Christmas – The Humble Way

Hebrews 1:1-12       St John 1:1-14

 

“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

 

We begin with a Sonnet for Christmas by Malcolm Guite:

It’s getting darker, darker all the time
And she is weary and beset with fear
Yet in the darkness of her womb he stirs,
Her tiny hope, the one who is to come.
So on she plods, on past the hostile stares
The checkpoints and the soldiers on the street
Seeking some shelter, somewhere to retreat
And bring to birth the hidden light she bears.

She finds her shelter now and we attend her
Attend this burdened girl who speaks for us,
Whispers to God a broken world’s soft ‘yes’,
‘Come to be born with us, come find us here
Outface for us the darkness we can’t face,
Show us the face of Love that casts out fear.’

[Sounding the Seasons: 110 Sonnets for the Christian Year]

 

We are moved at Christmas to really ponder the earthly circumstances of the birth of God into our midst – we have images, creche scenes, we have carols – all emphasizing the humble origins of Jesus and the remarkable role of Mary.

And yet our Gospel and Epistle today emphasize the divine origins of Jesus.  What is the claim of Christmas, and how can we receive the gift that is offered to us that we may really be changed?

In today’s Gospel, St John says,  The Word was God…And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory… [St John 1:1,14]

And the same John, wrote at the beginning of his first letter:

That which was from the beginning… we have heard… we have seen with our eyes… we have looked upon and touched with our hands… the eternal life which was with the Father…was made manifest to us.  [1 St John 1]

Do you want to hear and to see and to touch God?

The claim that God became a man is a paradox. A dictionary defines 'paradox' like this: “a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true.”

St Athanasius describes the paradox of Christmas this way:

The [eternal] Word was not confined by His body, nor did His presence in the body prevent His being present elsewhere as well.  When He moved His body he did not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might…. At one and the same time—this is the wonder—as Man He was living a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the life of the universe, and as Son He was in constant union with the Father. 

[On the Incarnation, ch. 3 para. 17]

That is the paradoxical claim when we say, the eternal Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

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If this claim is true, it makes all the difference.

For one thing, if God becomes this man, Jesus, our understanding about who God is becomes not just theories about what God must be like, rational speculations about the nature of God, as the Greek Philosophers reasoned, and sometimes reasoned well.  Rather, it begins instead with our observations of this man Jesus.

And what do we not see him do when He comes on earth to change it?

• We don’t see him forming a new political party to bring about victory;
• We don’t see Jesus gathering a military force to use power to end evil; and
• We don’t see Jesus using his spiritual power and authority to intimidate and demand obedience from his followers.

Strangely, it seems that the thing we are called on to observe from the Gospels is mainly Jesus’ very human encounters with the people he meets, it’s not what we might expect:

• meeting fishermen by their boats tired and discouraged and without real purpose in life. What portion of humanity knows that experience?  And what does Jesus say to them?
• or when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well, who was longing for more in human love (she had five husbands and now was living with a man unmarried), how human is that?  What does he say to her?
• or the repentant woman whom Jesus allows to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair – trusting Jesus in such vulnerability.  How does the One who is God in the flesh respond to her?
• or the men around Jesus boasting of who will be greatest in the kingdom of God?  What does he say to them?
• or the different response of two sisters to Jesus’ presence in their home – what is better? action or contemplation?  What does Jesus say?
• or Jesus’ meeting with the adulteress, the rich man, the thief, the publicans and sinners he eats with – he’ll dine with us for sure, there is no one off limits to God’s love and neither should there be to our love;
• yes, we look at the miracles of healing and raising the dead to life, but as important is how does Jesus responds to the man Peter, his friend, who after three years of deep friendship denies he even knows Jesus three times?
• we observe how Jesus takes a towel and washes the feet of his disciples – what does it mean that we are to allow God to wash our feet as a servant?
• we see how Jesus relates to children brought to him to be blessed – they are held up by Jesus as examples of what we must be like to enter the kingdom of heaven – children are to hold a special place;
• we watch how the Ruler of the Universe relates to unjust authorities as he is condemned, not calling down ten thousand legions of angels to release Him;
• we are privileged to see Jesus’ anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane as he gives his ‘yes’ to the next steps;
• we watch in horror of his experience of abandonment on the Cross – how human is that?
• and we rejoice in his appearances after his Resurrection.  He gives us a glimpse of the promised life to come – nothing good about us, body or soul, will be lost.

The more we reflect on God in the flesh, the more we begin to see the opportunities in every relationship, in every human encounter and circumstance, to raise it up, to see its eternal significance, the possibilities of love, of new life, of human connection, of true reconciliation and transformation.  We’re not always able to act, but we begin to see and are inspired to follow in these ways…

In Jesus we see the perfect example in our midst, the Word made flesh, or as St Paul says, the exact imprint of God’s nature.  Jesus teaches better than any person ever has or ever will.

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But God took upon Himself our flesh for more than this.  The knowledge of Jesus and even trying to follow in Jesus’ steps does not bring us into the kingdom.  It may make us better images of God, but it does not yet make us “partakers of the divine nature,” as St Peter proclaims is our end in Christ. [2 Peter 1:4]

St Athanasius, describes it this way:

God became man that man might become God.

Maximus the Confessor, expanding this, a couple centuries later, wrote:

Through this noble exchange God [becomes] man for the deification of man, and man [becomes] God for the humanisation of God.  For the Word of God, who is God, wills always and in all things to work the mystery of his embodiment. 

[Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua, as quoted by Allchin,
Participation in God, p. 70]

What does this mean?  We get something in this encounter with Jesus: our “deification” – not just meeting God but God indwelling us, the raising up of our human nature, the adorning of our natural gifts that they may be supernatural, and the receiving of the gifts of incorruptibility and immortality.  And God gets something through the Incarnation – a “humanisation” – a redemption in the believer which passes in and through the believer to the whole of God’s creation.

These are fine thoughts, but can it really happen?  How?

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St John says in today’s Gospel,

To as many as believed on him, he gave power to become the children of God.

It is through faith that we are united with God, but what is meant by faith?

Faith is not simply an ascent to a teaching, a rational acceptance of a truth, though that follows.  Authentic faith is connected with love.

Think about that in terms of human love – if we love another person, we really try to understand where that person is, we come along side, we place ourselves at each other’s service, and we show each other something beautiful that we know.  We give to one another and we receive from one another and we are changed.  But before we allow such an intimate exchange, it takes true love of one another and a certain faith for it to happen.

Aquinas says that the Incarnation is the clearest sign of the divine love for us. [Aquinas, Sermon Conferences on the Apostles’ Creed, p.63]  And Jesus says, if we believe in him, in the sense that we love Him (wanting to know more about him, praying to him, following his commands, and receiving His Sacraments to make that possible) – if we love Him, He will come to us, and dwell with us and be in us…and we will be changed. [John 14]

Finally, let’s return to the Sonnet that we began with:

Attend this burdened girl who speaks for us,
Whispers to God a broken world’s soft ‘yes’,
‘Come to be born with us, come find us here
Outface for us the darkness we can’t face,
Show us the face of Love that casts out fear.’

Israel cried out for centuries for the Saviour, Mary by her “soft ‘yes’” made possible His birth, and the Disciples heard and saw and touched the Word made flesh.  And we too today have heard, and I hope have seen something of Jesus.  We can also whisper ‘yes’ and reach out this morning to touch Him, if we reach out, in faith and love, to receive the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood given for us.  And we will be deified in Him and God will be embodied in us.

A happy Christmas to you all!

Amen +