John the Baptist – facing two directions

The announcement of John the Baptist’s birth is greeted by Zechariah in the words we know as the Benedictus.  The thing that is most striking about this song of praise is the way in which it points in two directions at the same time.  John is the last of the Old Testament prophets, anticipating God’s promised rescue of Israel from the hand of their enemies.

But as we read through Luke 1 it begins to dawn on us that a climactic day has arrived in the birth of John.  Now with John’s coming we shall see that he will prepare the way for one who will finally bring these promises to fruition.  He ‘brings the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins’ (Luke 1:77).

It is this description of the significance of Christmas which I find striking.  As Jesus is anticipated by John’s ministry we are told: ‘… the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.’

The imagery used here is very dramatic.  In the same way that we can look towards the glow of an emerging sunrise in the east and anticipate all the freshness and opportunity of a new sunny day, so in Jesus Christ, we have a new day dawning which will bring about forgiveness and peace.  The rising of the sun (Son) of God is truly the dawning of a new day.  It is a day which Zechariah got a first glimpse of.   But we have the great privilege of basking in the glory of the Son of God – enjoying his presence and peace.

Christmas Day is a great day – a Son day.  But it anticipates a great rising of the Son of God.  Having died on the cross to buy peace and forgiveness of sin he rose again on the third day.  The rising Son is the same Emmanuel – God with us now.

Happy Christmas!

Live’s Jesus Changed

St John’s Gospel is a Christmas favourite.  The climax of the Carol Service readings is usually John 1:1-18.  It is well said that John’s Gospel is “a pool where children may paddle and elephants may wade”.  For some years now I have been wrestling with this marvellous Gospel.  Is there a central theme, or key which unlocks the book?  Clearly John’s own explanation is in John 20:30-31 – “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.“  Some have seen 7 signs and 7 discourses which John has collected in order to demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God.  I am sure that this makes a lot of sense of the first 12 chapters of the Gospel.

Many have also pointed out that John overlaps numerous themes – such as his demonstration that Jesus is greater than Jacob, Moses and Abraham; that he is the “I am”, everchanging eternal God; that he comes to fulfil the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacle festivals.  I am sure that John is “layered” in this way, often having more than one theme going on at a time.

However, I have also become convinced that John collects together stories of highly colourful individuals, and groups of people, who themselves have come to have life in the Son of God by believing in his name.  We have Nicodemus in John 3 – a respected Jewish teacher; the Samaritan woman and outcast in John 4; the healing of a paralysed man in John 5; and the healing of a man born blind in John 9.  In each of these encounters the individuals emerge (to a greater or lesser degree) from darkness to light as it dawns on them that Jesus is more than a prophet or a healer, and none other than the Son of God who is worthy of worship.  John interwiews collective encounters with crowds of people who are largely fascinated by Jesus, but more as a celebrity than as Divine; and a hostile and plotting religious establishment.

But, for all the complexity of this Gospel,  I commend it again as a series of testimonies to the true identity of Jesus, the Son of God.  Yes, John is a record of Jesus’ words and deeds during his time as “Word Made Flesh” on earth.  But I wonder whether sometimes we have overlooked the human drama played out in the lives Jesus changed, as they mirror back for us something of the true identity of Jesus.  They invite us to examine him afresh so that we along with Thomas might say ”My Lord and My God” (see 20:28).

I wonder, is that your testimony?  Have you come to worship the Son of God we meet in John, and have Him change your life for good?!

Christmas – A Tall Story? Unwrapping the myth and keeping the Christmas present

The Baby and the Bathwater… 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has stirred up the blog sites this week.

He claims that much of the traditional Christian story is myth rather than history.  Lots of what he says is true.  In fact, the letter column of yesterday’s Times (20th December 2007) includes one by Revd Dr Anthony Carr with which I pretty much agree:

I understood and accepted much of what Dr Rowan Williams said about the Christmas story. I would, however, take issue with him on belief in the virginal conception. I use this word deliberately rather than the Virgin Birth because they are two different things.

Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church hold the teaching that the virginal conception is central to their teaching about the nature of Christ and of humankind. Belief in the fall of man means that all people are born with that fallen nature. If Jesus was born of natural parents he could not become the perfect sacrifice for humankind because he, God, would be also tainted with sin, which would be impossible. Rather he took on himself human nature by going through the process of a supernatural conception and a natural birth through the womb of Mary. The whole nature of Christ is changed if belief in the supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit is rejected, and it also makes mockery of the Creeds.

In my adult life I have developed a huge dislike for Father Christmas, which I guess may be why he no longer puts satsumas in the stocking at the end of my bed!  My main problem is that, as a child, he and God the Father got completely scrambled together in my thinking.  They both appeared at Christmas time.  They both had long flowing beards and had apparently lived for ever.  They both rewarded the good with pressies.

The corruption of grace, however, was that, however bad I had been I never got a lump of coal in my stocking and he always came up with the goods, thanking me for his mince pie and sherry, mysteriously in my father’s handwriting!

Separating myth from fact is important.  But at the same time, let’s not lose the historic facts which are absolutely intergral to the Christian faith.  If Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin, lived as a sinless man, died on the cross to atone for our sins and rose again on the third day victorious, we are, as the Apostle Paul aptly said in a hopeless situation.  But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Cor 15:12-22)

The main thing that is at stake here is whether the Bible is to be trusted as a reliable record of Jesus’ life and mission. 

Anglican mainstream reports the Bishop of Rochester saying at a Cathedral Carol service yesterday  “Down the ages of faith lots of stories have grown up around Christmas. This can be good because it helps people to celebrate the festival. This is true of the music at Christmas, and the great art about the nativity. But Christmas is not just a story. It is solemn and serious. It is about God being with us, God speaking to us and God saving us. The reason that Christmas remains popular even in secular society, is that for a while we see the benign heart of the universe.”  (
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/
)

So, what is the moral of this story?  By all means, let’s unwrap the Christmas myths which have overlain the Christmas story.  But in doing so, let’s not lose the real Christmas presence, He who came in history to be our salvation.  Wouldn’t it be good if people read the eyewitness accounts of that first Christmas in the four Gospels?  We need to dispel many popular myths about Christmas without losing the Chist.  To fail to do so would be to throw out the baby with the bathwater!