“Not Forsaken”
Original sermon given on Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“Not Forsaken”
John 1.1-14
John 1.1-14
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has come to us. Amen.
What not to do for a Christmas Day sermon. Don’t do a philosophy lecture, nor a philology lecture. Don’t get too abstract with thoughts, nor too detailed into words.
I will do neither today, but I will touch on both Philosophy and Philology — not to bore you to sleep (in case you were up a bit late last night), but because I want you to understand more fully the message of the Incarnation — God with us.
John’s Christmas gospel is beautiful and powerful and reflective. But you’ll notice, in contrast to Luke and Matthew’s account of the Christmas story, we don’t get angels, shepherds, mangers — we don’t even get the baby Jesus mentioned by name. But we do get a word, a wonderful word which is literally the word, “word”. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God,” John writes. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
The word for “word” in Greek, as some of you might know, is “logos”. (It sounds like Legos, or Legolas, but Jesus is neither a famous Danish toy nor a Lord of the Rings elf with a really great bow.) “In the beginning was the Logos” (the word),” John writes. “And the Logos was with God and the Logos was God.” (John 1.1)
Here’s the philosophy part: for some in the ancient Greek speaking world, the word “logos” meant something like “eternal divine reason”. There was discernable order, rationality, and purpose behind the universe, in the universe, and for the universe. They didn’t all necessarily call this “God”, but some figured there was an underlying principle beyond this world, which could also be found in human beings. They called this “the logos”. Divine reason, thought.
Here's the philology part. The Jews also liked the word “logos” and used it in their Greek translations of their Hebrew Old Testament. For them, God’s logos was a “powerful self-expression of creation, revelation, and salvation.”[1] Whether in the beginning, when God’s word created all things; or at Mt Sinai when the Law was given; or through the mouths of the prophets, both convicting and comforting God’s people, the Word / Logos in the Old Testament was a revelation of God’s very self to his people.
Both are true for us today — the Greek and the Hebraic understanding of “logos” — and John’s Christmas gospel is a reminder of this. There is purpose behind our lives and in our lives because God came to us in the logos made flesh, Jesus. When this Christmas baby would grow older, in his earthly ministry he himself would claim to be “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14.6). When we hold the baby Jesus in our arms by faith today, we are embracing eternal truth. Purpose became a Person; Eternity stepped into Time; Meaning became a Man; the Light became alive. This divine light is discernable, knowable, “follow-able” — but only in the logos made flesh in Jesus Christ.
But Jesus is also the word from the father, dwelling among us, walking with us on our journey. Like the Tabernacle in the Old Testament — that center point of Yahweh’s revelation as they journeyed in the wilderness. The word has tabernacled among us, full of Grace and truth. A pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. God himself walks with us also on our journey in the babe of Bethlehem. He draws near to us. Reveals himself to us. He’s as close to us as thoughts in our brains; words on our lips or in our ears; breath in our lungs.
This logos made flesh, this word tabernacling among us, did not stay safe and warm in the manger. In fact, if your Jesus is only the baby Jesus lying in a manger that you think quaint thoughts about once a year, he’s not the real Jesus. There was a greater purpose for the logos taking on real flesh and blood and bones. He would grow fully into a man, inaugurate the Kingdom of God through his word and work, be opposed and rejected by a sinful humanity, take upon fully our sins at the cross, suffer death and hell for us, and rise victoriously on the third day. God, in Christ, went to hell and back for us. Purpose in life and the promise of eternal life are secure for us because the word was made flesh. Our sinful humanity was redeemed through his perfect divinity coming among us.
All this is ours today through faith. “To those who received him,” John writes, “he gave to them the power Children of God to be.” (John 1.12) We don’t deserve it. We can’t muster it in ourselves. We can never pay it back. We can’t even fully understand it. Like the greatest Christmas gift you’ve ever received, you can only embrace it with joy and wonder.
St. John’s Christmas gospel makes it clear to us that God the Father created all things through Jesus, the Logos, He expresses Himself through Jesus, the Logos, and He brings us back to Him through Jesus, the Logos. All this is our today.
Merry Christmas!
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] D. A. Carson, John, p. 116