Fr. Troy Beecham
By: Father Troy Beecham
Tags: Jesus, Father Troy Beecham, Christianity, Revelation, God

Fr. Troy Beecham

Sermon, 1 Christmas 2020

John 1:1–18

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”

Every year on the first Sunday of Christmas, we hear these awesome words proclaimed. These are some of the most familiar, most well-known words in the Christian Scriptures. This is the majestic prologue to the Gospel according to St. John. It is prologue because it sets the parameters for how we are to read and understand the entire Gospel, and how we are to understand who Jesus is and why that matters.

The core truth of Christianity has to do with the revelation of who God truly is, and just how Jesus, being born just like we are born, uniquely reveals the character and nature of God, and what God desires for his creation, especially us. What makes Jesus unique and what differentiates how God is revealed in him from all other religions? Everything, from his conception, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, reveals something about God to us.

Have you ever wondered how is it that a man who was murdered through the wicked collaboration of religion and the power of the imperial State, a man who died in the most inhumane, grotesque way on the Roman instrument of torture and death by crucifixion, came to be understood within a generation as being the creator of all things, the logos of God — the creative power of God — through who God created all things? How did such a transformation come to be? This has been the core teaching of Christianity from the beginning, and is affirmed in the creeds at least each Sunday (and daily for those who celebrate the Holy Eucharist and/or the Daily Prayers every day) as the faithful gather to worship God.

Such an astonishing transformation is hard to understand, I think, for us who live so far from the lived experience of Jesus by his early disciples. We tend to think that this assertion of the Faith has only become outdated in the modern era. The truth is that it has always been problematic, no less today than it was two thousand years ago, to proclaim that this man Jesus is somehow one with God in a manner that goes beyond simply being such a holy man that he is called a son of God. But this is not enough.

No, the Christian religion teaches that, beyond all reason, Jesus is somehow uniquely the Son of God, one with God, begotten of God but not created, that through him all of creation came into being. Even more, the Christian Faith proclaims that through Jesus all of humankind is invited into a new relationship with God — that God has opened the way for us to become his children through our being united with him through his Son, Jesus.

There is not enough time to make an argument to support this profound assertion of the Christian Faith in a simple sermon. There are not enough books making the argument that can convince someone to accept this primary Truth. And so, I will simply let the words stand on their own and ask you to quietly meditate upon them: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

And I pray that God will open our hearts and minds to accept the Truth by faith, through grace. My prayer is that all of us will come to God through his Son, Jesus, and so become children of God. Come, Holy Spirit of God, and kindle the fire and light of faith in our hearts.

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word, Jesus your Son: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.