And Dwelt Among Us (Christmas A)

I recall an anecdote about a helpless man in a pit:

A man fell into a dark, dirty pit, and he tried to climb out but he couldn't. A wise man of old came along. He saw the man in the pit and said, 'Poor fellow. If he had listened to what I have taught, he never would have fallen in.' And he left. Then a religious self-righteous man came along and saw the man in the pit and said, "Poor fellow.

  This certainly happens only to sinners. He deserves this after all." And he left. Soon after, a very spiritual man came along, saw the man in the pit and said, "Poor fellow. I'll certainly pray for him." And he too left. Then Jesus Christ came and said, 'Poor fellow!' And He jumped into the pit and showed him the way out.

Christmas is not simply the celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus, but the awesome mystery of the Incarnation of God. In the gospel reading today (Jn 1:1-18), which is the beginning of the gospel of John, we are told about this eternal Word who is God; and this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In Jesus, God pitched his tent among us and remains among us as a human being forever. But why was it necessary for Jesus to come in the flesh? Why did the God who created the heavens and the earth have to take on human form?

Or as in the language of the story above, why did Jesus have to jump into the pit in order to save the helpless man? Let me reflect with you on three reasons:

“The Word became flesh” to reveal the Father. Today’s gospel reading ends with this passage: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (v. 18).

Jesus is the Word of God. By becoming man, He has revealed to the world the character of God. God is our Father!  With this, Jesus has shown us the depth of God’s love and mercy. Before Christ’s revelation, the idea of seeing God in this familiar image of a Father was not easily accepted. In Old Testament times, God was seen as holy, almighty, and transcendent God.   But Jesus came and taught us to call God “Abba!”  This was definitely a paradigm shift.

This truth provides hope for the helpless man in the pit—us. God is the God of love and mercy! Salvation is the Father’s only desire for us.  Thanks to the Word-made-flesh, we have come to know God the Father who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son in order to save us from this dark and dirty pit of sin.

He “dwelt among us” to reveal who we are & how to live fully as human. “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God^,” (v. 12). 

Not only did Jesus reveal who God is, He revealed to us who we are—our identity. We are God’s children! The Word taking on our human form shared with us this same humanity. Jesus was and is part of this human fraternity. By becoming man, Jesus became our brother. In Jesus we have become adopted children of God, the Father.

And as such, we ought to live as God’s children. How? Through the example of our Lord: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (Jn 13:15).  Jesus lived among us. He was born of a mother and grew up in a normal way—from childhood to a teenager then into adulthood.  He gave his life to his public ministry culminating to his death and resurrection.  In all these, he was setting an example for us to emulate.  He showed us the way to live fully for He was the Way-- He taught us how to pray, how to love, how to care, how to forgive, how to trust in God.   He had shown us everything we needed to see in order to live as children of God.    

The eternal Word became flesh to carry us out of the dark pit of sin.  ^“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (vv. 4-5).

God has burst, in the person of Jesus as our light, into the darkness of our human condition, to lead all people back home to him. But getting out of the dark pit of sin requires a sacrifice for atonement.  In the Old Testament, the blood of animals was sacrificed on the altar for atonement.  But that was only for a temporary atonement and had no lasting eternal effect. What would be required for our definitive redemption was a greater sacrifice which is what Christ became. “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). This is why the eternal Word had to take on human form. There was no other way he could carry our sins and carry us out of the dark pit of sin.
 

So, brothers and sisters, when we exchange gifts this Christmas, it ought to remind us of the greatest gift we have received: the eternal Word who became man to reveal to us the Father’s love and to redeem us from this dark pit of sin.