(12/23/2012) This week’s “Sunday Sermon”  focuses on the Christmas story as told by John, the youngest of Jesus’ 12 disciples.

Did it really happen?

The New Testament contains four separate biographies of Jesus of Nazereth, commonly referred to as the four Gospels, two contain details of Jesus’ birth from a human perspective, one from a more spiritual one.

I focused on Roman History when getting my B.S. in History from UCLA.  From what I’ve seen, the Biblical records of Christ birth, life, and Resurrection certainly appear to be  at least as credible as other sources of Roman hisstory.

Two of the Gospels, Matthew and John, were written by two of Jesus original 12 disciples, or followers, who traveled  and lived with him for his 3 – 4 years of public itinerant preaching.

A third Gospel, Mark, was written by an associate of Peter, another of the 12 disciples.  Mark’s appears to have used Peter as his primary source.  The other Gospel was written by Luke, a physician and associate of Paul the Apostle.  Luke also wrote the book of Acts of the Apostles, following the growth of the small band of disciples from Jesus’ ascension through the missionary journeys of St. Paul.

Luke takes the approach of a historian, apparently interviewing a number of eyewitnesses to compile his record.  His version of the Nativity appears to be largely based on interviews with Jesus’ mother, Mary.   Luke Chapter 2 is the most commonly read Biblical Christmas passage.

Mathew, whose Gospel focuses on the Messianic nature of Jesus, omits the humble details of Jesus birth in Bethlehem while focusing on  the angel’s visit to Joseph and the visit of the Magi some time after Jesus’ birth.  (Sorry, but by the time the “Wise Men” arrived Joseph & Mary had apparently moved out of the inn’s stable to a rented house, probably arriving a year after Jesus’ birth, since Herod ordered all males under 2 in  Bethlehem killed.

John lived the longest of the 12  writing  three brief  ”Epistles” (letters),  the apocalyptic last book of the New Testament, Revelation, and his Gospel.

John’s “Spiritual” view of Christmas

Early “church fathers” of the second century felt that “John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain [in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke]. . . composed a spiritual gospel.”

That certainly is the case when it comes to the story of Christmas.  John gives us none of the details of Jesus birth that are so familiar in Luke’s tale of the inn & the shepherds in Bethlehem & Matthew’s account of the wise men & flight to Egypt.

While Mark, typical of his “cut to the chase” style, skips Jesus birth entirely, John, the self-described “disciple whom Jesus loved,”  (John 20:2) gives us the timeless spiritual perspective of what happened from God’s perspective that first Christmas night:

John 1:1-18 (New International Version, ©2010)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, 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.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

For the Christian, that’s what Christmas is all about:

God with us

“Emmanuel, God with us.”  (Isaiah 7:14)

God demonstrating His love for humanity, showing us first hand what He really is like,  demonstrating in the flesh what He intends us to be like, and 33 years later, paying the ultimate price to tear down the walls we all build between His gracious love and our stubborn selves.

There’s a worship song, Emmanuel,  by Bob McGee that I first heard back in the 70′s that seems to sum all this up so well:

Emmanuel, Emmanuel,
His name is called
Emmanuel.
God with us,
Revealed in us,
His name is called
Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel,
Your name is called
Emmanuel
God with us
Revealed in us,
Your name is called
Emmanuel.

Perhaps John summed it all up best in his most famous verse, excerpted from a longer, secret discussion Jesus had with a Jewish religious leader of his day:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. . . (from John 3, NIV)

God’s abiding love for humanity, the loving creator God visiting his creation to walk among us, teach us, and give His life for us. . . that’s the “Good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people that Christians celebrate every December.