In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
Good morning on the First Sunday after Christmas, and what fun to hear another nativity narrative. But – you might ask – if this is a nativity story, where are the angels, the shepherds, the sheep? Well, simply put, John didn’t believe in all of that.
In the early Church, the concept of the Virgin Birth was very controversial. When the early Church fathers put together our New Testament as we have it today, they chose two Gospels that supported the Virgin Birth, one that pretended it didn’t exist, and one that was openly hostile to the whole idea. The way the early Church fathers saw it, if you have four different testimonies from four different sources, they’re going to contract each other. Right? This just makes sense.
You have four different Gospels, but there is something common to all of them. In every Gospel, Jesus of Nazareth faces the same question – can anything good come from Nazareth? The Son of David is supposed to come from the House of David – and where is that? Bethlehem! In the first three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus responds by quoting Psalm 110. The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool."
For listeners in Jesus’ day, that quote would have brought to mind an image from the scroll of Daniel, in which Danial has a vision. In this vision, Daniel is lifted up into heaven, and he sees at the right hand of God the Son of Man, and the Son of Man is crowned by the Father. The Son of Man is the Messiah. Surrounding the Faither and the Son of man are prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and one of those witnesses is Davd. And David recorded this vision in Psalm 110. The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool."
Now, if David is standing there listening to God talk to the Messiah, how is the Messiah David’s son? If the Messiah was David’s son, he would be receiving his power from David and not from God, but David calls the Messiah “Lord”, and so it’s clear that He can’t be David’s son. The Messiah’s authority comes from a higher place – and that’s Jesus’ argument His response to the question. However, in John’s Gospel, when faced with the same question – Jesus says – absolutely nothing.
Why? Because he’s already said it all in chapter 3 when he is speaking to Nicodemus. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The two are separate – and Jesus’ power comes not from David, but from God. This is why John’s Goepel begins, not with Jesus’ birth, but with the creation of the World, when Jesus was born spiritually.
What is important to John is Jesus spiritual birth, and he begins by describing the Unity of God and Jesus, and how Jesus takes on flesh. This is the reason why John’s Gospel differs from all the others. In John, you have actual theology being spelled out, unlike Matthew and Luke which are about legends and stories about how Jesus was born. John is actually talking about the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus spiritual birth is very important, but so to is His physical birth – because it is through the offering of His flesh as a sacrifice for our sins that we are redeemed.
John’s Gospel is so different from the other three that it was once believed that it was a later Gospel, written in the second century. However, the discovery of a manuscript of the Gospel from a far earlier period changed that view. John’s Gospel is revolutionary, not because he is in any way contradicting the other Gospels – he’s not. He is simply approaching things from a totally different viewpoint.
John shifts the focus from Jesus physical birth to His spiritual birth, and this is important for us because Jesus’ spiritual birth allows our rebirth, not as human beings, but as children of God. And this mystery is expressed in the words, but to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God.
This is why this Gospel reading comes every year on the First Sunday after Christmas. The Church wants us to understand that it isn’t all about a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, but about us being reborn as God’s children.
In the epistle appointed for today from Galatians, St. Paul tells us:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Let us pray:
Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the Father and the Son, Hope of the afflicted, descend into our hearts and establish in them Your loving dominion. Enkindle our souls with the fire of Your Love. We believe that when You dwell in us, You also prepare in us a dwelling for the Father and the Son. Come to us and lend us Your grace, that we may fulfill our calling as God’s adopted and beloved children. All this we ask in Jesus Name. Amen.
The Rev. J C Woods