The universe is changed
Readings: John 1. 1-14 & Hebrews 1. 1-12
I forgot to hit record when preaching this at the Midnight Communion Service and so the recording is from when I preached it again at a different church on Christmas Day.
When I was deciding what to study at University my first thought was Astro-physics, and then I realised the amount of maths involved and so went for Robotics, turns out there’s a lot of maths in that too.
And so our Gospel reading tonight/today has always appealed to me due to its cosmic proportions. It speaks of the whole universe and the one who was before it all, and through whom it all came to be. You may be wondering where the story of the baby born in a manger is, but John starts way further back on a much larger scale. The start of his Gospel is before the universe, and the setting is the whole cosmos. John is trying to make something really clear right from the start, this Gospel, the good news of the one whose birth we celebrate tonight, has universe wide implications.
Because the one who is birth we are celebrating didn’t come into being at his conception. Didn’t spark into life in Mary’s womb. In fact he never came into being at all, he has always been, from before the earth was formed, before our star ignited, before the universe was, he was. He has always been, and will always be. The one born surrounded by the animals is God himself. The eternal Son, come to enter our universe, come to join us in our world.
That’s huge, it’s mindblowing. If you struggle to get your head around John 1, you’re not alone, because what he is saying is almost beyond comprehension. The one who existed before anything and everything, the one who created everything from atoms to galaxies, quarks to sharks, the one who sustains all things, who is the lifeforce behind everything, has come to make his home among us.
That’s an earth shattering statement. With earth shattering consequences.
Because the paradox of Christmas is that the one who is beyond the universe, who is so great that the universe cannot contain him, is now laid within the confines of a manger. The one who cannot be comprehended is now a human infant. The one who exists beyond time and space is born at a particular time and in a particular place. The one who is immortal, life himself, who has no beginning or end, is born, and in 33 short years will die.
This is the paradox of Christmas. The infinite God, here in the flesh, so close you cold reach out and touch him. And actually that’s the point. That’s what the letter to the Hebrews is telling us. In the past God spoke through the prophets, he had human messengers who would pass on his words to his people, write them down and record them so that they might be preserved. And yet in these last days God the Son has come himself. There is no intermediary anymore, God speaks, from his own mouth, and people hear, audibly.
Now that’s not to say the prophets were unreliable messengers, the reason we have their writings still in our Bibles is that they were proven time and again to be reliable in what they said. But it’s like having a friend living in a far off country. You can send letters to one another, you can email back and forth. But there’s nothing like talking on the phone or on Zoom with them is there, you’re communicating in real time, you can get more of a sense of them, their humour, the subtleties of the way they speak. Yes letters and emails are great and reliable ways of communicating, but it’s not the same as speaking.
But, I can hear you say, there is something better than phone or Zoom, meeting in person. And of course you’re right. If there’s one thing we learned in 2020 and the subsequent years, nothing can replace in person interactions. When that friend who lives in a far away place comes to visit, how much easier is it to be with them then. There are less awkward pauses, you can actually do things together, you can better share life together in person. Nothing is better than being with someone in person. And God couldn’t agree more.
As Hebrews goes on we read that the Son, Jesus Christ, is the exact image of God, reflects the Father perfectly. Which means when we see Jesus, we’re seeing God himself. As he speaks we hear God’s words, but also as he acts we see God acting, as he heals the sick, comforts the sorrowful, binds up the wounded, challenges, encourages, rebukes and welcomes, we see the God of the universe working and acting.
In Jesus, God is putting a face to a name, coming to make himself known more clearly than in ages past. In Jesus we see exactly what God is like, here the character of the God of the universe is on full display.
And here’s the key thing about the miracle of Christmas, about the incomprehensible God become a human man, the infinite God become small, and I’ve hinted a little at it already. It’s all to come close to you. The infinite God becomes small, so that he can draw near to you. Because what we find about this God is that he’s all about relationship. You can command people to do as you want from wherever you are if you have the authority. You can rule from your throne and never lift a finger. But if you want to know people, if you want to get to know them and them you know you, build relationship with them, you need to come to them. God wants a relationship with you, and so he steps from the throne, steps down from heaven, and walks the earth, puts a face to a name so that he can see you face to face, so that you can see him face to face.
In Jesus we see God speaking and acting. And what do we see in Jesus? God taking hold of the wheel of the universe and throwing it into a u-turn. Away from death and destruction and has instead set the sat-nav to home. God has come to rescue and save his people and his creation. He has come to make a way for us to come home, to become the way by which we can come home. In coming to us, in coming to know you, he has come to save you. The universe is changed, God himself is changed, so that you can be changed. So that you can receive life in his name, to give you a hope and a future. To give you a fresh start, a new beginning, a new beginning which will have no end. As God comes to know you he isn’t simply looking for subjects to rule, but children to love and cherish and pour out his gifts upon.
At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God isn’t out there somewhere. Instead at Christmas the universe is forever changed as God enters in, draws near to us, near to you.
In Jesus we see God as he is, as he speaks we hear God’s voice, as he acts we see God at work, and in his speaking and acting we see the beginnings of a new universe, a new creation where all will at last be made right. And as Jesus reaches out to you, inviting you to be part of it, it is the hand of God extended, wanting to know you, and for you to know him.
Amen.