John 1:1-5
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Growing up, I had a compulsive habit of latching on to certain songs and listening to them over and over again.
I used to utilize a tape deck to record the top hits from the local radio station “B104” and of course from the ever beloved “Casey Kasem’s top 40.”
Once I found a song I liked I would record it, listen to it, rewind it, then listen to it again.
I would repeat the process until my parents began to lose their sanity and they would forbid me from listening to that particular song in their presence ever again, for all time.
After considering this illustration for today’s sermon, I contemplated making them a mix CD of all my “best hits” for Christmas, but I know it’d end up in the trash.
When I saved enough money to buy my first album, things got worse.
Then when CD’s came out it got even worse for my parents.
Luckily, by the time digital music came into it’s own, my wife was the only one who would have to be subjected to my temporary obsessions with certain songs and musicians.
I still have my favorites and I still enjoy discovering the stories behind what inspired those songs, the meaning behind them, and the stories of how they were recorded.
Pastor Stephen and I have a similar habit in the office, reciting lines from films we both enjoy.
Cinematic masterpieces like Nacho Libre, Zoolander, and O’ Brother Where art Thou?
This habit not only drives my wife nuts but between Stephen and I, we are now driving Sharon slowly insane in the office with this habit as well.
But there is just something about a good story that I have always found valuable.
Songs tell stories, films tell stories, and I love to tell stories of my own but when you find a good one, it never seems to get old -At least to me-
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Each of the synoptic gospels start out THEIR story in their own unique way.
Matthew and Mark both begin by announcing Jesus, using particular titles to justify the relevance of the story they are about to present.
Matthew announces Jesus as THE Messiah!
The new King of Israel, tracing his lineage back to the Davidic line.
Mark announces Jesus as THE Christ!
The savior and redeemer of the entire world.
Matthew and Mark begin both accounts by offering their own defensive justification for the validity of their stories by using those titles
Luke starts out one of the most readable Gospel accounts, in an odd way,
basically proclaiming that he has a story to tell too and he swears that its just as good as the others you’ve heard!
Defensively justifying the validity of his own story in a pretty awkward way.
So, all three of the synoptic Gospels could really begin with “I swear, everything I am about to tell you is the truth because of….”
John’s introduction is different though, which may be but one of the many reasons why John is not considered one of the synoptic gospels, or we could say “similar” gospels.
John decides to go back to a story that is too good not to retell.
Perhaps because John just wants to retell a good story, or maybe, just maybe,
God has already retold that story through action and John is just the only one who has recognized it?
“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 a wind from God swept over the face of the water. Then God said, ‘Let their be light;’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.”
It’s the first creation account in Genesis, the very first words of the Bible, the very first story of how God began this relationship, with us, with all living things, the world, and even the universe.
It’s the story that puts God on full display for what God truly is; an artist, a conductor, an architect, THE Creator.
Up until John’s account we seem to split up these two stories.
Still to this day christians murmur discontent over the doom and gloom, the drudgery of the Old Testament.
We even find ourselves referring to that “Old Testament God” as if there are somehow two different Gods in the Bible.
What John does, is John takes an old song and he spins his own cover of it.
Because there is something new to add to this story, not something tacky and out of fashion like a synthesizer, but something hypnotic and promising, that lifts the story to a new level.
Of course, we all know what it is, right?
It’s Jesus!
Its Christmas Day, you know the answer is gonna be Jesus!
And there it is, John retells the story but this time he declares Jesus as the instrument that makes the sweetest music of all.
Jesus, the Son, is also the Creator, and as a creator that is always creating, they are also the Holy Spirit, still creating, still making all things new,
One in three, three in one, distinguishable persons -or in substance- yet indistinguishable in their essence -their nature-
Probably a bit much for Christmas if we go down that rabbit hole, right?
So what should we take away from this theologically rich, over the top, heady introduction from John?
Number one; John doesn’t need to justify the story, because John knows that the story can justify itself, God doesn’t need John’s help in sprucing it up a bit.
Number two; God as a creator has always been creating, will always be creating, and God creates in the ways that we least expect it, in the places we usually are not looking for God to be at work.
Number three; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome the light, but the light also, does not overcome the darkness now does it?
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Christmas continues to be an odd time for me.
Because people approach Christmas in the way I think they should approach Easter.
You see?
Easter is anxiety, despair and death, wrapped up in the joy of the resurrection.
We should cherish THAT wrapping paper, we should hold up the box it’s packaged in for the prize that it truly is!
Because God takes death, boxes it up, seals it in, and ties a bow on it that assures us all of redemption.
But Easter has become the consolation holiday
Christmas, on the other hand, is the gift of joy, wrapped in despair.
The story of Christmas is basically that gift under the tree that you know is just a pair of socks or a bad tie, yet, when you open it up, it turns out to be something absolutely amazing!
God comes to the world in darkness, in despair.
God comes to us like the last gift under the tree we’ve picked to unwrap.
A peasant child, conceived under questionable circumstances, born to a Palestinian Jewish hillbilly couple, in the worst accommodations possible, while living in a state of oppression under the thumb of a foreign authority that takes every opportunity to prove how worthless you are.
Like dictating your travel through a mandatory census, then fleeing to Egypt to avoid being slaughtered at the hands of the same earthly authority that told you to go there in the first place.
It isn’t a story wrapped in the niceties, we seem to associate with Christmas.
Because we unwrap it way too far ahead of time.
We aren’t fans of the darkness that the light is wrapped in, so we just unwrap it as quickly as we can, and throw away the wrapping paper.
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Its Christmas Day and most of the world is acknowledging Christ’s Mass from their homes.
The majority of folks checked the box last night, so why do you all get the story without the angels, the shepherds, the manger, you know?
All the good stuff?
Because you showed up, and therefore you get to receive the WHOLE story.
I would argue that despite all the bells and whistles of Christmas Eve, John’s introduction offers the richest kind of hope that we need today.
It’s why I short changed the Gospel today, because versus 1-5 can fill you with the kind of hope that God has promised us from the beginning of time when a mere two Hebrew words creates all life, all of nature, the entire universe;
Yehi or
A better translation is simply “Be light”
Its so simple, far simpler than we can even imagine.
A mere two words, spoken by the most unimaginable power the world has ever seen!
Perhaps that is why The Word is made incarnate wrapped in so much darkness.
Because it shows us the true power of the One true God
A God that does not need to abolish the darkness to bring light,
A God that uses the darkness to offer the contrast we need to recognize the Light.
So if you take anything away from today, remember this;
Look for God in the dark places, don’t shy away from the darkness and pretend its not there, because God’s light is the clearest in those places.
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One of those songs I’ve often obsessed over has been haunting me all this week as I worked through today’s Gospel.
My son’s favorite musician, “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen made it the title song for his 11th album in 1995.
It’s a haunting retelling of another good story, a classic piece of American Literature by John Steinbeck “The Grapes of Wrath”
The story follows Tom Joad, a member of a family that has left their home in desperation, looking for work, trying to just scrape enough together to feed their children.
And at the end of Steinbeck’s novel, Tom makes the decision to leave his family for their own sake.
It is the end of the novel but it is also the lowest point in the story.
Springsteen’s retelling of that final scene as Tom is saying goodbye to his mother, is included in the final stanza of his ballad “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
He sings;
Now Tom said,
"Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me, Mom, I'll be there
Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free
Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me”
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So I leave you on this Christmas morning with the promise, that regardless of what despair and darkness comes our way,
We are promised, just like in this story, the BEST story, the one that the Boss retold from Steinbeck and Steinbeck retold from John and John retold from Genesis;
The joy, the hope, the promise, the assurance, that God is still at work can and will always be found,
Wrapped in some pretty dark packages, but that’s exactly where Christ is needed the most.
Amen
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| Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Nativity at Night 1490 (PD) |
Sources
Lenski, R. C. H. Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Fortress, 2008.
Springsteen, Bruce. The Ghost of Tom Joad. Audio CD. Columbia Records, 1995.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin Classics. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
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