This sermon was offered on the First Sunday after Christmas (Dec. 31, 2023) at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, FL, by the Rev. Cn. Beth Tjoflat.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18
Psalm 147

It was not uncommon for teachers of John’s day
to make a point by putting one thing in
juxtaposition to another for emphasis:

Spirit/body
Heaven/earth
Divine/human

The Apostle John begins the story,
not with a birth narrative,
or with Jesus public ministry.
He reaches back to the beginning of Creation.

His vantage point is purely Cosmic.
Seemingly separate from our island home –
this planet earth.

The Gospel of John starts with what is arguably
one of the most poetic and brilliant passages
in all of Holy Scripture.

In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.

All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being.
John is not describing an exceptionally holy man
or an extraordinary prophet.

He speaks of God who loves us so much he
takes the form of a man, to live among us,
to love us,
to save us.

John’s poetry stretches the language to describe
the ineffable — that which is so vast and mysterious,
words cannot do it justice.
Though we should try.
And we must try.

Notice how without any transition,
he moves straight from the prologue to
John the Baptist:
There was a man sent by God.

Why does he do this?
He is demonstrating a form of teaching that uses dichotomy.
Placing opposites against one another for emphasis.

Consider these three words used to describe Jesus in the first passage:

Word
Life
Light

Word (logos) – the very substance of God
Life – the product of God’s generative, creative nature,
And Light (the light of all people)

Then in the next section, telling about John the Baptist,
a prophet sent by God, three more words:
Glory
Grace
Truth

Glory – being the reflection of divine Light in our world –
a gift for us – a sign, for our hurting world.
Grace – the experience of God’s action in our lives.
Truth – when we come to believe and acknowledge
the ultimate truth that John wants us to grasp
above all others –
exactly who this Jesus is:
The Christ, the Messiah.
The Son of God.

And perhaps most profound:
The Word – the Logos.

A force so powerful and inherently creative that
it has brought all things into being through Love,
which is its very essence..
One more word for today: Witness

John starts with the Cosmic then links it with the earthly.
He links it with our human experience,
first through his own profound experience as Jesus’ Apostle.
He was most likely there on the banks of the Jordan
for Jesus baptism.
And he walked with him through his earthly ministry.
He walked with him all the way to the foot of the cross.

John cares above all else that we come to know
one thing and one thing only:
that Jesus is the Christ.

It is as if Apostle John is shouting at us:
Know his name.
Say his name.

So how do we get to this place?
We each have our own unique life experience.
No matter how holy some may say we are.
No matter how holy we may think we are,
we are all works in progress.

No matter how sinful or immoral or hopeless
we may seem to ourselves –
and perhaps even to our families and friends.
No matter if we threw in the towel long ago,
saying, “to hell with it all!”
We too are a work in progress.

Just like John, we hold things in tension.
The promise of Christ and his kingdom
and our day-to-day lived realty.
We walk together as followers of the way of love.

Developing and learning to experience a conscious
reality that is not divorced from
a Cosmic perspective.
Nor does it deny the gritty, messiness that we call living.
Maybe in some seasons it feels more like existing.

What we need is each other.
We need each other to bear witness to the Light.
the Light that is for all people.

We see the power of witness at work when a hopeless,
end-of-the-road alcoholic manages to drag herself
into an AA meeting, thinking,
with a touch of sarcasm
As if this could solve anything.

But then, the witness of a roomful of
life-filled individuals – who at one time
were themselves completely hopeless–
as they share their colorful, oftentimes tragic stories,
of their journey to recovery —
they serve as life-and-blood witnesses to the reality of a God
who loves us so much, that he sent his beloved Son
to take human form.
To walk among us.
To touch us.
To know us through and through.
To bear witness to our struggles and our potential.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul tells us God sends the Spirit
of his Son into our very hearts.
It is that very Spirit, which calls to us persistently
(hence the expression hound of heaven comes from…).

That Spirit raises us up from a meaningless life,
like dry bones taking on flesh,
being restored to live life abundantly.

Through his witness, John the gospeller,
shows that we are meant to live an integrated life,
a life in which the Cosmic Light shepherds our human experience,
drawing us bit by bit into deep communion
with the One who was born on a quiet night in Bethlehem.
His name is Jesus.
Amen.