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John 1:1-14
The Word Became Flesh
Christmas Day
December 25, 2014
To the immortal, invisible and eternal God, be honor and glory forever. Amen.
It sounds simple. Let's take a day, and set it aside to remember the day that Jesus was born. We can give a few gifts to
each other to remind us of the gift that God gave us in Jesus. Sounds simple enough. Then you hear that there are 28
million rolls of wrapping paper that are bought at Christmas. 372 million greeting cards are sent. 16 million packages of
tags and bows are purchased. And that's just the shiny stuff on the outside. Christmas sounds simple, but it gets
complicated pretty quickly.
The story of Christmas that John tells us sounds simple until you think about it. He speaks with words that are so clear and
so succinct. He says things like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God...In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” His words are so simple and so clear that a kindergartener could
read them. But when we stop and think about what John was saying and what God meant to communicate, it just blows
our minds. These clear and simple words are so profound that they soar to places we would never even think of.
John takes the Christmas story and he wants to start at the very beginning. And he had a reason for that. John had people
around him that didn't believe that Jesus was God. Unfortunately that's not new news to us, is it? There's plenty of people
around us today who want to say that Jesus was an important man, a good teacher. But God? Not so much. People in
John's day said, “Sure he can be a god, but not like the god who created the world.” So the Holy Spirit takes John and he
tells the Christmas story from the very beginning.
We know how the world came about. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Well, John says, “Let's
go back a little bit further.” He tells us exactly who was there. “In the beginning was the Word.” That's a fascinating name
that the Bible gives us for Jesus. The Word, the message of God, is embodied in his Son. “...and the Word was with God...”
So he's a companion of God; he's separate from God. And yet, “...the Word was God.” See, he didn't want anyone to have
any misconceptions about Jesus. Yes, this Jesus is distinct from the Father, but at the same time, he is true God from true
God. That's the whole point of the Athanasian Creed that we are going to read in a moment. People died for that creed.
People died for that truth. That Jesus is true God. And John's point, one of his proofs, is that everything was made by the
Son of God. You wanna talk about the God of Creation? That's who Jesus is.
Why would John begin the Christmas story by taking us to the time before the universe was here? Because he wants you to
think about a God so vast, that even though he existed all by himself before this world was here, by the breath of his mouth
he created a universe so vast it has billions of galaxies, innumerable stars, a solar system surrounding this bright blue planet
suspended in the dark black void of space filled with millions of creatures all to support this one man and one woman. All
this from the breath of his mouth. That God was so big that we can't even begin to comprehend what that's like. He's just
too supernatural for us to understand.
But we had to. We had to comprehend and interact with this God because he had to be our Savior. So this
incomprehensible, omnipotent God made himself something that we could understand. “The Word became flesh.” God
wants us to think about creation to realize that this God who could do anything and everything, condescended to be born
as a baby in a barn, for you, for me. A God whose glory is so vast we can't begin to understand it, he was content to be
born in a stable so that you and I might die and find a mansion. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among
us.” It sounds so simple until you think about it.
The poet, John Donne, once wrote these words about Christmas. “ 'Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.” Yeah, it's a big deal that man was created in the image of God. But
it's a much bigger deal that in Jesus, God was made in the image of man. That the true God left behind all that glory and all
that power to be born like us. If he didn't, he couldn't be our Savior. But he did. The Word became flesh, just like you.
Ever lie in your bed, having trouble sleeping because you're dealing with the things that you did that day, or didn't do?
You're kicking yourself for being a spiritual failure, again. And you're wondering how you can fall back into the same sins
over and over. The same feelings or the same words. And you wonder how God could ever understand what it's like to be
as weak as you are.
God can, because the Word became flesh. Jesus knows exactly what you feel like. He was tempted in every way, just as we
are, yet was without sin. Jesus knows your frailties. He knows my weaknesses. He knows what it's like to be living in a
flesh-bound world like this. He became flesh, and he did it perfectly, so that he could be the Savior for every one of us
flesh-bound people on that bright blue planet suspended in the black void of space.
This is why the Word became flesh. So that he could die for me, so that he could rise from the dead for you. So he could
forgive every bit of my guilt and every one of your sins. If our greatest need had been information then God would have
sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been money, he'd have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been
pleasure he'd have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, and so he sent us a Savior.
The Word became flesh. He is this dark world's light. He is this dead planet's life. And he did not die in vain. To you, to
me, to everyone who believes, he gives the right to be called the children of God, and to enjoy his grace forever.
John's words sound so simple, until you think about them. Consider them now, and rejoice.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was
the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was
sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men
might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every
man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not
recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those
who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have
seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Merry Christmas! Amen.