The Word Became Flesh

Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. There will almost certainly be people at the Christmas Day service, even if they were in church on Christmas Eve the night before. So I will get to preach on the prologue to the Gospel of John on Christmas itself, rather than the first Sunday after Christmas. The latter works well enough – Luke’s more familiar narrative always shows up Christmas Eve, and the Sunday after that can be a time to step back and reflect on what it all means, which is what John’s prologue does. But how does one reflect in the midst of the event itself? When people are expecting to hear about a sweet baby in a manger, will they be willing to go back to the beginning of time?

En archē ēn ho logos, John writes. In the beginning was the Word. This was the first Greek I ever translated, way back in high school, and it still resonates with all of the echoes of the years since. John isn’t speaking about just any beginning. It was the beginning, even though that definite article never appears. The Word was there, right from the start, there with God. Everything was made through the Word, because when God spoke that Word, things happened. When God spoke “Light!” light happened. And the light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

At the time the evangelist John was writing, there seemed to be some confusion about John the Baptist. Was he the light? We know from Paul’s letters that disciples of the Baptizer were about, and the evangelist takes pains to clarify that he was not the one. John witnessed to the One, but he wasn’t it. Even the family into whom the Word was born was confused. Only through the will of God did clarity come, not through any human power.

Kai ho logos sarx egeneto kai eskēnōsen en hēmin. And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. All of the fullness and permanence of God emptied to become a fragile human. The Greek word for “dwelled” literally means to live in a tent – showing just how impermanent the Word became in human form. This is truly the mystery of the Incarnation.

How does one describe this mystery? Luke does it with archangel visits and angelic choirs singing to terrified shepherds. Matthew does it with dreams and star-drawn magi from a far-off land. John walks straight into the mystery and emerges on the other side with simple words that belie the depth of what he has heard. The Word became flesh. That’s a spine-tingling and eye-watering statement. It’s more than baby’s breath or royal gifts. It’s who we are as Christians.

The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, full of grace and truth. There’s enough grace for all of the world’s sins, more truth than every lie, more light than the darkness can overcome. Those few who come to church on Christmas morning will be the lucky ones. That day we will all be witnesses to the light, witnesses to the mystery of our salvation.

[Christmas Day: John1:1-14.]