Jesus (from Joshua, Yahweh is salvation)

Twenty-Fifth Day of Advent

I hear James Taylor sing:

Who comes this night, this wintry night,
As to the lowly manger?
The Shepherd’s and the Kings did come
To welcome in the stranger. – lyric by Sally Stevens

But who is this stranger they come to welcome, and for whom we have been waiting through all these days of Advent? For some he is the King of kings, come to rule in the hearts of men and women everywhere, while for others he is a simple carpenter, overwhelmed by forces too powerful for him. To some he is a great teacher, even the greatest teacher who ever lived, while to others a misguided fool who imagines his martyr’s death will somehow bring the liberation of his people. There are even some scholars who claim to be his followers, and yet suggest he never actually lived at all. – I’m afraid that sort of thinking takes considerably more scholarship than I’ve been able to acquire. – But, one thing I think we can all agree on; he is one who, even after twenty centuries, still commands the interest of millions. I mean, how many people who died two thousand years ago can still make the cover of TIME and News Week twice a year?

But the question is as old as the Gospels, and every Advent brings it back again. Who is this baby born in Bethlehem over whom, after all this time, the world still makes such a fuss?

Well, John’s Gospel begins with as radical an answer as you could possibly imagine.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.

John begins by introducing us to one he calls “the Word”. In Genesis, chapter one, we are told that God created everything by speaking it into existence, and John says the same thing in a new way. It was “the Word” that went forth from God and created everything. And this “Word” is the source of life for everyone who is alive, and of enlightenment for everyone who is enlightened. John would never have doubted for a moment that Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Buddha or Confucius might have been truly enlightened, but he would insisted that such enlightenment has only one source, the Word that comes from God. Regardless how much death and darkness there is in the world, life and light just keep on coming. Not just to Christians and Jews, or even believers and good people; to everyone.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This is John’s answer to the question “Who is this baby born in Bethlehem?” The Word that created the universe, that gives life to everyone, and is the source of all learning, all true knowledge, all understanding, has become a human being. And that human being is Jesus. He is quite literally the incarnation of the God of everything and everyone.

And why did God do this astounding thing? Well, John answers that question in the famous passage, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You see, this was something the Word was always doing from the beginning; coming into the world, giving life and light to all who would believe, that is, receive. The incarnation simply takes this coming to another level.

But wasn’t God angry with the world and threatening to come in judgment? Well, consider the very next verse, John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Of course God has always been grieved and angered, as any loving father would be, at those things that abuse and destroy his creation, and especially his little ones. But never, never with the world.

Jesus is the Word of God, who actually is God, reaching out in a new and more profound way, to his creation, his world, to you and me. His desire is the same as that of any loving father, to embrace and restore his children. It is the same as that of any good shepherd, to recover his lost sheep.

I suppose Charles Wesley said it as well as anyone ever has.

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"

Jesus is the reconciliation between God and humanity, the place where we and God come together. And, if I want to be close to God, Jesus is the best way I’ve ever found. Or, better put, he is the way that found me. He is the Word who seeks out everyone with the gifts of enlightenment and life.