Advent is a time of preparation. We are preparing for the celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus. At the same, we also wait for the Second Coming, waiting for the consummation of God and God’s creation. We are waiting and we are preparing.
As we prepare we must enter into dialogue. We have conversation about what this means. We discuss the impact that Jesus has had on our lives. We debate the mysteries of God and the sacraments and the apocalypse. As we prepare for His coming we talk and we listen. And we do this because we have a word to share. We want to have interpersonal relationships with others. Hopefully, we are open to hear what others have to say. Furthermore, I hope we are also willing to say what we have to say.
In the story of creation in Chapter 2 of Genesis, God takes the dirt and creates man in his own image. Previously recorded in chapter 1, God says, “Let US make man in OUR image.” This ability to speak, to communicate on a higher level is what separates us from the apes. It is what gives us intellect and intelligence. We are not imprisoned by the soil. We are free to be open toward what transcends us.
What exactly is that? The words first spoken to us by our parents is what stimulates and evokes over-time our own self-consciousness, our own sense of autonomy, and our ability to think independently. By speaking and listening transcendence and presence are both identified. To carry on a conversation with anybody means that we are not alone. Someone else is present. Someone else stands parallel to me, not just an object of perception or even my manipulation, but the person with which I communicate is a person. The other party is present but also transcendent – in the sense that he or she remains beyond my control, untouchable, mysterious, a force that could in time impact my very existence. This is what happens in genuine communication.
Conversation then is what opens us toward the future. To enter into any genuine dialogue puts one in the place of learning something new, establishing a new relationship that may go into an unforeseen direction. One could, of course, refuse to enter into dialogue either by not talking at all or by simply manipulating the situation by domination the conversation. But even as one does this the future is still inevitable. Eventually conversation will have to take place. Lives will have to impacted.
That is why using words is important. Communication is key because communication creates reality. What we say creates the present and the future. Words have tremendous impact on our very being. Again this is why we must be open to not just hearing but listening to what other people have to say. Otherwise, we are simply talking to the walls – certainly we have all experienced this. As a pastor, with some of you, I have spent over two years talking to the wall.
Because communication is so important to me, because listening and thinking and challenging my own perceptions is so important to me, that is why I really like the way John introduces Jesus Christ.
Look again at the first few verses of John’s gospel.
The word was with God from the beginning. I want to unpack that a little bit and then connect it to my major point about preparation for the coming.
For 2000 years now there has been much discussion about this Word. In the Greek, word is logos. And logos carries with it a lot of baggage. In fact, some translations of the Bible will not even translate this passage as the word, they leave it as logos. This Greek word, logos, was used a lot in the first century. Philosophers and religious rulers alike used this terminology implying several different meanings. Many have argued different reasons why John, who wrote his narrative later than all the other gospels, introduced the story of Jesus in such a way – with this controversial word “logos.”
What seems most apparent is that this Jewish Christian was influenced by his background. In Hebrew tradition it is not the logos that was at creation but sophia, wisdom.
Listen as I read from Proverbs 8. (Read verse 1-3 and 22-31)
This logos brings with it associations from the Jewish tradition of wisdom. It was wisdom that had been God’s companion, God’s craftsman at his side, working with God to create and accomplish God’s plan for humanity. In later Jewish traditions wisdom was more directly influenced by Greek thought. Commentator CK Barret says, “Wisdom or Sophia becomes increasingly a personal being standing by the side of God over against, but not unconcerned with, the creation of the world.”
So John takes this Sophia tradition/wisdom tradition and instead makes the feminine noun and masculine noun. In addition to making this gender change, he also adds to the meaning. At creation was God the Father, but also, as the Proverbs tell us, this Wisdom was present, and in taking what John is saying, I have to imagine that they were in conversation. God was not alone. God was in community. God says, “Let US make man in OUR image.” And what was present –?-- God and the wisdom sharing in the logos—sharing in the word.
So since the creation of all creation, God was present, The Logos was present, and as we can read the Spirit was also present eventually “hovering over the chaos.” When this Trinity speaks things happen. Reality is created. The present is forever different, impacted by the Word.
And so it was, creation was governed by God’s word: God spoke through the law at Sinai and through the prophets. When God spoke people listened. And when they did not listen God spoke through actions – curses and plagues. This logos, this word, had been working throughout all space and time.
And then one day, God must have decided he had heard enough. People were no longer using His word appropriately. People were ignoring His words in the law. People may have heard what he had to say, but they thought they knew better. So in the times between righteous kings and the prophetic messengers, they thought they would try to get away with what they could. I guess it is true what they say, when the cat’s away – or at least people think the cat is away – the mice will play. And God did something drastic that changed the world forever.
The logos became flesh. The wisdom that was there at the beginning now became one of us. Now there was an incarnation of God – fully human and fully divine, hence the description “Logos made flesh.” The man Jesus Christ is simply, but ever importantly, a person of God in the body of a human. And this person of God was God’s son.
You see the son of God was with God at the beginning of creation. Throughout the acts of Abraham and his people, Israel, the son was present. Jesus Christ is the son made flesh. Now, there is a difference between Jesus Christ and the son of God. It is a subtle difference, so hear me out. The son was present always, Jesus is the incarnate form of the son. In Jesus of Nazareth – the little boy who would grow up and change the world – the timeless and spaceless entered time and space. His name was Jesus, and that is important. But there was a time when the Son was not Jesus. Jesus is the human name of the divine second person of the Trinity.
We cannot simply believe that one day God says, “OK, I guess I will create a son now and send him down to earth to be crucified for everyone’s forgiveness.” That would be divine child abuse. No, Jesus was present all along. The Logos was preparing the way. The Word was being spoken throughout and even before all time and space. But at that moment when in the pains of labor the blessed virgin gave birth to a son she would name Jesus the preparations were complete. The word became flesh and dwelled among us.
And this word made flesh had something to say. John knew it. This is why John said, “He who comes after me surpasses me because he came before me…. No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” The Greek word for “to make him known” shares the same Greek root as the noun “exegesis.” So this verse clearly states that in the word made flesh, Jesus is going to bring out the true meaning of God. This Jesus is going to exegete God – not simply interpret God – that would be shallow. Exegesis does not mean interpret. But exegesis means to find the true meaning, leaving behind the baggage that we have created and getting at the truth.
This is the Christmas story. No, we don’t have angels, mangers, and magi. John 1 presents the church a much more theological understanding of the creation. From the beginning the son was present. No, not yet Jesus but a word, a conversation. Now, the conversation impacts the world. The incarnation will bring vision, it will bring about a whole new reality of God, beyond what the Jews or anyone else ever thought. The word is light in darkness. Unfortunately though, the word is not understood. Perhaps, because people are so busy defending their point of view. Perhaps the word is not understood because people refuse to enter into conversation with it. Perhaps, they have heard the word but they have refused to be open to considering what it means -- after all, that is not the way the word was in the past. The word was the law. That’s the way we have always done it. We don’t want to consider a new word. Some let it go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps, some hear it yet in complete disobedience ignore it or wait until the right time to do something against the word, against the ongoing conversation.
But now, the conversation is started. The word was made flesh. The incarnation binds Jesus to our everyday life. The Trinity did not stay distant, remote, and isolated. Rather, in Jesus, God chose to live with humanity in the midst of human weakness, confusion, and pain. To become flesh is to know joy, suffering, hurt, and loss. To love, grieve, and someday die. The bond between us and God or God and us is a word. As I said earlier, to enter into dialogue with another is to enter into relationship. So in a word, God comes to know us. Not just any word, but a logos that has wisdom – Jesus Christ is that word. And as the community confesses that the Word lived among us, as we confess Jesus Christ is Lord, we affirm the link of the incarnation. We affirm our relationship with that Word.
That is what Christmas is all about. It is about conversation and relationship. It is about having communication – two-way communication that includes both speaking and listening. Not ignoring, not dominating, not manipulating, but genuine conversation about what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be part of the body of Christ, what it means that when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. Christmas is about sharing in the word that understands what it means to love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly with our Lord. What it means to love one another and to love God. That is the message from the word.
