John 1:1-14 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
My dear friends in Christ,
“He’s only a child!” When we hear this phrase, what do we think of? We can think of great expectations being made of one who is too young to fulfill those expectations. We can think of a five year old boy given the keys to the car and expected to drive. As he sits on the seat, his legs are not long enough to reach the pedals. When he slides off the seat to reach the pedals, he is not tall enough to see out the window. The steering wheel is too big for him, and, no matter how hard he turns the wheel, he can’t make it go one direction or another. Even if he were to get the car out on the road somehow, he wouldn’t know the rules for driving, nor where he is going, nor how to get there. After all, he’s only a child.
When you and I look in the manger, what do we see? Luke leads us to see this humble child of lowly birth. He’s not born in a king’s palace nor in a rich man’s home. He’s not laid in a nice infant bed or even in a crib at a hotel. He’s not surrounded by doctors and nurses monitoring his every need.
This child is born in a stable, perhaps no more than a cave, where animals, not people, are kept. This child is laid in a manger, from which the owner recently fed his animals. This child is attended to only by his parents. Later on, some shepherds drop by, but they are more suited for caring for sheep than attending to the needs of a new-born baby. Luke leads us to see this humble child of born in what each one of us may consider far from the most suitable of places. What can come of this child? Who is this child? Why does God’s Word point us to the birth of this child? With the hymn writer, let’s ask the question: What Child Is This?
What child is this who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet With anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring him laud, The babe, the Son of Mary!
What child is this? Through John we learn who this child is. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” This child, the Word made flesh, is God. This same child, who sleeps on Mary’s lap, was there at the beginning, when our first parents were created.
Remember what the book of Hebrews tells us about this child? “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe (Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV).” This same child, greeted by the angels, is the same one who created those angels. This same child, held by Mary, and seen by shepherds, is the One who spoke and caused them to exist.
These verses tell us how closely Father, Son and Holy Spirit worked together in the creation of this world in which we live. This one God in three persons is the God who made everything that we see in this world. God the Father made all things through Jesus. Through Jesus all things were made. God the Father said, “Let there be…” and through Jesus the heavens and the earth were created from nothing. Through Jesus light was created. Through Jesus dry land appeared. Through Jesus the sky was created. Through Jesus the earth sprouted trees and flowers. Through Jesus the sky was filled with birds and the sea with fish and all sea creatures. Through Jesus the sun and the moon and the stars were made. Through Jesus all animals were created. Through Jesus, Adam and Eve were created. Nothing throughout the whole universe was made without him. Through him all things were made.
What child is this in Mary’s lap? What child is this that the shepherds have come to see? What child is this whose birth causes the angels to sing their glories? This child is the Creator of all things, the One who has no beginning, the One who is the beginning and ending of everything. This baby Jesus is the Word, through whom you and I and all things have their existence. The only reason we exist, that we have flesh and blood, that we have a heart that beats and lungs that breathe, is because we were created through this child.
But why was the eternal Creator of all things born on this earth? Why these humble conditions in a little village called Bethlehem? Let’s continue singing:
Why lies he in such mean estate
Where oxen now are feeding?
Good Christians, fear; For sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through;
The cross he’ll bear for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The babe, the Son of Mary!
Why has the eternal Creator of all things been born on this earth? Why was he born in that stable amidst animals whose existence stems from him? Why was he laid in that manger by his mother Mary? “In him was life.” Yes, this is true. Since this eternal Creator is the One who has given life and breath to all creatures, including every moment of life and every breath that we have, it is true that in him is life. Everything that has life and breath draws its life from this child.
But why did this child take his first breath? Why did the Creator become like one of his creatures? This child who took his first breath came on this earth to breathe his last. This Creator of all things came to pay for what created humans had done wrong against him. How can this be? How can the eternal Creator of all things breathe his last? How can the eternal Creator pay the punishment that created humans owe to God? This is the reason the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
When God created this world, it was without form and completely empty of any living creature, plant, anything. At the same time, it was completely dark. Darkness was everywhere! Through this same child light was created, along with all that we see. The Creator set created humans in this wonderful world filled with light. But these same created humans brought darkness back into the world. This was not the loss of the light of the sun, moon and stars. This was spiritual darkness. Rather than continue in the light of life, Adam and Eve brought spiritual darkness into this world when they did what God had told them not to do. This spiritual darkness brings death. When Adam and Eve sinned, this spiritual darkness brought death to their souls, and it meant death for their bodies. They earned for themselves eternal punishment on this earth, and eternal punishment in the eternal darkness of hell.
This same spiritual darkness was passed along to us, for flesh gives birth to flesh. Those who are sinful can only bring into this world others who are sinful. Once perfection is lost, human beings are unable to get back what was lost. Death is our inevitable punishment unless someone brings us life.
That’s why the eternal Creator was born as a child. The One who once flooded this world with light when God said, “Let there be light,” is the same one who came to erase the spiritual darkness in this world by bringing life. This Word became flesh to breathe his last for every person who has taken a first breath in this world. The eternal Creator was born so that nails could pierce his hands and his feet, so that a spear could pierce his side, so that he could breathe his last and die for all people. To those who are dead, he came to bring life. This is the eternal Creator who says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
On this Christmas morn, is their darkness in our lives, spiritual darkness? Consider what the Fifth Commandment means, the one that says, “You shall not murder.” This means that we should fear and love God that we do not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need. It was God who breathed into each one of us the breath of life, and only God has the right to end human life. God wants each of us to seek the Lord while he may be found. That’s why the life of each human being is so important, for it is the only opportunity to learn of Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life. While we may not have killed anyone, how have we done at taking care of our own bodies? God doesn’t even want us to do anything to harm our own bodies. He doesn’t want us to overeat, he doesn’t want us to drink too much alcohol, he doesn’t want us do use drugs in a way that is harmful to our own bodies. Anything that we put into our bodies that causes damage to it in any way shortens our life here. When we don’t take care of the bodies which God has given to us, we sin against the eternal Creator who gave us life. By these sins, we have earned death.
The evidence of spiritual darkness and death in us can be found elsewhere also. John says, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him (1 John 3:15 NIV).” Has there ever been a time when you got angry with someone, because of something they said or something they did? Did your anger come out in any hateful words, or perhaps even cause you to actually hit someone? Anything we do or say that hurts or harms another earns us a one-way ticket to the eternal darkness of hell.
That’s why this child was born. He came to bring us life in place of the death we have earned for all of our sins. That’s why he was pierced through with nails and spear. That’s why the eternal creator breathed his last. He came to bear in his own body the punishment we deserved so that by his death he could give us life. In him is life! What the eternal Creator gave us once by creating us, he gave us again by giving his life for ours! We have reason to rejoice this Christmas morning and every day because our eternal Creator was born on this earth to bring us life in place of the death we have deserved. How can we give thanks to the One who Created us, and then who was born to exchange his life for ours? Let’s sing:
So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh;
Come, peasant, king, to own him.
The King of kings Salvation brings;
Let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise the song on high;
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy, for Christ is born, The babe, the Son of Mary!
We poor miserable sinners have reason to rejoice this Christmas morning because that is our Savior lying amidst the straw. We, who have deserved death many times over because of our sins, we have a Savior! “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” We can rejoice this Christmas morning because the One who gave us the breath of life came to this earth to breathe his last for us. We have reason to rejoice because God has not abandoned us, his people. Rather than making us pay the punishment we owed to him, our Savior was born to pay what we owed to our heavenly Father. The King of all creation came to this earth to bring salvation to each one of us. That should have been us on the cross paying for our own sins. That should have been us enduring the eternal darkness of hell forever. That should have been me, and that should have been you cast into darkness. Thank God that the Word became flesh. Thank God that he camped in our midst for a while. Thank God that we have a Savior who endured the pains of death in our place. Thank God that this child was born to save us from our own sins. Thank God that he bore in his own body the punishment that we have deserved. Thank God that he has brought this salvation to our own hearts. Thank God that this little Child wants to be the King in your heart, that he awakens love in our hearts with his sacrifice on the cross. Thank God that God himself came to save you. Thank God this Christmas morning for this Child. Thank God for this Child, who is our eternal Creator. Thank God for this Child, who is Life itself. Thank God for this child, who is our divine Savior. Rejoice, you Christians, this Christmas morning! Rejoice loudly for the Word became flesh and camped out here for a while, so that we could enjoy with him heaven’s fair home! “Joy! Joy! For Christ is born! The Babe, the Son of Mary!” Amen.
