God's Promise to Dwell Among Us
By now, for much of the world, Christmas is a distinctly past-tense idea. The decorations have come down, the parties have ended, the tree is gone to the curbside, and the heart-shaped boxes of candy for St Valentine's day are on store shelves.
But here we are, in church, celebrating the twelfth day of Christmas. Rudolph and cola-sipping polar bears are on their way to storage and we remain here, gathered to give thanks and contemplate the Word made flesh, dwelling among us. Trying to make sense of what it means to say that Christ has come among us is the work of lifetimes. Our ancestors in the faith began this contemplation millennia ago and here we are, continuing the effort.
These first sentences of John's gospel have been fruitful ground for reflection on the mystery of the God we know and speak of for generations of Christians. The mystery of the eternal Word of God appearing in human flesh as a way of joining us in our lives is described here, calling us to wonder at what God has done for us. These words appear in the Nicene Creed, in so many books of theology, in prayers, in hymnody, in the sermons of nearly every Patristic preacher. For centuries, this passage was read at thousands of celebrations of the Eucharist as "the Last Gospel".
The passage begins with the eternal Word in eternity. This holy mystery that is the Son of God through whom all things were made, including all of us. We are all made in the image and likeness of God and we have the marks of the eternal Word on us from the instant of our creation. We carry something of the divine in us and we share in the life of God simply by being.
We often speak of approaching God with fear and trembling. God as something so very different from us, so much more than we are in every way. And this is true, God is the creator and we are the created; we are not the same as God. But, even with this in mind, John reminds us that God is not alien to us. We may be different but we were created by God, through the eternal Word, and it is in God that we find the whole of our identity. Our full selves reside in our relationship with God. Not some distant, unapproachable creature, but the eternal source of life through whom we were made. As Paul preaches in the Acts of the Apostles, "[We] search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and have our being'." (Acts 17:27-28) We were made by God, for God.
Moving from eternity into time, John begins to speak about humanity and one human in particular: John the Baptist, Forerunner of Christ. John is the greatest prophet of the one prophesied. His pointing toward Jesus reminds us that God's love and care for us is deeply personal. God joins us in our lives with all of our gifts and possibilities, all of our challenges, all of our limitations. God cares for the whole of creation and for each part of it with the same perfect attention, knowing the parts better than they know themselves.
John also reminds us that the role of those called to participate in Christ's ministry continues to be one of prophetic witness. John was sent from God "as a witness to testify to the light." (John 1:7) Neither John nor we are called to be the light of the world. We are called, in our own ways, our own contexts, our own orbits, to testify to the light. To be signs of the light in word and deed. John reminds us that it is not only active opposition to Christ, but failure to witness to Christ that denies the truth of today's Gospel passage.
Finally John the Evangelist speaks of the Word made flesh, dwelling among us. From eternity, to humanity, to God with us. Jesus Christ arrives without great fanfare, no show of power or force, but in the most gentle and humble of circumstances. Jesus does not come to dwell among us as an authoritarian, dictating arbitrary rules and gleeful casting those who make a misstep into outer darkness.
Instead, God dwells among us as one who heals and encourages us to grow. God, in deep and intimate ways, sees how we have been hurt and broken. God sees the marred state of the beloved creation and, rather than discard it, gently, persistently, calls and coaxes us back toward the perfect state for which we are made. And, with God's help, of which we are all capable.
"[Jesus] came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 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." (John 1:11-13) And this is who we are: the children of God who have been made of God and who have accepted the life offered by Christ into our own.
Christmas is worth anticipating all through Advent and is worth celebrating for twelve days. The eternal Word has become flesh and dwells among us. We have beheld its glory and, for those with eyes to see, we continue to behold it today. This is the gift of Christmas and cause for its celebration.
As the season of Christmas ends this year, may you take with you the knowledge of God, whose image and mark you bear from your creation, whose love calls you to perfection, to whose light you witness, and whose flesh you share, and ponder these things in your heart all the year long.
