Opening Presence

When my godchildren were little, I went back to Minneapolis for Christmas every year to see them. I left the Christmas morning service just as soon as Jesus’ birthday cake was cut (I did take a piece to eat in the car) and took off for the airport. The plane was always on time and I got off the plane simply brimming with anticipation. But the first time I made the trip no one was there to meet me.

Well, to make a long story short, I did finally hook up with the children’s father, and arrived at their house at about 4:30 in the afternoon, and found, to my total astonishment, that they hadn’t opened their presents yet. They had waited for me to arrive. Those of you who have children know what a sacrifice this is. My godkids were 10, 8 and 6 - and to wait until after 5 in the afternoon to open their Christmas presents? I know some grownups who can’t wait that long. Now, mind you, they had emptied their stockings when they got up, and they opened their grandmother’s gifts when they went there for lunch, but the packages at home hadn’t been touched. I was awed.

Of course, the minute we got in the door there was a mad dash for the tree. They did let me get my coat off. And then the phone rang, and it was their godfather Don saying he was coming over too, so we actually waited until he got there. But you can just imagine the level of excitement in those kids. Not to mention their godmother. I have to admit I was excited, too.

You see, when you have been waiting a long time for something you really, really want, it’s not enough just to know that it’s there. Especially if you know it’s something terrifically special, but you’re not really sure of the details. You want to take it out, touch it, use it.

And that’s what things were like, back then, in around 30 A.D., when John the Baptist started calling for the people to repent and be baptized. They had been waiting a long time for the promised Messiah, and when John pointed at Jesus, that morning on the banks of the Jordan, saying “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” some of his listeners left John and followed Jesus, even though he wasn’t quite what they had expected. He didn’t come gift-wrapped, so to speak.

Some of the audience didn’t even take a second look. Or if they did, they lost in-terest when they discovered that he wasn’t what they had expected, kind of like my 10-year old godson Ted when it turned out that the computer game I got him wasn’t what he wanted. He was remarkably polite, I really had to push him to admit that he’d like to exchange it for a different one. But you can always tell when a kid likes a present.

Listen again to verses 7-11 of today’s reading:

[John] came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 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.

That’s an enduring mystery, why some people come toward the light, and others flee it. That’s the way it was then, and that’s still the way it is... some people flee from the message of salvation as if it were a tidal wave.

We know that faith is a gift - Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” [Eph 2:8-9] If it were not for God’s grace, we too would flee from the light as if it burned. So we’ll take that as a given (and I DO mean given).

God has presented us with this incredible gift that most of the world doesn’t even recognize. And when that gift is new - as those of us who remember the day of our conversion, or rebirth, our awakening to Christ, can remember - we’re just like kids at Christmas. But all too often, after a while, the gift goes back in the closet, or on a shelf; we take comfort in knowing that it’s there when we need it, we think placidly, “Yeah, I have one,” but somehow lose the joy and wonder of the first moment. What is it that God has given us, that present to the world? Let’s look again at verses 12-14: