Date:
January 3, 2010, Second Sunday of Christmas
Author: The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel
GLORY TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW AND WILL BE FOREVER. AMEN.
In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Theodosius denied the deity of Jesus Christ. Many do today as well. But this emperor decided to make his son Arcadius a partner in governing. The boy was only sixteen but his father thought ruling jointly would enhance the chances that Arcadius would succeed him. Among the great men to congratulate the new co-emperor was Bishop Amphilocus. He made a handsome address to the emperor and was about to leave when Theodosius exclaimed, “What! Do you take no notice of my son?” Then the bishop went up to Arcadius, put his hands on his head and said, “The Lord bless thee, my son.” The emperor was furious now. “What!” he exclaimed. “Is this all the respect you pay to a prince whom I have made of equal dignity with myself?” Bishop Amphilocus replied, “Sire, you do so highly resent my apparent neglect of your son, because I do not give him equal honors with yourself. Then what must the Eternal God think of you when you degrade God’s coequal and coeternal Son and make him just another of God’s creatures?”
We believe in God the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. Jesus is very God of very God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made. Jesus is God’s Word who was in the beginning with God and was God; all things came into being through him. Jesus is the Light of all people, a light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus came into the world but the world did not know him, did not receive him but to those who believe in his name he gives power to become children of God. Jesus is God’s only Son. Jesus is close to the Father’s heart. Jesus has made God known to us.
Jesus is the Word of God, Immanuel, God with us. Pope John Paul II in his book Threshold of Hope called attention to the heart of our faith, “This Revelation in Jesus Christ is definitive. One can only accept it or reject it. One can accept it professing faith in God the Father Almighty…and in Jesus Christ, the Son, of the same substance as the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. Or one can reject all of this writing in capital letters—God does not have a Son. Jesus is not the Son of God. He is only one of the prophets and even if not the least of them, Jesus is only a man.” Most of us remember the musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. When it premiered thirty-five years ago it represented the spirit of the age; when we saw it in revival in London about ten years ago, it was pretty dated. But there was a song sung by Mary Magdalene that sums up the modern sensibility, “He’s Just a Man.” On our way to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth last spring, we saw a banner with fighting words from the Quran, Surah 112 “ Allah begetteth not nor is he begotten and there is none like unto him.” The Muslim attack is not upon a man called Issa, Jesus, but on Christ the Son of God. The decision to believe is the same today as it was in the 1970s or the eighth century or the fourth century. We are forced to decide for ourselves whether we believe that Jesus was just a man, a good man to be sure, or Son of God. John’s Gospel is clear that Jesus is more than human but also divine. Jesus is God’s final revelation not just one of a succession of prophets.
C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity spelled out the alternative: “A man whois merely a man and who said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic…or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” In the same way, Lewis’ contemporary, Dorothy L Sayers says we in the Christian Church must be clear about our message: “Official Christianity of late years has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much on doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the human imagination and the dogma is the drama…The plots pivots on a single character, Jesus, and the whole action is the answer to a single problem, “What do you thing of Christ?”
Our Gospel text for this Sunday calls for decision. It proclaims Jesus Christ as God’s Word and final revelation. It declares that Jesus is God. Many will never recognize this Jesus as God’s Son but those who believe are given great power and are made children of God. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, are given everlasting life.
This is the first Sunday of the New Year. For the past week we have been reading recaps of the stories of 2009 and even though pedants point out that the new decade does not begin until next year, most of us think we beginning a new decade. We look back on the Millenium years, the O-Os, the aughts—we never did get a name for the decade--and we see a decade of no progress. You do not need me to echo Paul Krugman and other commentators who have talked about that. What we can say is that we are now entering a New Year and new decade with hope in God. God is with us, encouraging us, strengthening us, assuring us. If we wonder about God, then we look to Jesus, God’s Word for us. If we would know God’s will we look to Jesus and see there one who forgives, heals, saves. If we wonder about our personal role in the great scheme of things, we look to Jesus, who gives meaning and purpose. And in Jesus we behold God’s glory. John’s Gospel words it so that we are reminded of what God had done in the past—God’s glory was with the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. God went before them as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night and rested, dwelled, tabernacled with the people in the tent of meeting. The same words are used here—God is tabernacling with us, dwelling with us, in Jesus. In Revelation at the end of time, the same words are used—God will tabernacle with us, dwell with us, be our God and wipe away our every tear.
So we look to Jesus and decide—just a man or very God of very God; a prophet and teacher or God’s Son, our Lord. With all the changes of the New Year, we are assured that God’s love for us in Jesus Christ does not change. As he was with us in the beginning, he is now and will be forever. Bishop George Anderson once wrote: “Our only assurance in change lies with the unchanging nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus still changes lives as he did twenty centuries ago…
If you are burdened, he will give you rest.
If you are anxious, he will give you peace.
If you are suffering, he will give you hope.
If you are wounded, he will heal you.
If you are weak, he will strengthen you.
If you are proud, he will humble you.
If you are penitent, he will forgive you.
If you are lost, he is the way.
If you are confused, he is the truth.
If you are drained, he is the life.
If you are sad, he will comfort you.
If you are satisfied, he will challenge you.
If you are lonely, he will find you.
If you are fearful, he will be with you.
Jesus is God’s Son, God’s Word, God’s message of great love even to giving his own life for you. You are God’s child and heir to an everlasting kingdom. The message of Christmas, the dogma of the incarnation, calls you to decide. Just a man? Son of God? Amen.
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