December 25, 2004

Mindekirken, Dec. 25, 2004
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

John 1.1-14

It’s not that easy to be a celebrity and end up at a nursing home. He used to be known by everyone, but at the nursing home at the age of 90, nobody paid attention to him anymore. Somewhat frustrated, he one day addressed one of the ladies sitting on a chair in the corridor: Hey, do you know who I really am? No, the old lady answered, walk down to the nursing station. There they might tell you who you are.

Jesus was a celebrity in the sense that all the prophets had predicted his coming. The Jews had longed and prayed for centuries for his coming. But when he came on Christmas night, approximately 2000 years ago, nobody recognized him. The exception was those at "the nursing station;" I think of the shepherds who kept watch over their flock that night. They knew who the little child in the manger was, the savior God had sent to the earth.

Let’s stand as we sing together with shepherds, wise men and Christians world wide: A Savior today is born to us. NOS 47.

Luke begins his gospel by telling who was the emperor at the time when Jesus was born. By that, the story gets anchored to the world history.

To Matthew it’s important to display the birth of Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises of the old testament. His reference is the prophesies.

John is different from both of them. He doesn’t deal with Augustus. The ancestor of the Jews, Abraham, is not mentioned. Even Adam, the first human on the surface of the earth, is too late. John is like an eagle with a limitless overview. He begins his Christmas gospel before time and space. He starts in the same way as the first chapter of the Bible:

In the beginning was the Word. .. If we combine Luke and John, we get the enormous perspective that the little child in the manger would be no less than the eternal God. Or as we confess in the Nicene creed today: God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things came into being through him, John says. In other words, Jesus was the creator. He is the one who gives to all mortals life and breath and all things…In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.25 and 28. If I may use such an expression; Jesus is the celebrity from the morning of creation. And he is the one who sustains us and creates all the time. Behind the cold gusts of the Minnesota winter, behind the variety of the seasons, behind the birth of children and our daily work, Jesus is the creator. But not everybody recognizes that.

And as I mentioned at the beginning, Jesus was also a celebrity in the sense that he was known by all the prophets. He was the king who would be greater than David, he was the expected Messiah. He was the prophet who would exceed Moses, Duet. 18.15. He was known as the suffering servant of the Lord, the one who would suffer for the transgressions of his own people, Isaiah 53. He was the Son of Man who would come on the clouds of heaven, as Daniel 7 describes.

John the evangelist also presents his name sake, John the Baptist. He was sent from God… he came as a witness to testify to the light. But in spite of his status as celebrity from the morning of creation and the salvation history, and in spite of the fact that he had his own PR manager in John the Baptist, the gospel of John delivers the rather discouraging remark: The world did not know him. The world didn’t know it’s own creator. And when he came to what was his own, his own people did not accept him. The world didn’t know its Savior.

This is the dark background of the Christmas gospel of John. It’s dark as the winter night, a terrible attest that the world is out of step with its creator, and even itself. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness didn’t overcome it, today’s text says, John 1.5. In a way this fits with the picture of the world today: Suppression, poverty, corruption, immorality, terror, war, etc. isn’t it all an expression of the darkness. And to be honest; don’t we recognize it in ourselves?

The Christmas gospel of John has a dark background, but an even stronger emphasis of what happened by the intervention of God. But to all who received him (Jesus), who believed in his name…he gave the power to become children of God. They are born …of God. John 1.11-12. The shepherds at the field were the first to recognize Jesus. They heard the angels singing and got the message that the Savior was born unto them. The wise men who Matthew tells about, bowed down and worshiped and recognized Jesus as king, priest and sacrificial lamb. The gold that they offered to Jesus was a sign that this child was king. The frankincense was known from the offerings at the temple. It points to Jesus as the priest, the mediator between God and men. Myrrh’s used for anointing dead people. The wise men worshiped the one who would die for the sin of his own people.

To celebrate Christmas has to do with recognizing. Saying this, I don’t have in mind the act that we sing the same Christmas carols every year, that we reexperience our own childhood by doing the same things over and over again, as if Christmas was a ritual. Stating that Christmas is about recognizing, I primarily think of recognizing Jesus as our creator and savior. We received him through our baptism, and we receive him whenever we pray and listen to his words. Today we’ll receive him by the Holy Communion.

There are a lot of things we don’t understand. When John speaks about LOGOS, the Word who was God from the beginning, it may be difficult to grasp. But receiving Jesus is not a matter of intellectual capacity. It’s all about the attitude of our hearts. Jesus came to be near us. He came to save us from the darkness inside of us, forgive sin, reestablish the relationship to God, so we might know him. All who received him, he gave power to become children of God.

Christmas is about recognizing. We recognize Jesus. But the greatest Christmas gift of all, is that God recognizes us. The word who became flesh is the greatest confirmation ever of who we are. You and I are valuable in his eyes. We are loved by him. He wants to be near us.

Glory be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716