One of Us, One with Us
Christmas 2A
January 5, 2020
Grace, Waseca, MN
John 1.1-18
The pastor-in-training was visiting a patient in the hospital as part of his chaplaincy rotation. After a few minutes of intently listening to the agonies of the seriously ill man, the nascent pastor, with as much empathy and compassion as he could muster, said “I know how you feel.” Without warning, the patient’s hand shot out from under the covers and his fist caught the pastor square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. The ailing man snarled, “You can’t begin to know how I feel.” It was a valuable, if painful, lesson the seminarian learned that day about walking with people and one I took to heart when it was related to me by him.
All the presents have been unwrapped and put away, the trees and lights are down, the Christmas programs are a memory, and Valentines displays are in the stores, but here in the church it’s still Christmas (at least for today). You might think it’s a cranky attempt by the church to be counter-cultural and revolt against society. There is some truth to that, but as Kathryn Shifferdecker points out, “The wonder of the Word-made-flesh cannot be contained or packed away with the decorations and trappings of Christmas.” Then she adds that, without all of the distractions, “…we may able to hear and speak of mystery” of Christ’s birth.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, glory of a Father’s own Son,” John tells us in poetic, exalted language. The One who was there from the beginning, before there was a beginning, the One through whom and for whom all things were created took on and became one with that which he created. This claim has startling implications, not the least of which we claim that things that are finite are indeed capable of bearing that which is infinite and that which is limited can hold the limitless. In other words, human flesh, water, and bread and wine can contain God. As my friend and colleague Pastor Darby Lawrence notes when we take the very creator of the universe into our bodies, “It’s a wonder we don’t explode.”
Yet, perhaps the greatest implication of the mystery that God become one of us is the claim that God knows in an intimate way what it means to be human, to actually know what we feel. But is that true? Are we now protesting that claim with a mental fist aimed squarely at God’s chest? Sure, in Jesus Christ God knows hunger, pain, grief, suffering, death and joy, but does God really know what it means to be me. Does God know about cancer, Alzheimer’s, divorce, job loss, depression, PTSD, mental illness and other things? Yes! Jesus knows exactly what it is like to be us because in his cross Jesus took on all our pain and suffering and brokenness where it was ultimately crucified and redeemed.
That’s good news, but there is more because with God there is always more. The even better news is that the God who became One of us is also One with us. Perhaps the most enduring mystery is not that God entered creation at Christmas. The most enduring mystery is that God is still here. It would be easy for us to give up on ourselves and our world, to be cynical about our world full of political and cultural divisions, the wars and petty conflicts, if it weren’t for Christmas. Christmas reminds us that God has not given up on us nor will he. With that assurance and the New Year looming, I ask you to look back and see how God was with you this past year, to where the Word-made-flesh lived with you and invite you to resolve to look for God’s presence in the coming one. Thanks be to God! Happy New Year my sisters and brothers in Christ.
For an audio version of this sermon, click here. (It is dated January 8 and is in two parts.)
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