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Sermon - Christmas 2006 - 25th December 2006
Saint Aidan's West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1-12. John 1:1-14
When I was a boy, our family always went to Communion on Christmas morning, just as we have done here today. I remember a good deal of frustration as the readings took place, because they never told the Christmas story. I waited in vain each year to hear of the baby and the manger and the angels and the shepherds, but they never got a mention. “How can you have a Christmas Day service and ignore the Christmas story?” I wondered. It didn’t make sense. And the frustration was increased because, instead of that terrific story of the birth of Jesus, the readings had some complicated theological ramblings about the Word and light and life, and all sorts of other things which were too much for a boy like me to be interested in.
Why is it that since the earliest centuries of the church, the Gospel reading for Christmas Day has been those words from the beginning of John’s Gospel, rather than the narrative of Jesus’ birth, perhaps that found in the Gospel of Luke?
Of course, it was no accident. The choice of the church all those centuries ago was profoundly insightful, and it is right that we still continue the practice today.
For instead of telling the well-known story of the babe of Bethlehem, our readings - both from John’s Gospel and also the Letter to the Hebrews - focus our attention on the more important question: not simply “what happened?”, but “who is this baby?”
That is still the question that really matters, even today. Who is Jesus? And neither John nor the writer to the Hebrews will let us get away with a superficial answer. This is not just a sweet little baby. Nor when he grows up will he be just another teacher or miracle-worker, another prophet or champion of the down-trodden, or just another martyr. None of those answers will get to the heart of the question. And so our readings challenge us to ask ourselves: who is Jesus? Who is this babe of Bethlehem? Why do we celebrate his birth 2000 years after the event? Why does it matter? Why does he matter?
And both John and the writer to the Hebrews point us in the same direction as they answer this question. They remind us that God is not just into creating and ruling and judging and things like that. They want to remind us that God is into communication: God is a God who speaks. “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God”. God is a God who speaks, who communicates.
And the Letter to the Hebrews also begins with the reminder that God has spoken in many ways to his people over the years. God is indeed a God who speaks. But how?
I guess we might think of different ways we have experienced God speaking to us. He may speak through the power and beauty of creation, through the experiences of life, through the voice of conscience. He might speak through our own reflections on the issues of life, or through the wise advice of other people.
Not very dramatic perhaps, and not always very direct. But many of us have had those times when we believe that we have heard the voice of God in some such way.
Of course we all wish that God would speak more clearly, more obviously. We may wish that God would reveal himself in an unmistakable way. Perhaps the cynics would then be convinced of his reality. But the voice of God often seems to come very quietly, very subtly.
What would happen if God spoke in all his power, all his glory? We would all be overwhelmed, terrified. That’s what happened when some of the characters in the Bible caught even a glimpse of the glory of God. But that is not God’s main way of communicating his reality or his message to us.
Hebrews tells us that God spoke through his prophets, his messengers. He used human beings - people like us - to communicate his message. But now he has done something new, according to John and Hebrews.
The God who speaks has taken on human existence: that’s what John means in those familiar words: “the Word became flesh”. God the communicator has come to us in person: God has come to us himself, to communicate his message face to face. As one person I know used to put it: Jesus is “God with skin on”. Instead of coming to speak in all his power and glory, God came to us as a baby, born in humble circumstances.
Only a handful of people knew that there was anything special about him. He drank from his mother’s breast. He did the normal bodily functions. Despite a certain lovely Christmas carol, I assume the little Lord Jesus did cry if he was hungry or uncomfortable or in pain. And before long his family had to flee as refugees to Egypt, because his life was under threat from Herod.
It was a strange way for God to come, and it was a strange welcome he received. But John points out that there were those who did receive and welcome him. And they were welcomed into the family of God, as God’s children and heirs. And that is still true today. As we welcome Jesus into our life, trusting and following him, we become in a new way God’s beloved children.
It has always been difficult for many people to come to terms with the reality that in Jesus, God himself has come to us, and experienced our human life. It seems strange to believe that the Creator could enter his creation. But that is what John tells us. And it is what the writer to the Hebrews tells us. And you will find the same message in other parts of the New Testament, through which God still speaks to people today.
The Letter to the Hebrews seems to have been written to people who themselves found it hard to believe that Jesus was God sharing our human life. They were apparently keen on angels, and they were happy to think of Jesus as a special human being, perhaps fairly close to the angels in importance. But the writer to the Hebrews said: “You’ve got it all wrong. Jesus doesn’t rank below the angels; the angels worship him.” Jesus, says the writer, is the one through whom creation came into being: John says the same thing.
What our readings say in different ways is that the God who speaks has come to speak to us, and to share with us - in person. That’s who Jesus is. It’s a big picture, but it’s what gives Christmas its significance. The babe of Bethlehem is God in a manger. Not glamorous, but truly wonderful news for all people.
Of course we can’t physically hear the voice of Jesus today. But just as God spoke through the prophets whose messages are found in the scriptures, so he speaks today through the scriptures, as they tell us the story of Jesus, and as they tell us who Jesus is and what he can mean for us.
Can I make a suggestion of something you might do if you have a bit of time over the next few days during this Christmas season. Why not read through one or more of the Gospels, asking yourself: who is this man of whom they tell us? Each Gospel can be read in an hour or two. You might choose Luke, which we will be focussing on in our Gospel readings throughout the coming year. In Luke, you’ll see Jesus reaching out with God’s love to the most unexpected people, and you’ll hear most of the great parables he told. If you choose to read a second Gospel, you might read through John, which gives a different approach to Jesus’ story, with an emphasis on his teaching and the deep significance of who he is. Reading through a Gospel can give you a very special insight into the story of Jesus and its significance. And you may well hear the voice of God encouraging you to trust and follow Jesus.
We haven’t heard the narrative of the birth of Jesus this morning, although our carols remind us of that familiar and wonderful story. But I hope we have been reminded of the wonderful significance of God coming to us in Jesus, to share our human existence.
God has spoken uniquely in Jesus. May we be open to his call to us all. And may we find the new life he offers to those who receive him, trusting his love and following him day by day. May the babe of Bethlehem, God with us, be our companion, our guide, our teacher, and our Saviour as we celebrate his birth and share the life he offers. Amen.