The Greatest Christmas Gift
What comes to your mind when you think about the Christmas story? Perhaps it’s the angel Gabriel who appeared to the Virgin Mary. Or maybe the Magi and their gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. In a recent post, I shared the familiar story of the host of angels who appeared to shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
These are the things that come to mind when most of us think about the events surrounding the birth of Christ. But there is another side of the Christmas story. Once that tells us of the birth of Jesus from a completely different and unique perspective. It’s the Christmas story told by the apostle John in the opening words of his gospel.
In these next several posts, as we anticipate the lighting of the fifth Advent candle, the white candle, the Christ candle, I’m going to share with you the Christmas story according to John.
John never mentions Mary and Joseph, shepherds and angels, or the Magi and King Herod. The fact is John’s story of the birth of Christ focuses less on the historical details and more on what we might refer to as the spiritual/philosophical meaning of Jesus’s advent.
John’s gospel is deeply spiritual. He has been called a Christian mystic. Words in John take on newer and deeper meanings. They point beyond themselves to deep spiritual truths. Words like life and light, water and wind, bread and wine point beyond themselves and challenge us to reflect more deeply on the spiritual side of our faith.
A classic example of this is found in John, chapter six, where Jesus tells the crowds they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. He doesn’t mean this literally as the crowds imagine. He is speaking spiritual truth. That’s why Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit and life.” (Jn. 6:63)
Take some time, and check out the conversations Jesus has in John. They follow the same pattern: Jesus says something outlandish, like “you must be born again,” or “if you drink the water I give you, you will never grow thirsty.” These things invite the reader to reflect more deeply on his or her life.
Let’s face it, most of us tend to live our lives, doing our thing, staying in our own little bubbles, prioritizing comfort above those things that really matter in life. So many people fail to give attention to the things that really matter until it’s too late.
Very few people, if any, come to the end of their life on this earth saying, “I wish I’d made more money, lived in a bigger house, drove a nicer car, or had a more successful career.”
But as we read Jesus’s provocative and outlandish words, we are challenged to think less about our physical needs (or greeds as the case may be) and more about our spiritual needs. And John challenges us to do just that in the opening words of his gospel.
Here are a few phrases from chapter one that we will look at the remainder of this final week of Advent -
“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (1:5)
“ . . .to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (1:13)
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (1:14)
“Out of his fulness we all have received grace in place of grace already given.”
Remember once again what Jesus said - “my words are Spirit and life.” And Jesus reminded us that His Spirit is like the wind, mysterious, and not so much understood as experienced - “You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” (3:8)
The history of the Christmas story is important, and I thank God for the insights Matthew and Luke give us. But knowing the facts is not enough. We must experience the deep and abundant life that Jesus offers. That, my friends, is the greatest Christmas gift any of us will ever receive.
In Christ,
Dan
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