Summary: Chances are, if you wanted to read an account of the Christmas story - the birth of Jesus - you'd rush to Luke 2; maybe Matthew 1. Of the gospels you'd not consult is the fourth, the Gospel of John. Yet, this is the gospel for today. Surprisingly, it is all about the "other birthday story."
If you were asked to retell the Christmas story, you would no doubt relate a series of events, reference a few geographical locations, mention the shepherds and angels and animals in a barn.
In other words, you'd rely on the gospel of Luke for your information. And for good reason: Luke was a historian as well as a physician. The fifth book in the New Testament is called "The Acts of the Apostles" - a history that was written by Luke. So, this historian and medical doctor was interested in this baby and the circumstances of his birth.
We're not surprised, then, that it is Luke who tells us when Jesus was born (during the so-called Pax Romana); who tells us about the young Mary, nearing full term, traveling atop a mule clopping from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the ancestral home; who tells us that an innkeeper turned them away for want of a room; who reveals that the baby was delivered in a cattle pen populated by farm animals - perhaps a cow, goat, sheep and chickens.1 It is Luke who gives us the touching detail of Mary wrapping the baby in some tight swaddling clothes, who mentions the shepherds watching their flocks by night, who describes the amazing appearance of an angelic chorus, and who tells us that one of the angels said, "Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord."2
Today's gospel reading, however, is not from Saint Luke. Today's story of the nativity of Jesus is from Saint John. This is John's account of Jesus' appearance on earth, and it is quite different from Luke's version. Not that there are discrepancies or contradictions. There aren't.
John has a different approach. His Gospel was the last of the four Gospels to be written, and so he no doubt has read Luke's version of the birth of Christ, and has no intention of retelling it.3 How can you top the magisterial treatment Luke gives to the birth of the Christ child? You can't. It's a moving, emotional, poignant and heart-warming account of a baby surviving against all odds.
John's interest lies elsewhere. Luke answers the questions as to how, when and where Jesus was born; John reveals the why of Jesus' birth.
Understanding that what he is about to write will be nothing less than a revelation of Copernican proportions, he begins with the words, "In the beginning" - words that cannot fail to take the reader back to Genesis 1:1.
Although the gospel of Luke gives us the how, when, and where of Jesus' birth, John takes us deeper, pulling back the curtain on the cosmic why. John doesn't begin in Bethlehem. He doesn't even begin with Mary or Joseph or angels or stars. He begins in eternity. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." Sound familiar? That opening phrase echoes Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created ...." John intentionally wants us to think back to the dawn of time, to remind us that Jesus didn't begin in a manger - he already was.4 This is the first great truth Saint John gives us: that in the cosmic sweep of all that is and ever was, Jesus is the eternal Word of God.
Yes, the birth of baby Jesus is celebrated according to tradition on Christmas Day. This is why we are here today - to celebrate a specific birthday on a specific date. It makes sense. We all have birthdays, and we often have birthday parties and receive birthday gifts.
This is baby Jesus' birthday, but John reminds us that Jesus' alter-ego, we might say, his divine nature, has no birthday whatsoever. A baby without a birth date! The story of this immortal being - clothed now in a mortal baby body, stretching and curling his fat baby fingers, gurgling and soiling his nappies - begins before time began.
The Greek word John uses is logos - the Word. To the Jewish mind, the Word was the creative, powerful voice of God that spoke the universe into being. To the Greek mind, logos meant divine reason or logic - the force that holds all things together. John bridges both audiences by declaring: This Word, this eternal, divine, creating, sustaining Reason ... was with God ... and was God.
Jesus is not just from God. Jesus is God. Not a reflection. Not a messenger. Not a created being. He is co-eternal, co-equal, and inseparable from the Father.
Fine. So, why is this important? So what? Why do we care?
It's not uncommon to have a crisis of faith, or a period in your life when you felt adrift, that your anchor had slipped and you were bobbing in a tiny boat without oars on a big ocean. That fact that Jesus was sent by God, that Jesus is God helps us to understand that this recovery mission we call the incarnation was launched on our behalf! You can truthfully say, "God showed up for me!" Bethlehem is God's way of saying, "I've got your back. I got this!" The Bible says, "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. ... in him was life, and the life was the light of all people." John's not interested in nativity sets - he's describing how light came into being and how that light that still pierces darkness, even our own personal darkness. In a world shadowed by sin, suffering and death, the light of Christ has never stopped shining. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it."
The meaning is clear. Jesus is our hope. Like a lighthouse on a rocky shore, he shows us the way. The verb tense is important: shines - present tense. Like David in many of the psalms, you may feel distressed and discouraged, but now you know that even now, this very moment, the light of Christ still shines, undimmed, undefeated. But we may need to step into the light.
Many people don't - step into the light, that is. "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." This is where the glory turns somber. The Creator enters his creation ... and is not welcomed. The transcendent genius and guardian of galaxies shows up in human form ... and is overlooked, dismissed, rejected!
Bethlehem didn't know. Jerusalem didn't care. Rome didn't see. And too often - we miss him too.
There are reasons for this, of course. Perhaps, we associate Jesus and the call to follow him with "organized religion." On the other hand, we might not be knowledgeable about faith at all and have never considered an invitation to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.
Christmas is definitely the wrong time to line up with those who did not welcome Jesus, with those who rejected him. Rather, if you are seeking, as many are, to understand why you are taking up space on the planet, now is an excellent time to move forward and make a commitment. Because ...
... to those who do receive him, life will never be the same. Notice verse 12: "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." This brings us back to the birth of Jesus. His birth reminds us that it is never too late to experience a new birth, to embrace a life that can only be called a "new creation."
Our reading tells us that not everyone rejected him. This is the offer of Christmas, the purpose behind the Incarnation: To make orphans into children, to give strangers a place at the table, to transform believers into family. We are not born into this family by blood, or by willpower, or by heritage - but by God's grace.
Now we come to the most breathtaking verse in the passage: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us."
This is Christmas according to John. Not a baby in a manger - but God taking on skin. Not just visiting - but moving into the neighborhood. The word "dwelling" here is literally a reference to a tent: basically, the text is saying that God pitched his tent among us.
In Jesus, God is not distant, not abstract, not far off. He is here, present, with us - Emmanuel. And this is great news for those of us who are wondering what life is all about.
John ends this prologue not with sentimentality but with a statement of vision: "We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
This is the true miracle of Christmas. Not just that God sent us a message, but that he came in person. Not just that he came, but that he came full of grace and truth - enough to save, enough to reveal, and enough to carry us through whatever darkness we face.
So, while Luke gives us the cradle, John gives us the cosmos.
While Luke shows us the baby, John reveals the glory.
And while Luke sets the scene, John gives us the purpose.
The Word became flesh ... so that we might become children of God.