John 1:1-14
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| St. John the Evangelist at Patmos, Tobias Verhaecht 1598 PD |
My old Battalion chaplain shared an article with me recently that gave me a pretty good chuckle.
The article made me ask a very intriguing question;
When I take a good look at our nativity scenes, I see lots of characters and critters that don’t necessarily appear in our biblical accounts.
Donkeys, innkeepers, cows, pigs, all sorts of supporting cast members that don’t really match up quite right with the story we hear in Luke or Matthew’s gospels.
The author of this article asked a question I had never asked before though;
“Where’s the dragon?”
No, I’m not getting my stories mixed up but you would certainly think so, wouldn’t you?!
“He must be talking about Lord of the Rings, RIGHT?”
Nope!
The question caught me so off guard, I was flabbergasted when I reflected back on the Revelation to John, specifically chapter 12.
“Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”
Certainly a different take, isn’t it?
But why would I introduce the book of Revelation on Christmas day?!
It isn’t really a book in the bible we want to engage at any time, much less one of the holiest feast days of the year!
I have to be honest, there were three reasons I took this particular approach,
first of all, both John’s Gospel and the Revelation to John are written by and to the same community
second of all, both give distinctive and important perspectives on the birth of our Lord
and lastly, they both serve as clear declarations of war.
A declaration of war against the darkness and a dragon!
Certainly not the Christmas story or the gospel we have come to know.
But before you start dusting off your swords and armor, keep in mind that this dragon represents more than just some fire breathing myth.
Please don’t take the dragon literally, but look at the world around John as this revelation is being written and shared with the community.
A world where empires and emperors have crushed whole nations and people,
Destroyed holy places of worship
Subjected people to slavery and oppression
It is a place in which John and his community see their rulers as this powerful dragon.
It is a place where John and the early Christian church see darkness all around.
A dragon waiting to devour a baby gives us a pretty staunch perspective on the opposition facing our traditional view of the infant Savior in a manger.
Perhaps it illustrates the odds a bit more clearly for us, odds that are stacked against our Savior, who lays helplessly in the manger
The Word made flesh.
Flesh that is vulnerable to the cold, violence, hatred, anger, sin, darkness,…. the dragon.
We rarely consider those odds, because we mistake the scene in the manger as a place of safety, a sanctuary, a safe haven, a refuge.
Based on modern baby proofing standards, I wonder how this nativity scene would stack up today?
The manger, which was most likely made of stone, probably wouldn’t meet modern standards for a fixed rail crib.
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| Geburt Christi, Bernardo Daddi 1325-1350 PD |
For that matter, I can’t help but wonder if Mary was an advocate for sleeping the baby on its back or on the belly?
And if those bands of cloth were not tightly bound it would certainly have posed as a choking hazard!
We just don’t consider the vulnerability of this scene, which is the very reason these two images of darkness and a dragon may be so important for us today.
Because it is the in-breaking of God’s light, God’s Word, into a world that is hostile to more than just a baby,
but the challenge this child will pose to the very notion of what authority means to this world in the first place.
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But it is Christmas Day, and I don’t want to leave you with something too heavy, too dark, too challenging.
In fact, as we were preparing for Christmas this week,
My wife and I had a conversation about my sermons, my teaching, my theology.
And by now, it is no secret to you all that I like to play in the darker corners of the gospel.
It isn’t for the sake of shock value or discomfort, because I realize that these are the places that are the most uncomfortable for the majority of people.
So I will be honest with you all.
It is because, in John’s preface to this Gospel, I find my clearest understanding of Hope in Christ.
You see?
I’ve known the dark, and not just my own.
I’ve been able to sit in the dark, alone and with others.
And it is in that moment that I have always found we come face to face with a feeling of complete abandonment, even despair at times.
But it is in those moments where we end up resigning ourselves to our own depression, or escaping to a faith that is devoid of reason, or we can open ourselves completely to the challenging truth of God’s grace that we find right here in John’s words.
“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not, does not, and will not ever overcome it”
It isn’t that I like the darkness or I prefer the darkness, because I do not.
I neither prefer it for myself or for you,
But if I must choose where I will sit to watch the stars in the night sky, I will always resort to the place that is the most devoid of light.
Because that is where the light shines the brightest, and it is where we witness the truest beauty of God’s Light.
~
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| Philosopher in Meditation, Rembrandt 1632 PD |
In 2014, HBO introduced a new crime detective series called True Detective.
While considered a crime drama, it was deeply philosophical and theologically focused.
I enjoyed watching the show, but the brilliance of the story and writing came in the final scene of the first season.
Following the closure of a 17 year old case, two private detectives who were once partners in the Louisiana State Police Department.
Are leaving the hospital after suffering near fatal injuries at the hands of the criminal they were pursuing.
Marty, played by Woody Harrelson, wheels his old partner, Rust, played by Matthew McConaughey, out of the hospital in a wheelchair to get some fresh air.
As Rust bears his soul to Marty about his near death experience, Marty attempts to distract Rust by pointing out the stars in the night sky and asking him to share a story with him about the stars.
As Rust looks up at the sky he shares a final revelation to his friend Marty exclaiming;
“I’ll tell you Marty, I’ve been up in that room looking out those windows every night here, just thinking, it’s just one story; The oldest”
Marty, confused by Rust’s rambling thoughts questions;
“What story is that?”
“Light versus dark” Rust replies
Marty, looking back up towards the night sky observes;
“Well, It appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.”
And with that, for the first time in nearly the entire season of the program, the two detectives seem to agree on something.
Of course, this final scene is a metaphor for something far deeper than star gazing and astrology.
Because the experiences of these two men have made them believe that the dragon - the darkness - holds far more power over their lives, our lives, and the world than it really does.
They’ve seen so much darkness that they have almost come to stop believing in the light.
And just before the end credits get ready to roll,
Marty and Rust decide that he has had enough of the hospital,
so they are going to leave the hospital together in spite of the doctor’s orders,
limping through the parking lot and leaving the whole debate over darkness behind them until Rust’s attention is drawn back to the sky for one final glimpse,
and he corrects Marty’s view, as well as his own exclaiming
“You know? You’re looking at it wrong, cause once there was only dark, so if ya ask me, the light is winning.”
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John’s preface intentionally points to the opening of Genesis
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘let there be light’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good”
John’s preface is more than just a declaration of Jesus’ eternal existence with Father, as the Word made flesh.
It is proof to a world that can only sometimes see the darkness, or is under the illusion that the darkness is winning.
Both John’s preface and his own nativity vision in Revelation are meant to refocus our attention, not on the darkness but on the light.
A light that is revealed to Shepherds under the night sky,
a light that leads the Magi to have the Light that is God revealed to them through Christ,
a light that shines in the darkness of a Bethlehem night,
a light that cannot be consumed by the darkness or the dragon of any empire.
So, today as you polish off the final tidbits of your Christmas feast and the wrapping paper has all been cleaned up,
Don’t look for new corners where the light doesn’t seem to reach, because that would just be pessimistic.
Don’t avoid the closets and caves where you believe darkness is all their is, because that would just be naive.
But see the world as it is, a place where God’s light shines brightest in the darkest places.
Because a light that shines in the light can hardly be seen.
But a light that shines in the darkness will always shine brightest of all.
And Joy to the World, because in that Word made flesh that light has, is, and always will come, defeating every dragon and scattering any darkness that will ever threaten God’s creation.
And all that occurred in the birth of a very vulnerable, very human, Word of God, born on a silent night, the Son of God, Loves pure Light.
~
And this is where I planned on tying my sermon neatly together and closing out this Christmas morning.
That is until Pastor Stephen and I received an email in between our Christmas Eve services last night, from someone currently deployed on the other side of the globe.
I wrestled with whether or not to share it with you, but given the day and the practical reality of what was said, it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission on Christmas Day.
Because this individual tied it all together better than I could when they said quite simply, yet far more eloquent than they may have fully realized.
"So, not a hint of snow in the air, but there is definitely a hint of something else… there is the promise that tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus, born not too far away from where I am right now, and with that birth comes the true promise of salvation.
Ok, so no snow angels, no hugs and no kisses from my spouse, or my children, none of the other random things I would enjoy this day, but that is the promise that we are given, and by God, that is a promise I’ll take."
And with that, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, especially to our friend who has proclaimed the Word to you on this day,
Expressing a faith in that promise, that certainly humbles me.
Amen
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| Adoration of the Shepherds, Anonymous Spanish Painter, 1325-1350 PD |
Sources
Oswald, Roy M. and Arland Jacobson. The Emotional Intelligence of Jesus: Relational Smarts for Religious Leaders. United States: Alban Institute, 2015.
Pizzolatto, Nic. True Detective Season 1 Episode 8 “Form and Void.” Directed by Cary Joji Fukanaga. New York City, NY: HBO, 2014.
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