Christmas Day John 1:1-14 (2021)

The Gift Of The Word

John 1:1-14

            In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

            St. John 1:1-14   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 nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 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, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  Today all across the land is gift-opening day.  Presents that have been wrapped and have name tags on them will be ripped open in delight and joy.  Bows and paper will be strewn all over the living room.  Stockings will be un-stuffed, batteries will begin to die, and family meals of celebration will be consumed.  It’s Christmas, a time for gift-giving and gift opening.

But today is also gift opening day in the Church; and the gift that is opened is the same gift we open every year.  For that matter, it is the same gift we open every week, the same gift God gives to the world over and over and over again.  But Christmas marks the very first time God gave this gift to the world; it marks the beginning of God’s giving of a gift that both has a beginning and has no beginning at all, a gift that is the perfect union of created and uncreated, the perfect union of God and man.

Through God-given faith in the One born in Bethlehem, we are friends with God; we are the very family of God.  But when God first gave His gift to the world, we were neither of those things; in fact, we were His enemies.  We had sinned against Him, not He against us.   We had written Him out of our lives and had no intention of apologizing for it, no means to make up for it, and no hope of reconciliation even if we had wanted it.

But just at that moment, God took His eternal, beloved Son – God the Son, God the Word who was with God in the beginning – God took His eternal, beloved Son and wrapped Him up in human flesh and gave Him to the world.  God made reconciliation into a tangible, flesh-and-blood gift, a gift that can be given and also received.  God held out this gift to mankind – His Son, His Son born to us, His Son given to us, and also crucified for us – that all who put their trust in Him might have light instead of darkness, life instead of death, peace instead of punishment, and joy instead of fear.

God first held out His gift to the world at Christmas, His gift of reconciliation and peace, light and life to all.  He gave us His Word!  He gave us His life and His light!  And that Word of God took on your flesh.  He took on your sin, your condemnation, your punishment, your death.  He took it all on Himself as your Brother.   And He did it not just for you, but for all men.   All men who are born of woman have been given the right to call the Child of Bethlehem their Child.  All the sons of men have been given the right to claim this Child as their peace with God.

Sadly, not all men do.  Not all men believe his Word. Not all men are enlightened by his light, nor do all men live by his life.  As John recorded, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.”

People constantly try to figure out life on their own.  People constantly try to live their lives apart from God’s Word; and by doing so they fool themselves into thinking that they are getting by just fine without Him.  So, many people look to their families for peace and comfort and joy at Christmas.  And families can give great joy, but they can’t give life, they can’t give peace, and their comfort is only temporary, and sometimes fickle.

Only Christ, the Word of God who became flesh – only He can give true light and true life.  He is the source of all light and life, as John says, the source of all joy and peace.  He is God’s gift to the world.  If you have him, you have everything you need forever.

But the world did not receive God’s gift when He gave it for the first time, and the world still does not receive it.  The world does not want everything.  The world wants one thing: it wants to be its own god.

Remember St. Stephen, the first Christian Martyr whose feast day we will celebrate and commemorate tomorrow.  He preached Christ and was stoned to death for it.  The world did not receive God’s Christmas gift.

Remember the Apostle John whose day is December 27th.  He was sent away into exile for his preaching of Christ, and all of his fellow apostles were put to death for the same.  The world did not receive God’s Christmas gift.

Remember the Holy Innocents.  Their day is December 28th. They are the baby boys of Bethlehem whom King Herod slaughtered in his attempt to snuff out the light of Christ.  The world did not receive God’s Christmas gift.

And ever since then, the world is no different.  But here’s what is different: Some sinners did receive Christ when he came at Christmas, and some still do.

Here you are – you who have received the Word of God in faith, you who believe in the name of Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of his Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary as your Lord; you who claim Jesus Christ as your peace with God – all ye faithful who have come to adore him, Christ the Lord.  Here you are to receive God’s Christmas gift.  You have been given a special privilege, a special right that does not belong to all men – the right to be called children of God.

What gives you the right to call yourself a child of God?  Only this: That God himself speaks the Word that gives you that right. As John’s Gospel records, “For to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

God’s Word has come to you.  God’s Word has converted you from dead to living, from sinner to saint, from a child of the devil to a child of God.  This is your family, right here.  If you have no other family, so what? This family lasts forever.  This family has God himself as the Father and Jesus Christ as Brother.

And in this Christian family, you still sin every day; but every day your heavenly Father forgives your sins anew.  You are covered by the blood of your Brother, Jesus.  Yes, you still carry around your sinful flesh with you, but you are not ruled by it.  You are God’s own child, and you can gladly say it.  God’s Word dwells in you, and each day you are being renewed in the image of the Word made flesh, your Brother, Jesus Christ.

AS is recorded in I John 4:4, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights as sons.”  Only you who call Jesus your Brother and your Savior have the right to call God your Father and yourself His son, His child. That is your Christian birthright.  That is God’s Christmas gift to you, first given to you at your Baptism when the Word made flesh first covered you with Himself.  Since then, God has been renewing this gift to you again and again in the Word of the Gospel.

To you, dear fellow redeemed, to you baptized children of God, has been given another special right, a right not given to the rest of the world.  Today we celebrate again the Christmas mystery, the Word that was with God in the beginning, the Word that was and remains God, given to us in flesh and blood who gives his flesh and blood to you again from the humble manger of this humble altar, to you and not to the world. 

Here in this Bethlehem, here in this House of Bread, the Bread of life is given to you; it is the very body knit together in the virgin’s womb and then born in Bethlehem.  Here, too, is wine, the wine of celebration and feasting; and with this wine, the blood of Mary’s Son, the Word who became flesh so that He might have blood to shed for you.  Here He makes His dwelling among us again, not just in the room with us, but within our very bodies and souls, and gives us His life to sustain us and comfort us and strengthen us and forgive us.

Here today, the gift of the Word made flesh is given to you again, in a way that you can actually receive Him – with your ears, with your eyes, with your mouths, and with your heart.  He has come and has called you to bask in the light of His grace, to share for a while in the glory of His cross and suffering, and then to share eternally in the glory of His empty tomb and His eternal reign.

So, open God’s present.  Unwrap it.  Turn it around and admire it from every possible angle.  It will take you a lifetime to do it.  THE gift is the Person of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, with all His love, with all His power, with all His strength, and with His victory over sin, death and hell. It is the gift of His light and life, His joy and peace, His companionship, His protection, and His gracious Father in heaven. 

All of this is yours.  All of this God pours into your lap on Christmas morning, and He will do it again next week, too; you can count on it.  God gives you His Word!  “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  And here in His Gospel, we, too, here in this place, have seen His glory, “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   

A most blessed Christmas to you all.  Enjoy all of your Christmas gifts!  

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.