"The light shines"-A Sermon of Christmas 1, John 1:1-18
Today we continue our celebration of the 12 days of Christmas with John’s unique and cosmic version of Jesus’ Nativity. We are, indeed, a long way from the manger, from Bethlehem, from Mary and Joseph and the new born baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. John’s story, which is more poetry than narrative or prose, is, indeed, about Jesus’ birth…about the incarnation of God’s love in human flesh…about Emmanuel, God with us. However, he begins his hymn or poetry like musings at the very, very beginning of the story of God’s love coming into our world…before a birth…before Mary hears the Angel Gabriel’s proclamation that God has placed His holy child in her womb. In fact, John begins even before time and space explode on the scene. As perhaps you know, John literally begins his Gospel with the same familiar phrase with which all of scripture begins…mirroring perfectly the opening phrase of the book of Genesis. Thus, John begins, “In the beginning”. He writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory…full of grace and truth.”
John wants to make it entirely clear who this person, born in this Christmas season long ago, actually is. Jesus is the eternal Word of God…Jesus is God in human form…God clothed in human flesh and blood. Genesis tells us that God spoke the universe into being. And, John, in his gospel, wants to make it entirely clear that Jesus, as God’s eternal Word, is the embodiment of the ultimate power behind the universe…the love that creates and forms all that is…our universe, galaxy, the earth, our fragile island home, and all that has or will be contained within it…even you, even me. Thus, John says to us that Jesus, born to us at Christmas, is the light that fires creation…that very light that enters into the darkness of nothingness to make everything that is. John writes, “What has come into being in [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Thus, at Christmas, we remember, give thanks and celebrate that God, the author of life, who fires creation with the light of his love…in the birth of Jesus…in the act of incarnation…brings that creative and life-giving light directly…purposefully…right into the midst of human life…right into the darkness that continues to enshroud the world in which we live…right into the darkness that we, at times, all still experience. Jesus’ birth, at the very first Christmas, is the eternal promise that light, indeed, shines in the darkness…and that light shall not, and never will be, overcome.
So, I want to share a story, that I have before in various settings, of an experience where a light shining in the midst of deep darkness perhaps saved my life or certainly saved me from what would have been one of the longest and most frightening nights of my life. It was my very first year out of college, and I was traveling in Costa Rica with a few friends, some of whom were down there on an extended stay studying Spanish…or really buying as much time as possible before their parents madethem find a real job! One afternoon, we decided to venture into the jungle to find a beautiful waterfall and pool that created a sort of swimming oasis…hidden several miles deep in the jungle foliage. One of my friends who had been in the country for a while had visited this waterfall once before with a local and felt confident that he knew the way…and more or less he did.
It took a little longer than we planned to arrive. We made a few wrong turns, but, once we did arrive, it was as amazing as promised. The waterfall was several stories high and the water rushed into a bright, clear, blue pool of cool water. The pool was surrounded by lovely flowering plants and plush green vegetation. The water was a welcome refreshment after our long walk. We could even climb up the waterfall, about half way up, and jump into the pool from far above. Other than the water clambering into the pool in a cacophony of foam and bubbles there was no sound other than our own happy voices. It truly felt like we were totally alone in the world sheltered in a peaceful garden paradise. Honestly, it felt like Eden.
Well, we were enjoying ourselves to the point that we lost track of time and the afternoon quickly slipped away. It was getting to about an hour or a bit longer before sunset, and we realized we had to begin our hike out of the jungle immediately, if we wanted to do so before dark. But with dusk settling in, it seemed that the landscape began to change, and we could not find familiar markers to help point the way out. We realized that we were perhaps lost and what had felt like a jungle paradise was feeling now more and more like an ominous and unfamiliar wilderness…filled with creatures who might be licking their lips at the thought of disoriented prey. I have heard the expression of walking in circles…and I never really believed in it…I mean just walk straight for goodness sake. But, as we attempted to find our way out, I was pretty sure we passed the same tree on more than one occasion.
Darkness was coming…and when it gets dark in this part of the world…void of light pollution…it gets real dark, real quick. Well, we admitted we were lost, and, honestly, we were really afraid. So, this is what we decided to do. We looked for the highest and clearest spot we could find so we would not be up against trees in which creepy crawlers or slithering reptiles might call home, and we sat down…back to back…determined to stay up through the night and keep watch for any unwanted visitors…like a jaguar or wild pig or what every else my imagination could come up with. I was imagining scenes from “The Lord of the Flies”. And the darkness did come, in an instant, and we began to be aware of a complete silence, not even the wind was rustling past.
As our humor began to wane at what at first seemed a laughable situation…a bunch of frat guys lost in a jungle…sounds like the beginning of a bad joke…our unfortunate plight began to settle in. We were going to spend the night in the jungle without a tent, blanket or any means of protection. And then the most unexpected of things happened. As our eyes began to adjust to the darkness…there it was…more welcome than anything I could have imagined…a light! Perhaps it had been there even while the sun was up…but we could not see it till the darkness had fully enshrouded the world around us. About a quarter of a mile away just above the treetops in a valley below the clearing where we were sitting, shown a single bright light. We couldn’t imagine what it was doing there, as any sort of civilization seemed a long, long way off, but sure enough there it was. So, we decided for good or ill…not knowing what we might encounter along the way or what the source of the light even was…to walk…toward the light. We moved quickly and arrived at the source in what seemed like an instant…and there we found a wooden cabin. The welcome light was a front porch light.
The cabin, and I use the term loosely, for it looked to be a hastily thrown together box of two by fours and ply wood, had more light coming from around the one door that allowed entrance…so we hesitantly knocked. The door quickly opened and a single, small man came out. He seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see him. Can you imagine a bunch of white guys, lost in the Costa Rican jungle, showing up at night on your doorstep? We explained our predicament, in our broken Spanish, and he let us in with a smile on his face. I am sure he was reasonably sort of laughing at us. He walked to a radio receiver in the cabin, as there was no phone, and from the receiver he radioed into the local town from which we had begun our journey, to send someone out with a truck to pick up this rag tag and woefully underprepared group of adventurers. It was time to celebrate and we did! A single point of light had saved us from a lonely and frightening night in the jungle...or perhaps worse. A light shining in the darkness…again…the most welcome light I have ever seen.
As I have said on so many occasions in this season, Christmas is not one day or twelve. Christmas happens each and every time we see the light and walk toward it. Every time the light of God’s love fires our imagination and brings vision to our spirit…a holy vision that sees Jesus incarnate, bringing the light of hope, into real moments of darkness…caused by both our own moral fragility and the evil and division that the world heaves onto our shoulders. For, when in the nighttime, jungle-like, lost and disoriented times of life…Christmas reveals to us the light…the eternal, creative and life-giving light, which existed before time and even now, through Jesus, God’s eternal Word, who remains an alive and active light-giving source of love-filled power in our lives and world today. Whatever the season we find ourselves in on the calendar, Christmas reminds us that the light of God’s love shines bright, always bringing with it hope and healing and new opportunities, even in the most unexpected moments…like the floor of a cave, through the womb of a teenager, in the midst of blood, sweat and tears, in the presence of ordinary human lives like a carpenter and shepherds.
God’s light shines in the midst of disappointment and job loss and unwanted diagnosis and poverty and grief and separation and disagreement…in Costa Rican jungles and Middle Eastern villages and in Central Texas homes. In the midst of the darkness of our own nighttime, fearful and uncertain moments…the light is shining, we need only to look with the eyes of our heart to see it and intentionally walk toward it. Blessedly, sometimes the darkness even allows us to the see the light…that was always there…bringing it into clear focus. Further, as the light fills us, we, ourselves, become light for the world. God’s light for others in their own nighttime and uncertain moments…when lost and disoriented…and Christmas happens for them. For this Jesus was born…for this the universe was created…for this we too are born and live…for the light of God’s love to rule both day and night. For in the beginning, even now and for as long as time and space continue, the light of God’s love shall shine bright, most especially when things seem the darkest…at the moment when hope almost fades.
So, look for the light…walk toward the light…be light…as God’s love is en-fleshed in you. For it is both the hope and consolation of the world now, and it is the end that has already been written for us and all that is made…life forever and eternal bliss, Eden restored, as we revel together in the light of God’s perpetual love…come to us at Christmas, and that shall not, and will never be, overcome. Amen.