John 1:1-14
Christmas Day - 25 December 2016
Rev. John Derme
What do you do when you receive a Christmas card? Imagine that you are opening your mail. Inside the envelope is a card with a pretty picture on the front. But when you open it up, there are no words on the inside! A piece of paper falls out – that must be the Christmas letter. But when you unfold the paper you see that there are no words on it! Words are pretty important for Christmas cards and letters, wouldn't you say? Without words, there isn't any point in sending or receiving them.
What do you do when you hear your favorite Christmas song? Imagine that you are listening to Christmas music on the radio. You hear the familiar sound of that favorite song, so you turn up the volume. But when it comes time for the singing to begin, you don't hear any words! And you go to church on Christmas. We'll be singing one of your favorite hymns. But when it comes time for it, you open up your hymnal and find that there are no words inside! Words are pretty important for Christmas songs and hymns, wouldn't you say? Without words, the music doesn't have anything to do with Christmas.
Christmas would be strange and hard to celebrate without words. The words that we write and sing are pretty important. Yet there is one Word that is absolutely necessary at Christmas. Without this one Word, there would be no celebration of Christmas. The most important Word is the one described in the Gospel for Christmas Day from John chapter 1. There the apostle describes the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, as "the Word."
John writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus did not begin to exist at his birth in Bethlehem. He existed before the world was even created. There was never a time when he was not. The Word is eternal. God the Father and God the Son have always existed in the closest possible connection together. Yet they are clearly distinct from each other. They have the same essence, but are different persons. The Son of God is in no way less than God the Father. The Word has always been completely divine, possessing every attribute of God.
So, why is he called the Word? On the one hand, this seems to be a rare title for Jesus. John is the only Bible writer who uses this precise name. Yet it has deep roots in how God worked throughout the Old Testament. When God created the world, he did it through his Word. Every once in a while, God appeared to people. But for the most part, the invisible God revealed himself by his speech. A common phrase from the Old Testament when God wanted to reveal himself to someone is "the Word of the Lord came" to that person.
How fitting it is, then, that Jesus is called "the Word." He is the one who reveals God to his people. He teaches us who the Father is. Throughout the thousands of years before the first Christmas, God's Word was not something that most people saw, not even as words on a page. The written Word was rare. When most of the people of God thought about the Word of God, it was something they had heard, passed down and taught to them verbally. But finally Jesus came and made God's Word visible, not as words on a page, but in his person and actions. He is the focus and fulfillment of all the Scriptures.
As John put it, "The Word became flesh." The eternal Son of the Father, who was with God and was God before creation, the one who made all things, became a human being. The Word took on true human nature – body and soul. Jesus Christ is therefore not only almighty God, but also almighty man; not only all-knowing God, but also all-knowing man; not only omnipresent God, but also omnipresent man.
Everything that Jesus has done and continues to do in the body is to reveal God to you. That is why he was born and lived as a child and grew up to be a man. That is why he was baptized and carried out his ministry of preaching, teaching, and performing miracles. That is why he suffered and died. That is why he rose again and ascended into heaven. That is why he sits at God the Father's right hand ruling all things and will come again at the end. In everything he says and does, Jesus reveals the truth of who God is and what his holy will for us is. He reveals that God is love and is at work to give us life. He displays the free and undeserved mercy of God for us.
Jesus has set the standard for what all words should be about. Unfortunately, my words do not always conform to his standard. I do not always use my words to reveal God's grace. I do not speak or act in a holy way. My words show the sinfulness that is in my heart. And the way I respond to his Word shows that I do not always understand or appreciate what he says to me. I don't treat Jesus as the Word of God. I too often ignore him. Are your words and actions a perfect revelation of the holy God's truth and grace? No. None of us deserves for God to come in words of forgiveness. We deserve to hear him speak words to us of righteous condemnation.
Yes, Jesus does speak to show me my sin. God's Word shows me my sin, though, not because he wants to condemn me, but because he wants to work repentance in me and forgive me. If Jesus were coming to condemn you, he would come as a conquering King in a chariot of war surrounded by his armies of angels. But he has proven that he wants to forgive you by coming into this world as a lowly baby, who could not even speak for himself. The angels appeared not as an army, but as a choir. They did the speaking to tell people who Jesus was. God the Father was also speaking to you when he placed his Son into the manger. He was saying, "See my grace for you, that I send my only-begotten Son, whom I love, who was with me in eternity, to suffer in this way for you."
The Word in the manger revealed God's love. The incarnate Word still reveals God to you through his written Word. In the message of the Bible, Jesus speaks his grace and truth to you. You and I also see the Word in action through his sacraments, where he washes our sins away in Baptism, and where he feeds us with his own physical body and blood in Communion.
Maybe some of you didn't get any Christmas cards this year. Maybe some of you don't have any favorite Christmas hymns. But you know what would be far worse than not being able to enjoy any of those words in letters or songs. It would be terrible for us if there had been no Word in the manger at Christmas. Without Jesus you would never hear the words, "Merry Christmas." There would be no such thing.
But the Word did become flesh and he did dwell among us. Therefore, no matter how many or few cards we've received or songs we've sung, we can and will have a merry and blessed Christmas. We have heard God's good news of forgiveness proclaimed in the Word. And we will keep singing his good news of eternal life in our hymns. We enjoy what the written and spoken words of Christmas mean for us, because of Jesus, the eternal Word who became flesh at Christmas for us.