Title: God with Us!
Text: John 1:1-18
Thesis: God revealed himself to us in Christ.
Introduction
You’ve likely seen the ad… Reunited! E.T. Returns to Earth 37 Years Later to See Actor Henry Thomas reprises his role as Elliot alongside the alien ET character for Comcast's new "A Holiday Reunion."
Set 37 years after the events of E.T., A Holiday Reunion has Thomas portraying an adult Elliott who is now married with two children of his own. When Elliott and his kids find E.T. hiding behind a snowman outside, they invite him in to show him just how much things have changed since the extra-terrestrial had last been around.
An article in Discovery magazine noted a study that suggests there are around 700 quintillion planets in the universe, but only one like Earth. The article states:
It's a revelation that's both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Astrophysicist Erik Zackrisson from Uppsala University in Sweden arrived at this staggering figure—a 7 followed by 20 zeros—with the aid of a computer model. Zackrisson found that Earth appears to have been dealt a fairly lucky hand. In a galaxy like the Milky Way, for example, most of the planets Zackrisson's model generated looked very different than Earth—they were larger, older and very unlikely to support life.
One of the most fundamental requirements for a planet to sustain life is to orbit in the "habitable zone" of a star known as the "Goldilocks" region where the temperature is just right and liquid water can exist. Earth orbits in such a goldilocks region.
CBC News ran a story about data NASA published showing that in our galaxy, the Milky Way, there are about 8.8 billion planets the size of earth that are orbiting around stars much like our sun, and these 8.8 billion planets are in what scientists call the goldilocks zone. Scientists say that the next step is to invent really powerful telescopes to take a closer look at these planets to see whether there is life on these planets or not.
If we discovered that there creatures on some distant planet, it would be in our nature to try to communicate with those creatures, to connect with them like Elliott in the classic movie ET. It seems we, being created in the image of God, are by design inclined to reveal ourselves and to communicate with and connect with others.
I think that is something of what our text is about today… God revealing himself to us here on our planet which just happens to be orbiting in a goldilocks zone, communicating with us and connecting with us.
God, in Christ, came to us and became one of us.
I. God takes on skin so that we might know him
So the Word [Jesus] became human and made his home among us… and we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:14
When the bible says the “Word” became human, the “Word” is God’s expression of himself or revelation of himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
In a conversation with his disciples in John 14 Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” And Jesus replied, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” John 14:9-11
I am not a scientist… but it is apparent to me that the universe is big. If, in the Milky Way alone, there are 8.8 billion planets the size of earth, in what they call a goldilocks zone, all orbiting planets like our sun, then I am convinced the universe is big. And I’m pretty sure it’s old. Scientists say the earth is 4.5 billion years old allowing for a 50 billion year margin of error. And yes, I know some say it’s only 6,000 years old and if it’s only 6,000 years old… it’s still old. I know that in this room there are likely young earthers as well as old earthers – but in either case, the earth is and the universe is old and if we agree that God is eternal then God too, is old.
Our text begins with this revealing statement:
A. In the beginning the Word already existed and the Word was with God and Word was God.
And he existed in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2
Cosmically speaking, the universe is inconceivably vast and old and God’s Word says Jesus was there in all that inconceivable and ancient vastness.
Our text continues with another revealing statement:
B. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. And the Word gave life to everything that was created. John 1:3-4
So now from this inconceivably ancient vastness God decided to get creative and make stuff.
No one says it better than Paul in his letter to the Colossians. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created thorough him and for him. He existed before anything else and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:15-17
We love the Genesis account of creation of how God was there in the beginning when the earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the deep waters and God hovered over the surface of the waters and then God spoke a series of “Let there be’s” and creation happened including the creation of human beings… So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1 and 2
So now we have God who exists eternally, who was and who is and who forever will be. We have God who created everything that is and who holds it all together. We have God who made us… people. We have God who knows us, but how do we know God?
A third revealing statement emerges from out text:
C. God became one of us
So the Word [Jesus] became human and made his home among us. John 1:14
What we read in John 1:14 is consistent with the prophetic Word from Isaiah 7:14 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and they will name him Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:23 And, as we know, she did and he was!
Paul wrote in Philippians, “Though he was God he did not think equality with God as something to cling to. Instead he gave up his divine privileges… and was born as a human being. Philippians 2:6-7
God with us! Jesus became human and made his home among us!
We did not discover Jesus hiding behind a snowman in the backyard on a cold winter night and invite him in for a cup of hot chocolate… we discovered him wrapped in swaddling clothes, i.e., narrow strips of cloth wrapped snuggly around a newborn to make the baby feel snug and secure, and lying in a manger in a stable in the tiny Middle Eastern village of Bethlehem.
What did God think about when he thought about how to go about getting us to know him? Do you think God mused, “How do I go about getting people to know me?”
The interesting thing to me is that God did not need to get to know us… God created us and given a thorough reading of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament it seems pretty clear that God has a good handle on who we are and what we are like. So this whole becoming human and making his home among us was not about God getting to know us, it was about us getting to know God.
I would guess that God is pretty internet savvy, so he might well have Googled “How to get people to know me” and God would have found that if God wanted his neighbors to get to know him he would need to break the ice and send some signals and take some initiative to make himself known.
God may have thought… I’ll begin by offering up a friendly wave to the fishermen as I walk along the Sea of Galilee. Or maybe I could have my mother whip up a batch of her famous snickerdoodle cookies and drop them off at the neighbors. Maybe Mom and I could host a neighborhood yard sale and the neighbors could get to know me that way. Maybe I could focus on being a really good carpenter who charges really reasonable rates and win the respect and admiration of the community that way.
“So Jesus became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:14
Two endearing seasonal images from Facebook come to mind. One is a photo of Marty Cuevas and his nephew Lukas playing a game on their living room floor. Lukas is apparently enjoying a sleepover and he and Marty are playing a game and Marty is sitting on the floor with him… playing with him on a “kid’s” level. Marty is not the big Uncle Marty towering over kiddo Lukas… Marty is Uncle Marty playing on Nephew Lukas’s level. Another of Larry Alstrom… 70 year old grandpa lying on the floor putting a Lincoln Log cabin together with his grandson. Grandpa Larry was playing on a kid’s level. Seeing Larry lying on the floor playing Lincoln Logs with his grandson is amazing for a couple of reasons… One: Larry likely received and played with Lincoln Logs when he was a kid… that’s one enduring toy. Two: Larry can still get up off the floor after having gotten himself down on the floor.
I like to think that is what Jesus did. He got down at kid-level and played the game of life where we live and we got to watch him do that. There is nothing in the human experience that Jesus did not experience and we got to see how God in Christ lived as one of us.
“We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” We have seen mercy. We have seen grace. We have seen the loving touch. We have heard the kind voice. We have seen forgiveness. We have seen the power of prayer. We have seen hope. We have seen faith. We have heard truth. We have observed character. We have seen how a human being can live a righteous life in a pretty murky and messed up world.
Conclusion
National Geographic has a web site posting their Top Ten Greatest Trips or Journeys to take in 2020. Among their suggestions is a journey to the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa where there is a 120,000 acre park with extremely low humidity, zero light or sound pollution and a total lack of cloud cover making it the best star gazing destination on the planet. The Kalahari may well be the perfect place for gazing out into the universe and the perfect place for imagining that first journey.
On this, the Second Sunday after Christmas, it is fitting that we note that the greatest journey ever was from heaven to earth, and from there to Bethlehem.
“So Jesus became Human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” Amen.
