Text: John 1:1-14
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
When it comes to Christmas, John doesn’t really give you what you want. Admit it. You want what you see in the nativity scene that sits on your mantel. You want Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, a few sheep, a donkey, maybe some shepherds and a few magi. An angel or two would be nice touch, too. That’s what Luke’s Gospel gives you. Luke gives you the multitude of the heavenly host singing. Luke gives you shepherds. Matthew gives you the magi. John doesn’t give you any of that, though. John, in fact doesn’t give you any of the birth narrative at all. John skips right over the entire childhood and adolescence of Jesus and jumps straight to full-grown Jesus. John gives you the theology of Christ Jesus instead. It may not be what you want, but trust me, it is everything that you need.
While it’s kind of pointless for me to stand before all of you this morning and tell you how important it is to come to church on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day, I’m going to do it anyway. What I just said is exactly the reason. Christmas Eve gets all the love. That’s where you get to light candles and sing “Silent Night.” Even people who rarely, if ever, darken the doors of the church will sometimes make a Christmas Eve appearance. Christmas Day is a different story, though. Most churches in America have dispensed with the idea of even having services on Christmas Day at all. They truly are different services, though. Christmas Eve gives you the narrative of the birth of Christ. Christmas Day, today, gives you the why. It gives you the doctrine of Christ. It teaches you about the two natures of Christ. So we take that up again today. Jesus has always been true God, but we rejoice today that Jesus is not only true God, but since the incarnation he is true God as well.
You need the Jesus that is true God. And Jesus really is true God. That’s the first thing that John makes clear from the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” St. John writes. In other words, the Son of God didn’t just come onto the scene when Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. The Son of God is eternal. You find him all over the Old Testament, in fact. The Son of God was there when Abraham was stopped from slaughtering Isaac. The Son of God met Abraham before he went to rescue Lot and his family from the destruction that was to come on Sodom and Gomorrah. The Son of God was there speaking to Moses from the burning bush. The Son of God stood in Balaam’s way when he was sent to curse the Israelites and would not let his donkey pass by on the road. The Son of God visited Manoah, the father of Samson. These are but a few examples of the pre-incarnate Son of God making his presence known before he takes on human flesh.
John, though, makes it clear that the Son of God is not just present since the time of creation, but he is eternal just as the Father is eternal. He was active in creation just as the Father and the Son were active in creation. This is what we confess in the Nicene Creed. The Son is “begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”
If man had not fallen into sin, that’s the way it would have stayed. The Son of God would have dwelt with his Father and remained there as true God only. Man did fall into sin, though. And the sin of man must be atoned for. If it is not, sinful man will remain damned for eternity. Since God desires all men to be saved, He sends forth his Son from his royal throne that he might win salvation for all men. The Nicene Creed continues: “who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” It’s at this point each week when we confess this Creed that you’ve probably noticed me and David genuflecting, that is, taking a knee. We do this to recognize with awe and reverence that the very Son of God descended from his royal throne and became man just like us in order to save us. You’ll also notice that we rise back to a standing position before we mention Pontius Pilate’s name. This is because we bend the knee only to our Lord and God, not to any man. I digress, though. The bottom line is this: Jesus became man in order that he might suffer and die in your place for you daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but God’s eternal punishment. If the Son of God never takes on human flesh, he cannot fulfill the Law of God for you and you remain under obligation to satisfy the wrath of God on your own. If the Son of God never takes on human flesh, he can’t die. If the Son of God never takes on human flesh, his resurrection means nothing for you.
But the God really did become man in the incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus takes on flesh and is born of the Virgin Mary. He lives a perfect sinless life on earth. He teaches his disciples and others the Word of God. He heals the sick. He raises the dead. He does all of this as a man. Ultimately, though, the reason that he became man is so that he could suffer and die for you. The Nicene Creed continues: “he was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.”
So Jesus does not remain here on earth, but he does remain a man. For once he unites himself to you by taking on flesh like yours, he does not give that up again. It is good that he ascended into heaven and retook his place at the right hand of the Father. Because the Word made flesh sits at the right hand of the Father, he can make his presence known around the world.
The most obvious way that Jesus dwells among us today is in his body and blood that he gives us in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins. Quite literally, when John says that Jesus dwells among us, he says that he “tabernacles” among us. The tabernacle in the Old Testament was the tent where God came to meet his people. Today, Jesus still comes to us under a tent. See how the chalice veil there is shaped like a tent. Just as God came to his people of hold to bring them forgiveness of sins, Jesus comes to you today in that tent to give you his body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins.
The same Jesus that was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary comes to you today. The Word made flesh continues to come and dwell with you. He does to prepare you for the day when he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Preaching Dutchman 