December 24, 2020

Christmas Eve

Hebrews 11:1-2; Psalm 98; John 1:1-14

The Rev. James M. L. Grace

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  AMEN.

            While the Gospel of John is not my favorite Gospel (it is Mark, by the way), John’s Gospel has the best beginning of any Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  The only way to improve on that opening is if the Gospel writer would have instead written “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

            That first sentence (from John’s Gospel, not Star Wars) begins with the phrase “In the beginning.”   We hear that same beginning in another book in the Bible – the first book – Genesis, which begins like this: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 

            So, we have two beginnings – one in Genesis, one in John.  In beginning the Gospel this way, the Gospel author is making a subtle, yet important point, and it is this – Jesus has existed since the beginning.  That means that Jesus existed as part of God before his birth to Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem.  In the same way that Jesus continued to live after his death, he was alive before his birth. 

            That is why this Gospel begins with the phrase “In the beginning.”  The author is saying that Jesus has always existed with God.  That is why John’s Gospel refers to Jesus as “the Word (with a capital w).”  The word “word” translates into Greek as logos.  That word sounds strange to us today. 

            But when the Gospel was written, the word logos was more familiar.  Logos meant more than “word.”  Logos meant something that was perfect, constant, eternal.  So, when John writes “In the beginning was the logos,” the author is saying that Jesus is this eternal word, who existed before his birth, and exists after his death. 

            John’s cosmic description of Christ was a bit controversial for the day, so much that the Gospel of John almost did not make it into the Bible.  There is no familiar Christmas story in John’s Gospel.  We do not hear about a manger, angels, shepherds, or wise men.  Instead, we get this grandiose description of Christ as God’s eternal word. 

            Tonight, we celebrate Christmas Eve and honor the mystery of Christ’s birth.  While Christmas celebrations seem normal to us today (even during a pandemic) Christmas has not always been celebrated. 

            It was not until December 25, 336, (about three centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus) that we have an actual record of a Christmas service.  I do not believe this to be accidental.  Christmas became important around 336 because that was the time in which people were finally able, after much argument, to agree on exactly who Jesus was.  And who was Jesus, did they decide?  They decided that Jesus was fully human, born of a mother, and that Jesus was simultaneously fully divine. 

            To help solidify this agreement of the church, liturgies and services were formed to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  They called them a “Christ Mass,” from which we get Christmas.  One of the church leaders that attended these early church council meetings was a bishop named Nicholas of Myra.  Nicholas was known not only for his work in the church, but also for his habit of secret gift giving.   Bishop Nicholas of Myra’s reputation as a gift-giver earned him enough of a reputation that Nicholas (or Saint Nick as we might call him) became the prototype for that jolly man in a red suit and white beard who will slipping down your chimney tonight. 

            Today we celebrate Christ Mass. We hear that “In the beginning was the Word.”  God’s word is often called the Bible, but if we are to understand the Gospel of John correctly, the word of God is not a book – it is a person, it is Jesus the Messiah. 

            The gift of Christmas is Jesus himself.  It is a free gift, given not only on Christmas, but every day, because God’s word never ends.   AMEN.