Jesus and
his ministry and his enduring work on earth and in a flash of brilliance while
meditating in the Spirit on Genesis Chapter One, it comes to him, “Yes, that's
it, Jesus was the earthly manifestation of the very thought of God.”
The word Word is a tricky one here and we certainly don't want to
paint a picture in our head of a giant W floating out in the ethers, or even
the baby Jesus meandering amongst the galaxies like the Star Trek Voyager.
The word “Word” in the Greek is logos. Logos can be translated a
bunch of ways, as thing, or rule, or idea, or law, or principle, but what makes
the most sense to English speakers is "Word." The Greek audience of
John knew of this Logos idea, the idea that there was an organizing principle
to the world, a way of God to be translated into earthly reality. John is
making a connection between this Greek logos and Israel's God the Creator.
We could go on and on peeling away layers of this onion and find
motifs of the feminine in Word/Logos, like the sophia or Wisdom of God which
came to popularity in the intertestamental time. As well as elements of the
populist religions which celebrated the Sun and the Moon which showed up as
light for the world, John's pastiche is put together with the care of a fine
craftsman and he is very intentional in bringing all these strands of thread
together and weaving a masterpiece.
But why are we talking about this today?
Christmas is the time when all of our philosophizing, all of this
projecting our thoughts into the spiritual world, about this invisible ethereal
God, something that has only existed in dreamy dream land and those places that
don't actually exist, tangibly, in reality, finally land with a loud thunk!
Now can we not only see God, but we can touch God, we can hold
God, we can feel our hearts be dazzled like we are dazzled at the presence of a
newborn baby. This was new. No man-made religion had done this before.
Before, it was all just theory, it was all just wishful thinking,
it was all just question marks and speculation. The best humanity could offer
up to this time was just a molten statue before whom you could bring sacrifices
that you fervently wished were found acceptable. In Jesus' birth, that thing we
celebrate today, all of human history bends and curves and ties and is knit
together in a wonderfully fine fabric.
Christmas is the time when we move out of and away from just
wondering, "What would it be like if God became man? And we get our
answer. It looks like a new baby, which we call Immanuel, "God with
us." And that's it!
So, how does God being with us in this new way transform our
present lives?
Growing up I remember that "special edition" of the
Sears & Roebuck Catalogue that would come out late in the year prominently
featuring all the latest toys that would make me positively covetous. "Oh
wouldn't it be nice if I could have this, or this, or that." Sears titled
this catalogue the season's "Wish Book." And you know what? It never
failed to disappoint me, even when I got something "like" what I was
"wishing" for. That HO scale race track that I had always wanted,
would work for awhile and then break down, and the mice in the basement would
chew through the electrical cord and I would just have to move on to the next
toy until the next "Wish Book" would come out.
As Christians, consider that that thing that has been masquerading
as hope up till now was actually just wishful thinking.
If Christmas Day marks the end of anything it’s the end of wishful
thinking. We all know what wishful thinking is, keeping our fingers crossed,
with toss-away phrases like "I guess we'll see what happens," or “I
HOPE it works out.” God's gift to us is NOT wishful thinking or a year-end
“wish book.” God's gift is genuine hope, hope that is freed of circumstance,
hope that is freed from breaking down, or is subject to nibbling mice.
Christmas marks the beginning of real hope, hope that is real and
tangible, as real and tangible as a baby we can hold.
Christmas marks the end of the delusions we entertain about life
and ourselves. So however we respond to what we see around us, we need not be
afraid because glad tidings of great joy are at our now at our arms reach.
Christmas isn’t the end. It
isn’t the end of anything except
hopelessness.
Yes, Christmas is the beginning of hope, real hope, the only hope
that can make merry.
So really: Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to all.
To the only wise God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion and
power, both now and forever, amen.
