Merry Christmas

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

Our Gospel reading this Christmas Day is profound (John 1:1-5, 9-14).  It’s the beginning of John.  To understand John’s meaning we must first read Proverb 8 entitled “The Discourse of Wisdom.”   It reads:

Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice?  On the top of the heights along the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand; by the gates at the approaches of the city, in the entryways she cries aloud: “To you, O people, I call; my appeal is to you mortals. You naive ones, gain prudence, you fools, gain sense. Listen! for noble things I speak; my lips proclaim honest words. Indeed, my mouth utters truth, and my lips abhor wickedness.

All the words of my mouth are sincere, none of them wily or crooked; all of them are straightforward to the intelligent, and right to those who attain knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. For Wisdom is better than corals, and no treasures can compare with her.  I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and useful knowledge I have. The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.  

Mine are counsel and advice; mine is strength; I am understanding.  By me kings reign, and rulers enact justice; by me princes govern, and nobles, all the judges of the earth. Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, wealth that endures, and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver. 

On the way of righteousness I walk, along the paths of justice, granting wealth to those who love me, and filling their treasuries. “The LORD begot me, the beginning of his works, the forerunner of his deeds of long ago; from of old I was formed, at the first, before the earth. When there were no deeps I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; when the earth and the fields were not yet made, nor the first clods of the world. 

When he established the heavens, there was I, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the springs of the deep; when he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; when he fixed the foundations of earth, then was I beside him as artisan.

I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing over the whole of his earth, having my delight with human beings.  Now, children, listen to me; happy are they who keep my ways.  Listen to instruction and grow wise, do not reject it! Happy the one who listens to me, attending daily at my gates, keeping watch at my doorposts; for whoever finds me finds life, and wins favor from the LORD; but those who pass me by do violence to themselves; all who hate me love death.”

According to our Bible, “The Gospel of John portrays Jesus in the language of wisdom in Proverbs: Jesus, like Wisdom, calls out to people to listen to him, promises to tell them the truth, seeks disciples, invites them to a banquet, and gives them life. Writers in the patristic period used the language of pre-existent wisdom to express the idea of the pre-existent Word with God."

And, according to John Shelby Spong in his 2013 book The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, “To say that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us’ is to say that in the life of Jesus people saw the will of God being lived out and they heard the word of God being spoken…Jesus, in this Jewish sense, was the place where God once again came to ‘tabernacle’ with God’s people.  Jesus was the place where the human and divine flowed together as one, so that Jesus could be heard as speaking with the voice of God…”

With today being Christmas Day, we are being told to live the word of God – to be the word of God.  We do this by having our lips proclaim honest words and abhor wickedness – by having our mouths utter truth.  We do this when all the words of our mouths are sincere, none of them wily or crooked; when all of them are straightforward to the intelligent, and right to those who attain knowledge.   We do this when we have fear of the LORD meaning we hate evil manifested through pride, arrogance, and the perverse mouth.

This is Wisdom speaking to us from out of the past.  When we “pass by” Wisdom, we do violence to ourselves.  When we hate Wisdom, we love death.

Today and every day let’s “tabernacle with God.”   This will become especially important in 2020 when wisdom is required for us to elect a president who will tabernacle with God and with us, God's people.

Merry Christmas!

Deacon David Pierce