The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish. (John 1:14, The Message)
Christmas Eve
Bob the bloodhound and I are curled up in our favorite places tonight in front of the fireplace. Yet, we are mindful this night of the many people throughout the world. Many will be acknowledging the birth of Christ, the Word become flesh, in very different environs than us.
A Lowly Christmas Eve
In the largest cities of the world, like Mexico City, Mexico and Manilla, Philippines, there are huge garbage dumps that cover several square miles. On top of these heaps of waste there live hundreds of families who have made this their home.
Each day they send their kids out to forage for scraps so they can have something to eat and survive. Few others tread where these families are. Yet, there are Christian believers who make the journey. They try to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to such a place.
The First Christmas
As incredible and sad a situation that this is, it doesn’t compare to the journey from heaven to earth that Jesus made. God became flesh. Christ descended to earth. Jesus Christ came to the sin-soaked dump of this world – to us who were living on a heap of garbage – and entered our lives to save us from our wretched and pitiable condition.
The late Eugene Peterson’s simplistic translation, a paraphrase of the Apostle John’s words, communicates the essence of Christ’s gracious and cataclysmic entry to this earth on our behalf. It’s as if Jesus moved into the garbage dump and was born on the heap of waste so that God might be present with us.
Jesus did not just appear to be human, but actually became like us and lived with all the same things we face from day to day. He “tabernacled” with us, using the imagery of God’s presence with the ancient Israelites. God is with us!
Christmas Is for Believing
Bob just reminded me that John and the other gospel writers were evangelists. They wrote in order that people might believe in Jesus. That they might see what God has done in joining them in this sinful world. The four Gospel writers’ purpose was to be a witness of Jesus to others. They testified to the truth that Christ came to rescue us from our terrible condition.
John saw Jesus interact with the families in the dump. John knew what was happening. God was coming to save the people. The way to reach people, who are so concerned for scurrying about their business and trying to survive apart from God, is through the incarnation. Through testifying to what God has done in Christ, and through being sent, we ourselves, as little incarnations of entering into people’s lives.
Christmas Means God Is with Us
We are like the moon, not producing light ourselves. But in the middle of darkness, reflecting the light of the sun so that the earth may know that Jesus is coming.
The mystery of the incarnation, the Word become flesh, is that Jesus became human and lived among us. May we rejoice and be glad in this reality. May it move us to be used of God to save those on the sin heap of this world.
May you have a blessed Christmas and enjoy peace with God and others in this next year.
Pastor Tim (and Bob!)
