Sermon preached at St. Alban’s, Spirit Lake, on December 25, 2006
(Year C, Christmas III, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-12
John 1:1-14

The Apostle John was one lucky guy. Not often do you hear me mention the word luck regarding anything to do with the Church. But still, if he wasn’t lucky, he was at least very fortunate.

Why you might ask? First of all he was the youngest of all of the disciples. We know this because tradition always shows him as the one disciple who didn’t have a beard. By being the youngest, he was probably the most perceptive of all of the Apostles. When you are young, your mind is open, and absorbs information like a sponge. What a wonderful position to be in at that one point in history when God decided to become man. His inquisitive mind was so fortunate to be able to learn at the very knee of Jesus himself.

Second, of all the Apostles, he lived the longest. We know this because instead of being martyred like the rest of the Apostles, he was exiled to a somewhat deserted island in the Mediterranean called Patmos. He may not have felt that this was as honorable as a martyr’s death but because of his exile, combined with his longevity of life, he had the longest time of anyone that knew Jesus personally to go over everything that he had been taught. He was able to play it over and over again in his mind, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was able to relate his visions to us, the Church, then and now.

Third, he was quite a teacher. As most of the Apostles, when they set up a church they usually stayed and gathered students similar to the way Jesus gathered his disciples. Because of his being included in the inner circle with his brother James, and Peter, John had ample insight to the teachings of Jesus. And he used his education to not only teach his own school of students but also waged a theological war against the early Gnostics, who were and still are trying to pervert the true faith. The Gnostics taught that the very few elect possessed secret knowledge which enabled them and only them access to heaven and God. Of all of the people who could have claimed to have a secret knowledge imparted to him by the Lord, John was the man. But instead he consistently preached that there was no secret knowledge and in fact, salvation was quite simple. All anyone had to do was believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, sent by God the Father to die for the sins of all mankind, and by this belief, one was granted eternal life. Although we are surrounded by religious mystery, access to the Father wasn’t one of them.

Finally, John was a simple fisherman. But because of all of the above mentioned conditions, he became one of the most profound theologians in all history. This is demonstrated by the fact that for anyone seeking out Christianity, the Gospel of John is the best one with which to begin. John’s Gospel is very easy to follow, and has some of the best imagery of any of the four. Classic examples of who Jesus is come from John: I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light, I am the Door, and I am the Way and the Truth, and the Life. Even for fledgling Greek students, John’s Gospel is the easiest because John wasn’t trained in the best schools. His Greek is of a very primitive level, easier than any average newspaper of today, which is generally written for a third grade reading level. And yet the Gospel of John is a master piece of philosophy, theology, and spirituality.

Today’s Gospel is a wonderful example of his genius. It’s almost poetic.

Whereas Matthew and Luke expands upon Mark’s Gospel and gives us a nativity narrative, John goes even further and takes us back to before the beginning of time.

Today’s Gospel passage doesn’t have the same Christmas appeal as does Luke’s but in a way it is ideal for the Church especially in this day and age of the over-commercialism of Christmas. Paradoxically, it keeps us grounded in the heavens by showing us the pre-existence of Christ as God thus revealing to us that God indeed become flesh in the birth of Jesus.

Maybe it’s luck or most probably it’s Divine Providence but either way, we in the Church are fortunate for the life of John and his ability to present the life of Christ to us in so many unique and diverse ways. Let him be an example to all of us as we ponder, learn, and believe in the revelations and mysteries of Almighty God.

Gloria Patri