Here is my 2015 Christmas Eve Homily
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of
grace and truth.
The Bible says that the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It says that we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. It says that this Word made flesh
was full of grace and truth.
Of course, we know that
Word made flesh is Jesus Christ. He was with God in the beginning but at the
right time, He was made man and dwelt among us.
What is so glorious about the incarnation?
Why does
it matter?
It matters because it
reveals the Father’s character, willing to send His only begotten for the world
that He so loves. It matters because Jesus was a little baby, fully reliant on
the love and care of His young mother and His poor step-father. It matters
because Jesus was a 12 year old boy, left behind by His parents in a big city
for three days but was found alive teaching the teachers in the temple. It
matters because His own brothers thought little of Him because of envy. It
matters because He was an excellent wine maker. It matters because He grew
tired and thirsty and sat by a well by a woman willing to be misunderstood. It
matters because He loved the blind, and the sick and the lame. He touched them
and they did not make Him unclean. He made them clean. It matters because He
was angry, tossed over tables, made a whip and attacked the wicked to drive
them from His Father’s house of prayer for all nations. It matters because
Jesus wept.
Why does the incarnation
matter? It matters because Jesus had questionable friends and loved them
anyway. It matters because His friends at first loved Him for advantage and
then loved Him for His love for them. It matters because Jesus understands the
pain of betrayal, even betrayal by a kiss. It matters because Jesus knows that
the best of men, chosen men, are prone to fear and failure, denying the very
one who came to save them from their sins. He does not desert them but
gives everything for them and they return to Him, weeping in repentance.
The Incarnation matters
because Jesus sweat great drops of blood as He became sin for sinners, the sacrificial
lamb, the center of God’s wrath against sin and death. It matters because Jesus
knows the pain of suffering, even suffering on a cross. It matters because in His
agony He loved a thief and promised him forgiveness and rest in paradise. The Incarnation
matters because sin and death cannot hold the sinless man in its grasp. It matters
because Jesus rose bodily, eating and drinking after His resurrection. It matters
because Jesus was a man and is a man and will always be a man. It matters because
the first representative man failed man and the last representative man saved
man.
The Glorious Incarnation,
a reason for great rejoicing at Christmas. In the name of the Father, and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer
Our Father, who sent Your
only Son, to live and die with us, Hallowed be Your name. We thank You for
Jesus and that He was a man and dwelt with us, that He knows our infirmities,
that He loves us even when we fail. Father, thank You for Jesus, the truest man
that ever lived, the one full of grace and truth. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment