It is easy to be brave when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is going well in the world for us. It is much more challenging when the dark clouds of war loom over vast sections of this planet, when financial hardships are forcing us and the people we love to make very difficult choices, and when the sum total of suffering in the world seems to increasing continually. And when the burdens of life in this broken and hurting world become too great, they can crush our soul and darkness threatens to overwhelm us. It is impossible for us to be brave because we cannot even dare to hope that things will turn around for us. Where do we go when we find ourselves in a pit that is deeper and darker than any other we have ever been in before? We turn to Jesus.
The Good News of Advent is that Jesus Christ came into this world 2,000 years ago to defeat the darkness and bring his light into our lives, and one day he will come again to bring his victory to fulfillment. So these days leading up to Christmas are a season of preparation for us. We prepare to celebrate the first time Jesus came and we prepare to celebrate the time when he will come again.
One of the ways that we prepare during Advent is by reflecting on special passages from the Bible that are read in the church during this season. For these mid-week Advent services, the focus has been on the birth narratives of Jesus as recorded for us in the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John. Now even a brief look at those accounts will tell us Matthew and Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ birth are vastly different from John’s. Matthew and Luke give us an historical narrative while John gives us a theological perspective. We need both. One of the many beautiful things about the Christian faith it that it resonates with all the facets of the human soul throughout all stages of human life. A young child can become enthralled by Luke’s account of the infant Jesus being laid in a manger. And a hard-core atheistic university professor can be converted through conversations with his peers about high level concepts like those in John’s Gospel. Sometimes the young child and the hard-core atheist are the same person at different stages of life. Sometimes a person is both a young child and a skeptical intellectual at the same time. Last week, Pastor Dave led you in reflecting on the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke and what they mean for us. This week let’s dig into John’s Gospel and see what he has to say to us about Jesus’ coming into the world.
As we do that, I invite you to imagine that you are at home and you are feeling hungry. So you get some fruit which came from a tree, you get some yogurt which came from a cow, you get some spinach which came from your garden, and you get some protein powder which came from your local grocery store. Then you put them all in a blender, put the lid on the blender container, and turn it on high for a couple of minutes. What do you get? You get a smoothie which contains all the various ingredients you assembled, but it isn’t really like any of them. And it is something altogether different, and it is much more nutritious and satisfying.
John does something like that with his Gospel. He takes ideas from the rich theological heritage of Judaism, and concepts from the rich philosophical tradition of the Greeks, and he puts them in the blender of his Gospel account, turns the switch on high, and the result is a life-giving message that will transform our mind and heal our soul. We should note that John is not engaging in syncretism here. In other words, he is not comprising on truth to combine two worldviews into one. Canadian missionary Don Richardson helped us to see that God has placed within nearly every culture in the world some practice or understanding that can be used to point people to Jesus Christ. That’s what John is doing. He is drawing out well-known concepts in the cultures of his time and showing us that the true fulfillment of those things is found in Jesus.
From Judaism, John refers to creation, that moment “in the beginning” when God created all things with his word. John then reveals that God’s powerful, creative Word is actually God the Son, Jesus Christ, who not only made all things in the beginning, he also kicked off the process of renewing and restoring all things. With his life, death and resurrection, Jesus began a New Creation, a reality which is presently hidden in the hearts of his followers. There the light of Jesus’ light shines brightly. And when he comes again, Jesus will complete his restorative work and make his New Creation visible for all to see. As we read in Revelation 21:4, ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)
In Greek philosophy, John points to the Word, or as it is known in Greek, the Logos, which was understood as the divine reason which governs the universe. John then reveals that what the Greeks thought was an impersonal force is actually a divine being, the one and only Son of God, who not only arranges the stars and brings order to the universe, he also straightens out the confusion in our minds and the chaos in our hearts. In Jesus, God’s love has come down to bring light to our lives, regardless of how deep and dark the pit we find ourselves in. There is no hole so deep that it is deeper than the love of Jesus, and there is no darkness so dark that it can overcome the light of Jesus’ love. Regardless of where we are in life, we always have hope because Jesus has promised that he will always be with us. As John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
So where are our hearts and minds at on this night eleven days before Christmas? Are we thinking about all the things that we need to do and are we worried that we won’t get them done? Are we grieving because there is going to be an empty place at the table this year, or because our children are far from God? Are we burdened by financial challenges and filled with dread over the credit card statements that will come in January? Or are we, or someone we love, stricken with physical or mental illness and the outcome does not look good? Whatever challenge we are facing, we can come to Jesus and ask him to fill us with his love, his light, his grace and his truth. And we let him strengthen, encourage and lead us into the rich, full, abundant life that he has in store for us.
American singer, Jamie Grace, was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome, OCD, ADHD and anxiety when she was nine years old. When she was 12 and 13, her tics were so bad that walking, talking, school and friendships became difficult. The other kids at school sometimes called her “retard” and she spent a lot of time alone in her room. But she was raised in a family that loved Jesus, and she grew to love him herself. She says, “I’ve come to realize that everybody’s going to go through something big, everyone’s going to have something difficult in their life, but the beauty of it is, no matter how big that stuff is, God is always bigger, and he’s always in control, and he’s always the king, and no matter how difficult life gets, and no matter how many things come in your way that you can’t control, you can always choose to go to Jesus, and say, ‘I know that I can’t snap my fingers and make life perfect, but I know that you’re going to walk with me through this. I know that you’re going to hold my hand and you’re going to carry me through it.”[i]
Dear friends, over the next eleven days you have an opportunity. Yes, prepare your home for the guests you will receive, prepare your pantry for the food you will enjoy, and prepare your tree for the Christmas presents you will share. But, first and foremost, I am asking you to prepare your hearts by lifting your eyes to Jesus who began, and will complete, your faith in him. He has given you the right to become a child of God, not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. And so we live as the children of God that we are in Jesus. Amen.
(Shared at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Surrey BC on December 14, 2023.)
[i] Big Little Bits, “Inspirational Video | Ransom Note Featuring Jamie Grace | biglittlebits” YouTube (Internet; available at: https://youtu.be/ia7GpYtyLyQ?feature=shared; accessed April 22, 2021).
Farewell to Shadowlands 