12.25.2022 - Christmas Day - True Light

Anthony W. Franklin

Christmas • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Scripture: John 1:1-14

John 1:1–14 NRSV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Christmas Day - True Light

12.25.2022

Parallel Lights

We made it to Christmas morning. We weren’t sure it was going to happen. Just like every year, we faced cold, ice, sickness, shortages at the stores, crazy shopping traffic, and a host of every other thing that could go wrong.

Growing up, many things went wrong, and we started going through them early. As soon as Thanksgiving was over, the Christmas decorations began to come out, and Christmas music filled the house. The artificial tree came out, along with all the ornaments we carefully unpacked. We had strings of garland and lights for the tree and the large porch outside, which we decorated like a sparkling Candy Land.

Typically, the first problems we encountered were strings of lights that would not work. The bulbs in those strings of lights were big, and I learned that they were often series circuits, which meant that if one bulb went out in the string, they all went out. So, we had to look for the one bulb that had gone out or was loose and replace it to fix the whole strand. Periodically we rechecked those outside light strings to ensure they were not damaged by ice or wind, cutting off the rest of the light.

I remember when we began to transition to parallel circuit lights. Those lights had the remarkable ability to continue working even if one bulb went out. It cut our setup and kept us from getting frustrated looking for the handful of bad bulbs. Because each bulb had its own connection to the power flow, it was not left to rely on the bulbs around it to keep it going and glowing.

Across history, God has tried to us out of our ashes and help us to live as He created us to. Sadly, we have all too often lived like those old Christmas lights. When one person fell, it did not take long for the rest of God’s people to go with them. We knew how to rely on each other, but we could not rely on God.

God sent Jesus into this world to help change that. He was the true light and source of power that connected us with God directly and helped us to continue shining. We were all created in the image of God, and because God sent Him into our world, the true light of Jesus shines in and through us.

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The Light in the Cave

This morning's scripture, the introduction to John’s gospel, is thick with poetic and philosophical significance. John sought to communicate with believers from Jewish and Roman backgrounds. Just like the Wise Men from the East, God had worked through the Greco-Roman culture and fostered a yearning for Wisdom and Truth in a way that they could not satisfy themselves, so they theorized and built myths to explain the things that were beyond their grasp.

The Jews had Genesis Chapter 1 and their poetic description of God creating the entire universe with His Word. To the Jews, John explained that Jesus was the Word that created the Universe with God and that Jesus continues to be that Word as He shapes our lives today. This gospel begins with a picture of Jesus as the almighty power of God that became a human being. We can expect great things from Him.

God's covenants with Abraham and Moses explained that God was blessing the whole world through the Jewish people. This, too, was part of the mission of Jesus. In fact, it was a fulfillment of the mission that began with Israel as God continues to draw the whole world back into a right relationship with Him. But it is difficult for us to relate to God.

The Greek Philosopher Plato once told a teaching story to explain how difficult it is to understand anything, especially God. Imagine a group of people who were prisoners in a deep, dark cave. They were chained in place and put in stocks so they could only look forward at a blank cave wall. Behind them was a fire that helped keep them warm and cast light and shadows on the blank wall. They never saw the fire, only the light and shadows it caused.

After a while, they began making stories to describe the light and shadows they saw. They did their best to try to understand this place they had spent their whole lives. None of these people had ever been outside this cave. They had been prisoners for generations. It would be amazing enough for one of them to be able to turn around and see the fire, to begin to understand how the light caused shadows that were not real things. That would be like a group of people discovering science for the first time. Their minds would be blown.

Plato goes a step further, though. He asks, what would the people think if someone came from outside the cave? How would they respond to someone who was free to move around, unchained? What would they say when that person told them about the sun, moon, and stars, about grass and trees, the winds, and the waters of the oceans? How would they treat that person?

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

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The True Light

It would be too much. Plato said the prisoners would not understand this world they had never seen. They would be suspicious of the visitor and doubt everything he said. They might try to run him off or threaten to hurt him if he stuck around. But what if the visitor unlocked the chains of one of the prisoners and took her outside so she could experience it herself? If she came back to the prisoners, to her family, what would they think of her then? They would treat her the same way they treated the visitor. Maybe they would treat her worse because she had been one of them and betrayed them to live a different life.

This whole story reminds me so much of our passage today. The light of God that shows us the truth about Him and the truth about ourselves is so different from the life this world tries to sell us. John says, in verse 9:

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Jesus was coming into the world, and those who listened and followed Him got the chance to get a whole new perspective on life. From Mary and Joseph, who sat beside Him at His birth, to the thieves on the cross who hung beside Him at His death, and all the disciples around Him when He ascended into Heaven again, Jesus was a new kind of light to them. He was the true light.

They did not get just a peek into Heaven. They got to live with the one who holds heaven together. In Revelation, John tells us that there is no sun but no night. Jesus is the light that allows everyone to see in Heaven. John tells us that the true light, Jesus became flesh and wants to have a relationship with all of us.

That is enough to make anyone’s head spin, and honestly, it’s a bit too strange to be something John just made up. He would have had an easier time making converts if he had made this all easier to believe. But John was not in the business of gaining followers or starting a movement. He was not interested in building up the church organization. He wanted to tell the truth about Jesus as best as He could, with a lot of help from the Holy Spirit. So he adds one final piece to this description of who Jesus is.

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Sharing the Light

Jesus has the power to adopt us into God’s family as God’s children. He came to rescue us from the cave of sin and death that we are held prisoner in and set us free to live. Once we are free, we can join Him in the family mission of helping Jesus free others from prison and walk in the true light with us. It is at this point that we face two temptations.

First, we are tempted to sit back and enjoy our new life without taking up the responsibility of seeking out others. It is easier to let Jesus handle all of that without us. After all, He didn’t need our help to free us. Why would He need our help to free anyone else? We cannot rationalize ourselves away from responsibility. The light of truth shows us that there are no innocent bystanders in life. We are all either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Second, we are tempted to try to save others ourselves. Especially during this holiday season, it is tempting to fix people and their difficult situations with generous giving and service. But without Jesus, our efforts will always fall short. Even when we have plenty of money to share or wisdom to impart, our gifts pale in comparison to the power and knowledge of Jesus.

When we look at the advent wreath and see the hope, peace, joy, and love it represents, we see that it finds true fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus does not just represent those characteristics, and He makes them possible. Our hope is fragile, our joy is fleeting, our peace is temporary, and our love has conditions. But not in Jesus. Jesus redefines those words with all He is and all He does. He guides, strengthens, and shapes us as we serve Him by sharing that true light with the world around us.

Today, in the spirit of Christmas and the light that fills us beyond our understanding, we have a special communion liturgy to share together.

Join me as we reconnect to the true light of Jesus so that we can share Him with others and bring God glory.

Seussical Communion

May the Lord be with you.

And also with you.

May your hearts be lightened and filled with God’s love!

We lift up our hearts and praise God above.

Let us give thanks to the Lord, God our Father.

We thank God and praise Him – it isn’t a bother!

It is right and good-ful; holy and wonderful; blessed and joyful;

To give thanks to you God, Almighty and faithful.

For it’s you that has given us this worship time,

Filled with laughter, some holy humor and rhyme.

It’s you that has shown us your holy love,

That you have sent from heaven high up above.

And so, with your angels who first sang your song,

We proclaim your goodness by singing along:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven is filled with your marvelous glory;

Earth is filled with your light.

Blessed is he who comes in your name -

“Hosanna on high!” we loudly proclaim.

Holy God, it’s your Son we remember today,

Jesus Christ, the anointed, whom we try to obey.

He encouraged the poor and freed the oppressed,

And taught us that you care about the distressed.

Through his suffering, death, and resurrection,

He taught that Your grace beats out our imperfection.

He ascended to Heaven and sits there beside you,

But still remains with us in all that we do.

On the night he was taken, he lifted some bread,

He blessed it, and broke it, and here’s what he said:

“Dear friends, this is my body to you that I give.

Take it; share it: in you I will live.

From now on, whenever, wherever you meet

Remember our time when this bread here you eat.”

When supper was over, he then took the cup,

With praise and thanksgiving he lifted it up:

“For the New Covenant, this is my blood;

A sign of the Lord’s continuing love.

For God has forgiven your every mistake,

So trust in God’s love when this drink you partake.”

May we offer ourselves for God’s greater glory,

And proclaim what we know of this fabulous story:

Christ Jesus: he died, but then rose again!

He’ll return here on earth: Hallelujah! Amen.

Holy Spirit, come down on us gathered here,

With this bread and this fruit of the vine please appear.

Make holy this food, fill us with your grace,

So we proclaim gospel to the whole human race.

We love you, Lord Jesus, we’ll shout out again

Your glory and honor:

Amen and Amen!

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