Any teacher who is worth his salt knows that he just cannot speak in vague generalities and abstractions to his students. Regardless of how true his teaching might be, he must “PUT SOME FLESH ON IT.”
I contend with this problem every time I teach, especially with youth. I mustcommunicate the great doctrines of the Christian Faith, such grand and abstract ideas as sin, grace and salvation, in such way that they understand them. If they do not become flesh inconcrete examples or ordinary life, I will lose them to the daydreams of boredom or the chaos of nervous energy.
It is not easy to put flesh on such big ideas. Yet, that is the central task of teaching.It is a lot like Christmas. The Word of God becomes flesh. The timeless and eternal becomespecific and temporal.
Today’s Gospel, the opening of the Gospel of John, speaks of the same problem.These verses set the theme, tone and direction of the Gospel. They were most likely sung as a hymn in the early church. The language is rhythmic and rich with imagery. Imagine the early Christians gathered underground, deep in some cave, hiding in fear for their lives. Afew candles gently illumine the darkness. Softly chanting voices fill the silence. We hear . . .
In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God,
And the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God;
The light shines in the darkness,
And the darkness has not overcome it.
This is the language of worship. However, it is also vague and mysterious. Who is the “Word?” What is the “darkness?” What is the “life and light of men?” When we read onin this Gospel, we see how John, like a good teacher, “puts flesh” on his words. In fact, that is the purpose of the entire Gospel of John: to put these grand abstractions into something concrete and specific, so that we not only can understand them but believe them and receive the life they bring.
The Word of God is Jesus, God’s love in action. Jesus is God’s light overcoming the darkness of this world. We behold that light as Jesus teaches his disciples, turns water into wine, heals the man born blind and raises Lazarus from the dead. The light shines in the darkness as Jesus is crucified and raised from the dead. Jesus is the Word of God . . . “with skin on.”
However, that raises a troubling question. If Jesus is literally God in the flesh, the Word of God “with skin on,” . . . then why did so few of the students catch on?
John recognizes the problem already here at the beginning of his Gospel. The worlddid not recognize Jesus. His own people did not receive him. Why? Did not God put enough flesh on his Word? No, . . . quite the contrary. There was too much flesh! No one expected the creator of heaven and earth to come like this. No one expected the teacher to make this sort of object lesson. When the Word of God became FLESH, 100% human flesh in this ordinary carpenter’s son from the boondocks of Galilee, . . . everyone missed it! They were looking for something much more grand and universal.
John does not give us any of the specific details on HOW this Word became flesh. There is no “Christmas story” in John. John relates other events from Jesus’ life to show us the Word made flesh.
However, if we look to the most famous of Christmas stories in the Gospel of Luke, we see the same problem. Luke shows God in the flesh in the nitty-gritty details ofordinary life. There are no theological abstractions here, just shepherds, a manger and a baby born in a barn. BUT the students still do not get it!
Mary and Joseph show up in Bethlehem, but there was no room for them in the inn. They were just another poor Jewish couple. No one would welcome them. They had to go to the barn out back.
That tiny detail, that there was no room for them in the inn, is easily ignored in this all too familiar story. However, there is more here than meets the eye! Martin Luther, who dearly loved the Christmas story, made much out of this simple detail.
“Now when they were come to Bethlehem, the Evangelist says that they were of all, the lowest and most despised, and must make way for everyone until they were shoved into a stable to make common lodging and table with the cattle, while many cutthroats lounged like lords in the inn. They did not recognize what God was doing in the stable. With all their eating, drinking and finery, God left them empty, and this comfort and treasure was hidden from them. Oh, what a dark night it was in Bethlehem that this light should have been seen. Thus God shows that he has no regard for what the world is and has and does. And the world shows that it does not know or consider what God is and has and does.
“Joseph had to do his best, and it may well be that he asked some maid to fetch water or something else, but we do not read that anyone came to help. They heard that a young wife was lying in a cow stall and no one gave heed! Shame on you wretched Bethlehem!! The inn ought to have been burned with brimstone, for even though Mary had been a beggar and unwed, anybody at such time should have been glad to give her a hand.”
Yes, it is sad that all those people in Bethlehem missed this wondrous event.However, if we had been there, we are sure that we would not have been so blind to the Word made flesh. We would have found room for the Holy Family in our house. At least we would have gone to help them in the stable.
“Nonsense!” says Luther. In this same Christmas sermon Luther chides those in his own congregation who think that they would not have committed the same tragic mistake.
“There are many of you in this congregation who think to yourselves, ‘If only I have been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby! I would have washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!’ Yes you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time, you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Childish and silly thoughts are these! Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need, you to do the Lord Christ himself.”
Luther redirects our attention. We think that Christmas happens just once a year. We think that God appeared in the flesh just once in history . . . back there in Bethlehem. But as Luther reminds us, Christmas can happen again and again.
Christmas comes whenever God appears “in the flesh.” Just ask Jeannie Philips, Gary and Connie Aschenfelter, Kristen Tuffnell, Mike and Megan Hornbecker or any of the other of the new people who have come to Christ Church this past year. Or those who received food through our offerings to the Sharing Place. Or those lonely folks who wander into Christ Church asking for assistance. Or those for whom we pray. Or thosefamilies that are blessed through our pre-school. Or Kristen and Russell Vance who brought their daughter Kendall to the waters of Baptism today.
They will tell you about how it feels to be welcomed. They were not turned away because there was no room in the inn. The love of God has met them not in some grand abstraction but in the ordinary and down-to-earth. In this place they have met God in the flesh.
Yes, it is true. It is just once a year that we celebrate Christmas. Yes, it is true thatthe baby was born in Bethlehem only once 2000 years ago. However, Christmas is not over. It happened again today at the font for Kendall. In a few minutes it will happen again as we gather at the table. Once again we meet God in the flesh. The ordinary becomes extraordinary, the timeless temporal, the infinite finite, the love of God in the flesh . . . in our hands.
Unlike the folks in Bethlehem, we will not turn the family away because there is no room in the inn. Here we welcome God into our hearts and lives. Here God assures us that we are treasured even though our lives might seem . . . at best insignificant . . . and at worst embarrassing. In the midst of a world that is often crumbling before our very eyes, here wereceive the promise that will last forever.
When we return to a world that is often cold and dangerous, we can live differently.We do not need to cower. We do not need to cover our tracks. We can give ourselves awaygenerously to those who need us. When we do, we will make a marvelous discovery. Wenot only have welcomed Mary and Joseph. We have also been to the manger. Christmashas happened again. God’s Word has again become flesh, . . . through us . . . for them . . . and through them . . . for us.
Christ Church, the Lutheran Church of Zionsville
Rev. Dr. Steven E. Albertin (Click to E-mail)
