The
opening verses of the Gospel in John are often called “the Prologue” for the
gospel. What does it mean to call something a prologue? A “prologue” is
something that comes before the main event. A “prologue” sets the scene and it
provides critical information necessary to understand what will follow.
Accordingly,
John’s prologue to the gospel account sets the theological foundation for us to
understand just who Jesus Christ is, and where he came from. While Matthew and
Luke offer us the infancy narratives to explain how and why Jesus came into the
world, John offers us his prologue.
However
in both cases infancy narrative or theological prologue, the message is the
same: In Jesus Christ, God came into the world and forever changed it. In Jesus
Christ, the very power which created our world and gave it life has
miraculously joined itself to our human lives in a way which can never be
separated.
Adopting
John’s terminology, in Jesus Christ God’s Word (that is to say God’s essence,
God’s creative power) entered the world to bring us life. Verse 5 of this
passage reads, “The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” This is truly what we
celebrate at Christmas, the gift of life.
It
is important to remember what type of life we celebrate at Christmas. Indeed,
this life which Jesus brings is not the life of being born, living a finite
number of years, and then dying, the life Jesus brings is eternal life. It is
life with God. It is the genesis of all life. It is the very creative power of
life. In scriptural terms, it is the light of life which overpowers the darkness
of death. It is the birth of eternal hope.
John’s
prologue, then, is a theological version of the infancy narratives which
reveals for us the unbounded love of God made known in Jesus Christ. In Jesus
Christ, God’s love for us, God’s awesome creative power favoring life over
death, is revealed.
In
verse 14 John tells us, “And the Word
became flesh and lived among us…” In the Greek, the word choice for “…and lived among us…” is quite
interesting. The Greek verb translated into this English phrase “and lived among us” is the same verb
normally used to describe setting up a tent. It is the same word which in other
contexts in scripture is often translated as tabernacle. So, then, a wooden
translation from the Greek would be to say that in Jesus Christ, God has
“tabernacled” among us.
With
this in mind, verse 14 can easily be paraphrased as saying that God became
flesh and pitched his tent among us. The meaning is clear; God has chosen to
live among us. God has encamped in our midst. God’s presence and power has come
into the world and brought light and life from out of darkness and death.
God
has pitched his tent among us and brought hope, joy, wholeness, and eternal
life, into a world filled with cynicism, a world often overcome by despair, a
world burdened by broken lives, and a world in which we are born to die.
This
is the good news of Christmas. Because God has pitched his tent among us we
have joy, we have hope, we have hope of eternal life.
However,
let us not forget, the prologue is just the beginning. A prologue simply sets
the scene for what is to come. Our response to this good news of God in our
midst is also an important part of the gospel.
Now
that we have received the good news of Jesus Christ, what will we do with it? Once
we collect up all the wrapping paper and ribbon littering our floor at home,
once we put away the decorations for another year, what will we do? We are
charged with witnessing to God’s power of life over death to a world convinced
that darkness and death will always overcome light and life. We are called to
share hope and joy in a world that is comfortable with its well-honed cynicism
and despair.
How
will we meet the challenge? In short, given the good news of Christmas - of God
with us, where and how will we pitch our tent in the world? God has given us
the freedom to tabernacle where we will. Will we pitch our tent in this world
with those who seek to spread and share the good news, or will we pitch our
tent among those who have rejected it?
Looking
around at our world the challenges we face as we seek to give witness to the
Good News are overwhelming; homelessness, hunger, poverty, sexual abuse, drug
abuse, violence, racial tensions, economic disparity, depletion of our natural
resources. The list could go on, but I will not. And these are just “the MACRO
issues”.
Thinking
on a personal level, there are other threats to the Good News. For instance, we
all face the seemingly random attack of diseases. Can we, then, pitch our tent
proclaiming good news when confronted by the indiscriminate scourge of cancer?
In
the face of our culture’s pressure on us to earn more and more money so we can
buy more and more and things, can we resist? Can we resist and pitch our tent
proclaiming the good news that the most important things in life are spiritual
and intangible, and refuse to sacrifice our most important relationships on the
altar of consumerism?
In
our relationships with one another, are we willing to forgive and accept rather
than accuse and exclude? Will we pitch our tent among those who proclaim good
news, or will we camp among those who feel compelled to assert themselves at
the expense of others?
This
Christmas morning to truly proclaim the good news of Emmanuel in the face of
the challenges we face is daunting, the problems seem deeply rooted and
pervasive. Yet let us remember, we do not face these challenges alone. God has
pitched his tent among us through the birth of his Son. In Jesus Christ, God
has chosen to tabernacle among us.
As
we face the challenges of this world, both the macro and the micro challenges,
let us remember John’s prologue. “And the
Word became flesh and lived among us…”
It
is because the church remembers this basic fact of God with us that we can
strive to meet the challenges on both the macro and micro scales. Remembering
that Jesus Christ is with us and for us, the church proclaims hope in the midst
of despair, proclaims joy in the face of depression, and is empowered to seek
solutions when the world has resorted to cynicism.
Yes,
the problems of poverty and hunger are overwhelming yet we refuse to give up.
Through our mission commitments to NGFC, United Ministries, Foothills Family
Resources, and others our church is pitching its tent to proclaim good news, to
proclaim hope rather than despair, to create joy from the ashes of sorrow.
On
the micro, or personal scale, what can we do to pitch our tent proclaiming good
news? We can study God’s Word regularly through Sunday School and personal
study. The truth is that the more we know about God’s word, the more likely we
are to resist the temptations and pressures of this world.
We
can seek to regularly attend worship and participate in the life of the church.
Corporate worship shapes and forms our identity as the body of Christ, without
it, we are simply a collection of like-minded individuals with good intentions.
Let
us seek to pitch our tent proclaiming the good news of God with us. Let us seek
to live lives demonstrating hope and sharing joy.
All
of this is possible for us, we can feed people, we can stop the violence, we
can break down the walls which separate us, we can forgive, because God has
chosen to be with us. We have the power to live this way because God has
pitched his tent among us. Now, where will we pitch ours?
Rev. Marc V. Mason
Trinity Presbyterian Church
December 25, 2005
Travelers Rest, SC