[Is. 52:7-10; Heb.1:1-4; Jn. 1:1-14]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Who of you is familiar with Trafalgar Square in London? Who knows the church on the square, Saint-Martin’s-in-the-Fields?
If you go up the steps, before going through the doors, there’s a plateau giving you a great view of the hustle and bustle around you.
On that platform you’ll find a statue: a block of stone, and from the stone rises a newborn baby, umbilical cord and all.
The words on the block read: “A child born to die.”
Not your average Christmas card greeting, is it. Rather sinister, depressing.
Some of you are perhaps uncomfortably shifting in your seats, while the preacher talks about the death of an infant on the day that everything should be about joy.
“A child born to die.”
Jesus’ birth had major historical, religious, socio-political and humanitarian implications!
His birth, his Nativity meant and means so much more than season’s greetings on a card or in an email.
The first chapter we just read of Saint John's Gospel or of one of his students is called the ‘prologue’, literally ‘before the words, before the story’. The original Greek actually says “in or at beginning, provenance” Like Genesis 1 it sings of the be-ing of everything.
The text speaks of cosmic events, of good versus evil, dark versus light, it’s almost the new Star Wars film -minus the light sabres.
John describes how this marvellous Creation, and we in it, came to be-ing; all things were given their life, their existence, through the Word, the Light of the World, which is Jesus Christ. He was Light and he brought life, and this life is our light which reflects through us as a grace given to everything and everyone around us. (Jn. 1:3-5)
This is our call, our vocation, not to hide this light or jealously hide it away, but to share it, to reflect the Light of the World which is the very essence, the very core of all existence.
This is Isaiah's prophecy of peace and life, this is John's vision of the interconnection of all of Creation.
The initiative God took in the birth of his Son, that first step the Creator took towards Creation is why we can live in faith and hope that the Lord's holy mountain is a certainty, not a mirage in a barren world.
It's the Kingdom of God breaking through whatever the opposition.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." (Jn. 1:5)
However you celebrate the Incarnation and Nativity of our Lord, the story of Christmas reminds us that God took the first step, God made the first move. God always does.
Light came to live among us.
The darkness John mentions isn't the natural difference between day and night, it’s not the setting of the sun every evening that’s the problem, that would be superstitious.
Instead, John is writing about the darkness of chaos, of non-creation, anti-creation, of a broken relationship between our Creator who cares enough to send the Light into that darkness on the one hand, and Creation -disturbed, reckless, complacent- turning its back on the loving bond with God and with itself on the other.
The Light that is Christ came to expose the need for that intimacy to be restored, reinvigorated, the need for sin to be forgiven.
A child born for us, a child to die for us.
Christmas reminds us, confronts us with the fact that however troubled or distant or complicated our relationship with God may be, God will make sure it’s life-affirming, growing and uplifted, especially in those times when darkness seems the most overwhelming and scary.
Light came to live among us as a human being to reassure us that we all carry that divine spark within us from the very beginning of Creation, the very provenance.
We’re all called to let that light shine into the world around us, in our relationships, within ourselves.
We're called not to hide it under the bushel, we're called not to shy away from the Light but to live out that grace to a world where the lights more often than not seem to be extinguished.
Just as Christ did, we're called to point out to others the divine spark within them and not try to snuff it out because of envy or fear or greed.
It’s not always easy but it’s what God wishes us to do. It calls for a willingness to share and a commitment to the truth, it needs the help and driving force of the Holy Spirit.
A child born for us, a child to die for us, so we can give ourselves for others.
There's a video on social media of a bear cub and a deer fawn tentatively getting to know each other for the first time, sniffing each other, touching noses and even giving little licks as kisses.
It's an image which is more than just a feel-good-moment: it's a loving testament, a real-life example of Isaiah's vision of the Lord's holy mountain, of the bear and the cow grazing together, the leopard and the goat laying together, a child playing over an adder's den.
It's a vision where darkness doesn't have the final say. (Is. 11:6-9)
This holy mountain isn't a make-believe fairy land, it's the very essence of Creation, the essence of us all: we too are the Lord's sacred space of peace and justice.
We’re called to live out this sacred place each in our own way, and this each and every day.
It's not a utopia nor wishful thinking, it's the reality of God’s divine plan for his Creation, how Creation in all its wonders is meant to be, filled with divine light radiating from the mountain top.
“A child born to die,” so all this will become a reality.
Merry Christmas!
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.