2nd Sunday after Christmas
John 1:1-18
"Jesus Tented with Us."
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God;
3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 ¶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
15 ¶ (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, ’He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’")
16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.RSV
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. amen
I would like to focus on one verse of the gospel lesson this morning. The first verse in the last paragraph which says:" And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory as of the only Son from the Father."
In Seminary, we studied this verse in our Greek class and we learn the word "dwelt" can be translated "tented" which gives a far greater meaning to this text. Jesus tented among us. Jesus pitched His tent among us.
Have you ever been camping with tents and sleeping bags? I have many times.
In one of the churches I served, we went camping with the Luther League. After we arrived at the site, everyone would get busy pitching their tents, getting out their stuff, and some would start the camp fire. This all took time and energy and we all knew we were going to stay awhile.
When I was in college, I worked at Camp Sunnyside---Easter Seal Camp-- for handicapped campers some of whom were in wheelchairs. Pitching the tents, getting things ready there was even a greater challenge. We had to find a smooth place to put the tent and the sleeping bags, we had to find wood, we had to cover the chairs so they would not get wet with dew during the night, on and on it went.
Pitching a tent means one is planning to stay awhile. Jesus came to be with us for the duration. He came to be with us in every circumstance of life. The Christmas story is the story of how God came to be with us in all circumstances of life.
Jesus made a commitment when he came to earth. We now live in that Christmas commitment. For many, the Christmas experience is "old hat." It is not exciting. We know what it means. We have lived with this Christmas tradition for thousands of years. Isn’t that all right. Traditions are something we can rely on, something we can hold onto, something which brings an anchor to our lives. In this case, the tradition of Christmas is comforting in its sameness.
There is a certain assurance, a certain confidence, a certain identity about the Christmas experience which is ok. We know what we are getting.
It is like the boy in the following:
"John knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday. His parents knew as well they had discussed it 6 months prior to the event. John knew that he would likely receive that for which he asked, provided he did nothing to earn his parents’ displeasure along the way to the birthday event. Eager to receive what he had asked for, he took care not to jeopardize the coming of the gift.
At his birthday celebration he received a package from his parents. He knew immediately what it would be. There was no particular surprise, yet there was considerable delight. He knew he could have "lost it" before it had ever first arrived. He knew it came from loving parents. And he knew he would be receiving it even before it came. He didn’t ever really "earn" the gift, nevertheless he had a chance to forfeit it, had he been careless."
This complex sort of dynamics describes well the "reward" which Christians receive at the end of the age. Not something we earn nor deserve, the gift from God can still be forfeited by our own carelessness or willfulness. Not really a surprise, the gift of life with God is still not given us until "that moment" when it becomes clear -- "official" even.
It is the reward of Christmas, the promise of eternal life which God brought to earth through Christ which we celebrate this season. We delight in it. We rejoice in it. We live in the confidence it will be ours because of our faith in Christ.
Yes, we can loose it. We can ignore it. We can reject it. We can gamble our promise of eternal life away as we ignore God’s word. We cannot earn God’s grace, but we can reject it. We can be careless with it.
We can be like the following person:
"I’m a gambler. Oh, not the kind that frequents places behind doors in some secluded spot. Nor, do I play the ponies, or bet on sporting football games. You see, I gamble with my soul as the stake. I’m betting that I can live a life of indifference, a life of neglect of those thing that are of the Lord and still receive His blessings.
I’m gambling with the souls of my children as the stake. Although I neither live righteously nor influence them toward unrighteousness, I’m betting their souls on the hope that they will have wisdom to guide their own lives unto the Lord.
I’m betting that I can remain indifferent to Christ’s teachings, that I can fail to give as prospered, and that will still bless me eternally; I’m betting I can still have a nonchalant attitude toward the lost, and still please God. Yes, I’m a gambler--the most reckless type: I’m an indifferent Christian!!!"
As Jesus tents with us, we know that He will be with us in all circumstances of life. He is here for the duration. As He said in Matthew 28: "and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." His tent is pitched. He is here. Through His Spirit which He gave on Pentecost, He is here for all people in every circumstance of life.
In the second half of our verse we find the word glory or "doxia" in Greek, it means the presence of God in this world .His glorious presence is here. Or another word in English which describes Jesus’s presence is aura. His light, his glory, his aura, his presence is shining, is illuminating all the places in our lives. He is shining in the good as well as the bad, in the happy as well as the sad, in the whole and in the broken, in the healthy as well as the ill. Jesus Christ is present in all of life in ways we comprehend and in ways we cannot comprehend.
"I AM HAS COME TO YOU
by John A. Bright
It is a time of anxious anticipation almost two thousand years ago. The angels have circled around the throne of God. On earth, a woman named Mary is in the final minutes of labor as her husband, Joseph, looks on.
I imagine the conversation would go something like this:
"Well, it is almost time," says God.
Gabriel moves closer to the throne as he speaks, "There is still time to change your mind, you know. No one here would think any less of you. Remember how those humans have turned away every time you tried to help them before?"
"Of course, I remember! And if my memory serves me correctly, which it always does, we’ve had this conversation before. The decision has been made."
Now another angel, a female this time, says, "Poor Mary, she seems to be suffering so. God, couldn’t you have just given them a child? Why go through all the trouble of a normal birth?"
"That is just like you, always looking out for those who know pain and suffering," God tells her, "but if he is going to be human like all of them - they must all endure this time of the birth."
"That is another thing I do not understand." It is Gabriel again. "Why should he be human? Isn’t being divine enough to get the job done?"
"No, my dear Gabriel, the Son of Man must be fully divine and fully human. I must enter into their world completely. It is not enough for me to know what they are thinking. I must know first hand what they feel."
At this, all the angels began to whisper and murmur. "Oh, the pain he will know." "And the heartache of disappointment." "Don’t forget the loneliness. They are so alone."
As God begins to speak they are silent again, "My son is going to change all of that."
"O joy," an angel in the back sings out, "he is going to rid the world of all its sorrow."
"No, my son can not do that, any more than I can do that. He will set them free. He will be their light in the darkness. He will show them they must never be alone again."
Not sure if God was finished, Gabriel decided to jump in with his next question, "Have you already told him how to do all of this?" "No." Are you are going to tell him as he goes along?" "No. Some things will be hidden, even from him."
"Oh, I get it!" Gabriel exclaimed. "You are going to control all of this. I really do not blame you, since he will be human and we all know how they tend to make the wrong choices."
Hearing this, all the angels nodded in agreement.
"No, I can see that none of you understand. My son will have the free will to choose his own way. Even now, he knows why he has been sent, but there are so many ways he may be their Messiah."
"God, look! The time has come," one of the angels cried out.
"Yes," replied God, "the time is now."
Then, for just a few seconds, all of heaven was quiet. Their nervous anticipation was now ended and a great chorus of voices all rang out together.
God was pleased with this rejoicing, but noticed one little cherub who did not look happy. "Tell me," God asked, "why the long face?"
"I was just thinking, the world below is so quiet and calm tonight. It is as if no one knows of this glorious event."
"You are right," God agreed, "and this simply will not do. I want all you angels to go and spread the news."
The same little cherub from before spoke up and asked God, "Whom shall we tell?"
"Go tell the men and boys who take such good care of my innocent little sheep."
The angels began to turn and leave, but suddenly stopped and turned to face God. "What shall we tell them?"
"I will send my glory to shine down on the earth as you tell them that I AM comes this night to Bethlehem as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes."
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale December 30, 2002
