Beholding the Mystery

Christmas Morning 2024

 

Isaiah 52:7-10 ‘All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God’

Hebrews 1:1-6 ‘God has spoken to us by his Son’

John 1:1-18 ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’

 

No one has ever seen God.

It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart,

who has made him known.

(John 1.18)

 

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Happy Christmas to you, as together we hear the proclamation of the birth of the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

Our gospel reading has just unfolded for us, in the most wonderful way, the mystery at the heart of our celebration of Christmas: that ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ (John 1 .14)

 

And the curious thing is that in that passage there was not one mention of an angel, shepherd, manger, donkey or star.

 

That itself sounds like a mystery!

 

But a mystery in Christian terms is not like a puzzle, an enigma or a conundrum, but rather something of the divine to be unfolded, unveiled, revealed.

 

You don’t deconstruct or solve a divine mystery; you behold its totality, for God reveals himself in beauty, goodness and truth.

 

The proclamation of St John’s Gospel presents the totality of the mystery to us: of who God is; what God has come to us to do, in human flesh and blood; who his first witness was; what his presence makes happen in a human life; and his relationship of love with the Father.

 

Go back and read today’s gospel, not just today but frequently: it is one of the texts we should all know, and even learn off by heart.

 

Those few verses give the most intense presentation of the mystery of the Incarnation, which means the presence of God in human flesh and blood, in a particular person who is the true light coming into the world, who, when received, gives the right to become children of God, born of God.

 

As the mystery is unveiled we learn that the fullness of God dwells in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

The mystery is summed up by the letter to the Hebrews telling us:

 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1.1,2).

 

It is all leading us to understand that if you want to see God, or know what God looks like then look to Jesus, contemplate Jesus: as John puts it:

 

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.’ (John 1.18)

 

This Son, Jesus Christ, says Hebrews, is, ‘the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature’ (Hebrews 1.3).

 

What Christmas does for us is begin to make visible the image of the mystery of the invisible God and make knowable the mind of the unknowable God, through what we learn of Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Christ is not simply the teacher, he is what is taught!

 

God declares, ‘Let all God's angels worship him.’ (Hebrews 1.6)

 

And this is where all unfolds in our apprehension and comprehension of the mystery: the angels of God worship him and then, as messengers of the Most High, call others to that eternal worship that takes place in real time.

 

They start with shepherds, and ultimately call us all to come, to gather to adore.

 

Today we take our place in beholding the mystery afresh, with angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, with Magi, saints and all holy men and women throughout the ages.

 

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’. (John 1.14)

 

The mystery is no puzzle, but draws us close to the loving heart of our heavenly Father.

 

Come, let us adore him.