B, Christmas Day, The Birth of our Lord - John 1:1-14 Hebrews 1:1-4 "Light and Life"

In the first and third verse of Genesis chapter one, we hear, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”  (Genesis 1:1,3 ESV)

All who hear these words should recognise their similarity when we hear John chapter one. 

“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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  (John 1:1–4 ESV)

Hebrews chapter one draws from the beginning of Genesis and the Gospel of John, as Christ being the Word of God, speaking the word of God, who created the world. 

From Hebrews chapter one, we hear of Jesus Christ, the Son of God our Father, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”  (Hebrews 1:3a ESV)

The true light and life of Christmas is Christ Jesus.  In the beginning at creation, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God the Son, not yet human, was the Word not yet made flesh, and he is the light and life of all things - everything.

But the Word of God, the Son of God, who is God, who is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God’s nature, was enfleshed into a human being, as a man.  Jesus was born, in the incarnation of created human flesh.  God the Son, was born as the Son of Man, born into a world in which God created for fleshy humans to dwell.

The Creator became created.  God became man.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary, the carrier of the Christ.  A fragile human woman, carrying a fragile human baby.  The eternal Son of God came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became a human, a baby boy, to be the Son of Man, the servant of humanity!

Jesus came as the light of life for his creation.  “He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”  (John 1:10 ESV)

Hebrews chapter one does not dwell on the beginning, as does John and Genesis chapters one, but rather picks up the theme of Jesus’ beginning and power, to point us to God’s purpose and destination.  We hear, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3b ESV)

Succinctly and without hesitation the writer of Hebrews, confesses the Son of God, as he who covered sin with his purity and is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, which is God the Father.  He did this for his own people, the people of God, and they did not receive him. 

Brighter than the sun, the Word made Flesh, now shone in the darkness of the womb, in the darkness of the stable, amongst the darkness of his very own people.  And despite their darkness, the darkness did not overcome the Light of the World, the Life of the World, the Word made Flesh!

We Christians, ones who are being made holy through this work of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, joyfully rejoice over the coming of Christ at the first Christmas.  And we eagerly await and willingly confess our sins, to our Father in heaven, through the help of the Holy Spirit, who fills us with patience for Jesus’ second coming.  We endure in the darkness knowing our destination is Jesus the Christ, light and life of the world.

Not so the world.  You will not hear anything about God the Father, or God the Holy Spirit.  And what you hear of Jesus is minimal, at best.  You will not hear that he is the Son of God, or that he is the Christ, the Messiah.  When he is sung about in carols, they’re sung as a sentiment for feeling a certain way at this time of year.

Thanks be to God, Christmas is called Christmas.  The world cannot separate Christ from Christmas no matter how hard they try.  And thanks be to God our Father, he has given us voices to sing carols about Christ, and mouths to proclaim, the name of Christ, as our Messiah and as the Messiah for all people.  Despite Saint Nicolas and his charity being dragged into the harlotry of ho, ho, ho, happy holidays and desperate desires for the latest craving, Jesus Christ is still the true light and life of an ever-darkening world.  

In fact, Jesus’ light shines brighter and brighter as the true messianic gift to humanity, the true salvific servant of man, as the world seeks to dwell in darkness and deception, which is the lie that our commercialised Christmas has become.  Yet the darkness cannot overcome the Christ in Christmas!

Those seeking popularity on television will not tell you who is the Christ in Christmas!  Nor will the singers proclaim who the holy child is, so meek and mild. 

No, they are living the lie that the worldly Christmas has become, as they continue to add deceptive words to deceptive words to keep the lie going.  And we all know what this lie is!  We all participate in the lie, when we entertain the dark spirit of the Christmas lie by putting our faith in our desires for silver and gold – gifts that are gods made with human hands.

As the psalmist says, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.  They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.  Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” (Psalm 115:4–8 ESV)

But you and I are being made holy and set apart by the holy Christ Child.  He grew and made purification for your sin!   Jesus Christ is the one true holy gift of God, shining in the brightness of eternity, in the holiness of purity to cover all darkness in you this Christmas! 

This is your gift from God for all eternity to not only dispel the darkness the world has without him, but the darkness you have within.  Jesus Christ is the Word made Flesh who dwells amongst us but also tabernacles within each of us, enlightening us with grace and truth.  Let the Christ be born daily in you, knowing the promise, “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16 ESV)

He is the gift that keeps on giving, from the beginning to the end, through the darkness of death into eternity.  The one true gift that shines into the future and gives hope in a holy destination for you and all humanity who believes in him.

Let the Holy Spirit be the true Spirit of Christmas which can freely give the gift of the Christ of Christmas to all.  Those of you who have been deceived by the darkness into seeing this season as a season of personal pleasure-seeking with its gathering and giving gifts of greed, and that’s all of us, know the gift of forgiveness is for you!

Receive the gift of grace upon grace this Christmas!  The gift of Christ upon Christ!  The gift of God from God, Light from Light, very God of very God, made Man, to serve you, a child of God.

Hear the promise from John chapter one, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11–13 ESV)

Our right to be children of God is not a human right, but a freedom given to us as the gift of God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and Christ was the light and life of the world.  At the end Jesus Christ is the gift that leads from darkness into a destination of light and life. 

The Word made Flesh is the gift of light and life for you!  Amen.