“He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11).
As I write these reflections just a few days before Christmas it occurs to me that many people are already ready for Christmas to be over. As early as December 26, many people will take down their Christmas decorations, rearrange their furniture back to the way it usually is, and pack Jesus away until next year. It boggles my mind that the same folks who put up their Christmas lights the day after Halloween also take them down the day after Christmas, just when Christmas has barely even begun!
For us Christians, the celebration of Christmas begins on Christmas Day, the first day of Christmas, and continues through the twelfth day of Christmas on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. And yet, how many of us Christians have simply given in to the world’s eagerness to be done with Christmas before it even really begins?
This tension between the Word and the world goes back to the very beginning. In the Christmas Day gospel, the author of John writes, “[The Word] was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (1:10-11). It is one thing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Word made flesh. It is another thing altogether to know him and to accept him. Are we willing to know and accept the Word made flesh this Christmas? Are our congregations? Is our world?
Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the light that illumines the world, revealing the world’s sin and brokenness and our sin-filled participation in it and, at the same time, revealing God’s loving and redemptive purpose for the world, a world that Jesus himself participated in creating. From the very start of John’s gospel, the cross is visible. Jesus, the Word made flesh, would be rejected by the world he came to save. The world would pack Jesus away on the cross, trying to get rid of him, but God, though Jesus’ death and resurrection, would overcome the world. The Word would win. The Word does win.
In baptism, this crucified and risen Word has become flesh in us. We are now the ones called to bear this Word into the world as we speak words of truth against flagrant lies and deception, words of love against growing hate and exclusion, words of justice against unchecked power and greed. We are now the ones called to bear this Word into a world that will most likely reject us even as it rejected him. Are we willing to know and accept this Word? The good news is that in knowing and accepting Jesus, there is promise — promise beyond anything the world can give — “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God” (1:13).
As we prepare to celebrate the beginning of Christmas, how are we being called to bear witness to the Word the world still rejects? Perhaps it begins by refusing to be done with Christmas on December 26, but instead leaving our Christmas lights on and singing our Christmas songs through all the 12 days of Christmas. Perhaps it means something more as we, through both our words and our actions, bear witness to the world that Jesus, the Word made flesh, has overcome the world and all its sin-filled ways. Perhaps it means taking up the cross and following Jesus all the way from the manger through Golgotha to an empty grave, risking even death for the sake of life.
For our redemption still he comes.
In him shines, like a thousand suns,
God’s mercy, clouded never.
Now all who will on him believe,
Who follow him, he will receive
And as his flock will gather.
He will guide us, walk beside us, and uphold us,
Till in heaven we shall be like him forever. (LBW #73)
Wishing you all a most holy and blessed Christmas +
Bishop Greg