My kids have pointed out that almost all Christmas programs and movies have similar themes. Someone is trying to save Christmas or Santa Claus. Or someone is trying to save the true meaning of Christmas because it is threatened; perhaps by a bad guy or by commercialism or something else. Christmas, this culture wide multi-billion dollar annual event – the biggest annual celebration of our society – is presented as weak or fragile, seriously threatened. Ironically none of the Christmas movies give any serious coverage to the birth of Jesus story, which perhaps is truly threatened. And yet, when we turn our attention to our Bible readings for today we realize that there is nothing that can actually threaten Christmas.
December 27 is the day to celebrate
St. John, our church’s namesake. Even
though it is not a specifically Christmas theme, we discover that there is a
powerful message for Christmas too. But
first, we have to ask ourselves a question.
Who wrote the things in the Bible attributed to St. John?
John the disciple of Jesus is the
obvious answer, and it’s the one suggested by church history as well. A first century Christian by the name of
Polycarp appears to have been an acquaintance and disciple of the apostle
John. He is our closest link connecting
the gospel of John and the three letters of John to the disciple John. However, while legends abound, we know almost
nothing certain about Polycarp. As early
as the year 130 we have people questioning whether these writings do actually come
from John.
There’s something ironic about
questioning who wrote these works.
Because not only do they not say who wrote them, they are actually
written for the purpose of keeping the author unknown! In 2nd John and 3rd
John the writer only refers to himself as “the elder”. The Gospel of John only refers to the author
as the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. And
while 1st John is deliberately written from a first person
perspective that person remains anonymous – only to be known as we read in our
second reading (1 John 1:1-2:2), a reliable witness.
You could argue that this anonymity
is for safety sake – Christians are being persecuted by both Romans and Jews. The author doesn’t want his words to be
traced back to him. But I don’t believe
that is the case. In those days the
justice systems didn’t get too worked up about things like evidence and proof
before torturing and executing someone.
No, the anonymity of the author is
part of the author’s writing strategy. He
wants us –readers far far away and centuries later- to learn something
about God through him, an eyewitness. He
insists on being part of the background, so that through him we can be in the
story too. Ultimately he wants to feel
close to us the reader
and
us feel close to him
and
also close to God.
Hear again the beginning of our
second lesson, “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have
heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with
our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed, and we have
seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with
the Father and was revealed to us – we declare to you what we have seen and
heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
(1 John 1:1-3)
I said before that this day to
commemorate John actually speaks to Christmas.
It speaks to Christmas far more powerfully and profoundly than the birth
story of Jesus with angels, shepherds and wise men. Because all of that, while significant, is
surface detail. What does Christmas
mean? What is its purpose? Why is it important? Those are answered by John.
Jesus, the Word of God, according to
the Gospel of John, was made flesh.
Why? So that real living people
like you and me could see and touch and hear God in our own form and in our own
world.
The birth story of Jesus that we
read on Christmas Eve has almost reached fairy tale status. There’s the supernatural angels and lowly
shepherds, a virgin mother and stars in the sky. All of which makes a great story, but a story
no different from a fairy tale. A
fragile fairy tale no more stable in most people’s minds than many other
cultural Christmas traditions like Santa Claus.
John’s not interested in validating
or defending that. He really doesn’t
care about Jesus’ birth story. He cares
that you know this:
You
cannot reach God.
You
cannot understand God.
You
cannot be in relationship with God.
And
God knows all of those limitations you have.
Therefore
God came to you.
And
therefore you can now fully know God.
You
can now be in an actual relationship with God.
In our second reading John no sooner
makes this point than he makes a sudden shift.
He talks about sin. “If we say we
have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and
just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1:8-9) You may know those words well
from when they were regularly used in the confession and forgiveness.
Why take such a turn? Why link the coming of Christ in one breath
and then talk about sin in the next?
Because
John wants you to fully know Jesus and be in relationship with him. But as I mentioned before, can you by your
own power be in relationship with Jesus?
Can
you reach God on your own?
No.
You can’t.
It
is only by recognizing our limits, our brokenness, our separation that
the door stays open for God to reach us.
The moment we think we’ve got it we close the door and the relationship
starts to suffer. And remember, in
John’s writings sin is not so much actions that you do that are naughty or bad,
sin is a state of being that wants to exist without God. Sin is wanting to be your own savior by your
own power. If you don’t see that
tendency that is constant and common to all of us then you really are trapped
in your sins.
Have you ever had someone sin
against you but not realize it; or perhaps refuse to realize it? Perhaps it’s a co-worker whose part of the
project is over budget and past due. The
whole team is taking the hit and suffering but this person always manages to
have excuses. It’s never his or her
fault but someone else’s. You may even
be the target; and while blame may not stick to the other person it does
somehow end up sticking to you.
Are you ever going to be able to
have a good relationship with that person?
Can you be that person’s friend?
No. No matter how much you
forgive that person, and no matter how much you work to have a good
relationship, until that person recognizes his or her destructive behavior you
can’t do anything. That person needs to
recognize his or her sin. Then and only
then can a healthy relationship develop.
Perhaps sometimes it is we who blame
others for our failings. Woe to us when
that happens. We are in a self-created
downward spiral.
I find that people who willingly
forgive others are often willing to recognize their own sins and effectively
accept forgiveness. And those who do not
forgive are also not willing to accept their own sinfulness.
John, our church’s namesake, would
have us been in a full and healthy relationship with God our creator and savior
– who comes to us in a form we can understand, and who forgives us endlessly. But the relationship can only form when we
accept our limitedness.
Here’s
a strange Christmas gift for ourselves.
Stop trying to be perfect and do it all right on our own. Instead, give up. Accept our imperfections, accept the
imperfections of others, and in so doing discover true fellowship with each
other and our God. Amen
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