The Nativity of our Lord, 2023

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

St. John 1:1-14

The Nativity of our Lord

December 25, 2023

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

All four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—begin their Gospels in different ways. Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus Christ. He begins his Gospel in this way, in order to show that Jesus Christ is true man, that He is the fulfillment of the promise, first given to Eve and then also to Abraham and that He is a Son of Abraham and also David’s Son. Without reading the entire genealogy, the last third reads like this: “After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:12-17)

Mark doesn’t include a birth narrative in his Gospel. Instead, he begins with prophecies from Malachi and Isaiah, “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before you.” And “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’” Mark is initially concerned with John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord. Very fitting for the season of Advent. And yet, it is no longer Advent. The Lord has come.

Luke goes back in time. He begins his Gospel with a dedication to a certain Theophilus, followed by the foretelling of the births of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Luke also includes historical facts that surround the birth of Jesus so that we would know that Jesus, in fact, was born as a human being. “It came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Then Luke includes more historical details. “This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.” (Luke 2:2) Luke shows us the Christ in Mary’s baby. He shows that Jesus was born in a real place and when real people were in power in history.

The first three Gospel writers are very much concerned with the fact that Jesus was a historical man, Who was born of His Mother Mary in real time, in a real place called Bethlehem, and that He is of the genealogy of David, of Abraham, and thus, He is the promised Messiah.

John, however, goes back even further. He goes back even before time existed. “In the beginning,” is where John begins. He begins his Gospel on a cosmic in scale. John isn’t initially concerned with showing Jesus as a man, but showing the Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity as eternal, in the beginning, as God who would become flesh and dwell among us. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Now the word that’s used here, that we translate as “with—the Word was with God,” isn’t actually the traditional word in Greek that we would normally translate as “with.” Of course, it can have that sense but what the word “with” really means here is “pointed toward” or “directed toward” or “moving toward.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was [pointed toward, directed toward, moving toward] God, and the Word was God.”

We know that this Word of God is the Word of the Father. The Son, the Only-Begotten Son of the Father. From eternity, He is pointed toward God, directed and moves toward His Father because He is the Beloved of His Father. The Holy Spirit is then the Love that proceeds from both this Father and this Son.

John, from the outset, is Trinitarian. John shows and describes the Trinity as a family. The Father is a Father who loves His Son. The Son is moved toward His Father, and thus the Love that they have is the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from them. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. This eternal Word, from all time is God. And this eternal Word, who is God from all time, who created and made all things, for all things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made, He, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became flesh and dwelt among us.

John still has much to say about this eternal, uncreated Word, Who now dwells among us in the flesh, as a man, as the Light of the world. John was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That Light is the One Who has come into the world to take away our sins. For this precise purpose, the Light of the world entered into our darkness, took upon Himself our flesh, and dwelt among us. The Only-Begotten Son of the Father, the Word of God came to us. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. He has many other names: Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Probably most familiar to all of us is the name John the Baptist gives Him: the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Even though He came to His own, His own did not receive Him.

But.

“But,” says John the Evangelist, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Even as He is the Son of God, He has become our brother by Divine adoption, because adoption makes real sons.

You must believe this, if you are to rightly celebrate Christmas and the Nativity of our Lord. You must believe this, if you are to be a Christian. Because you are not Christian if you do not believe that the Word was there in the beginning, that the Word was with God, and that the Word Himself was God. You are no Christian if you do not believe that God has no beginning, that He is the Alpha and the Omega. The Son of God is not a created being. He, like His Father and Their Spirit always was. There was never a time when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity did not exist.

We must also always believe and confess that this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the climax of the Gospel reading—the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. If the Word did not become man; if He did not take upon Himself our own human flesh and nature, and dwell among us, die as one of us, for us, and rise again, then there would be nothing to rejoice over. There would be no reason to be happy. There wouldn’t be anyone to sing praises to because nothing would matter and we would be lost in our sins. If God in Christ Jesus did not become a man to atone for our sins, there would be no Christmas joy. But the Word did become flesh and dwell among us. And He still does, even today, through the means, which He has promised.

He dwelt among us for a time as a helpless babe in Bethlehem. He dwelt among us also for a time and healed people, raised them from the dead, died, and was Himself raised. And this Word of God, the voice of God, God in the flesh, has been in all points and in every way, experienced what it means to be human so that He might in turn, be for us, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. In this, we behold His glory, because He is the Only begotten of the Father. He is full of grace and truth. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But through faith, we do. We actually behold Him and receive Him. We can grasp God, even as we eat and drink of Him in the Sacrament. Therefore, we also receive His grace and truth.

In +Jesus’ name.