"Do You Want to See God’s Glory?" The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Day December 25, 2014 John 1:1–14
It’s Christmas! Everybody knows what Christmas is all about. Okay, not everybody knows. But even those who don’t know and even those who don’t believe may have heard something about how Christmas is about Jesus being born. They may have a vague notion that this is a religious holiday. They might even have an inkling that it is a specifically Christian holiday. After all, it is the Christ Child we celebrate today. It is His birth we give thanks for. We are Christians because Christ came into the world. And that is what John is getting at in the Gospel reading today. Jesus is God, John makes known. He is the eternal Word of the Father. And then, in an amazing action, the Word became flesh. The Word became flesh and then the Word dwelt among us. And then, perhaps even more amazingly, John says, “We have beheld His glory.” Christmas is not the celebration of Christ’s birth for the sake of Him being born. It is the celebration of beholding the glory of God. But see, this is why there’s such a huge disconnect between society’s celebration of Christmas and the Christian Church’s celebration of Christmas. When the apostle John tells us that we see the glory of God the world looks at us and is underwhelmed. When we see the glory of God in a little baby who is laid in a manger the world says that a little baby born two thousand years ago cannot bring about the peace on earth the earth so badly needs. So if we want people to see the glory of God we are going to be showing them something that they very well may be apathetic toward. If we ourselves want to see the glory of God we are going to have to do a little soul-searching because our notion of glory can run parallel with the world’s rather than the glory John is talking about. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory! We haven’t seen the glory of God because God made a massive demonstration to the whole world of His greatness. Jesus did something like that once. In His Transfiguration He gave a glimpse of His glory and the disciples who witnessed thought that they had achieved the pinnacle. They didn’t need to go anywhere else. They would camp out there forever. But Jesus was yet to show His true glory. They beheld it when they saw Him bleeding and groaning in pain on the cross. They saw His true glory with Jesus hanging on the cross and the weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders. This is why the Word became flesh. This is why God’s true glory is seen in the little baby who was laid in a manger. God’s glory apart from His Son coming in humility is glory that strikes us down. The glory of God that beams from the baby Jesus and the marred face of Christ on the cross is glory that sends waves of grace and forgiveness over us. In the Epistle reading the apostle Paul expresses this true glory of God: “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us.” See, this is the thing people miss about Christmas. Christmas is not about Jesus being born, per se. It’s about God saving us. It’s about God showing His glory, and His glory is in His kindness and love appearing. And how did it appear? In His Son who was born of Mary and laid in a manger. It appeared in the Word becoming flesh. That is how we see God’s glory. To truly understand God’s glory is to see what God actually did in sending His Son. How does Paul say that God saved us? He says He saved us by His mercy. It was specifically not, as Paul says, by works we have done in righteousness. God saved us by what He has done. What He has done is becoming flesh, dwelling among us, taking on our sin. Paul really can’t help but go on to speak about another birth, this one the birth of Baptism. He speaks of it as “the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Savior.” It is God’s glory to save you in these waters of Baptism where He poured out on you His Holy Spirit. Is it any wonder most people don’t know what Christmas truly is? Isn’t it plain to see that when the world seeks glory it seeks it through the money, the power, and the fame the world offers? When what God offers is a little baby, the world is not impressed. When God offers us His Son on the cross for the sin of the world, the world shrugs. John says in the Gospel reading that Jesus, who is God, was in the world but the world did not know Him. Sounds a lot like today, huh? The world will never be able to see the true glory of God as long as it does not look to the God as He has revealed Himself in in His only-begotten Son. Now, we’re here today. We’re in church. We understand. We know. We see God’s glory for what it truly is, that it is in His Son. Why is it, then, that we so often follow right in with the ways of the world? Why do we continue to seek glory that is of the world? Why do we not content ourselves with the humble ways God shows His glory to us, in His Son through the simple proclamation of the Gospel, through the simple waters of Baptism, through the daily living out of our Baptism in dying and rising to new life, through confession of our sins and the receiving of the Absolution of our sins, through the simple bread and wine of Christ’s Meal He invites us to partake of? The answer is that we follow right along with the world. John says in the Gospel reading that not only Jesus was in the world and the world did not know Him, but that He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. This is a devastating commentary on those of us who are, as John calls us, Christ’s own. We, God’s own people, so often do not believe as God’s own people should. We seek glory apart from the glory revealed in Christ. The good news of Christmas, though, is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The good news is that we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The, as John says, is what we have: “for as many as received Him, He gave the power to become the children of God, to those who believed in His name. Who were born not of blood, or the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God.” Now we see why Paul couldn’t help but speak of our Baptism. Christ was born to save us and has given us that salvation in our birth in Baptism. We are born of God. We are born not of the glory of man or of the world but of God Himself. We see this, His true glory, because we have seen it in His Son, the Word made flesh who dwells among us. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
