It’s easy to gloss over the impact of God’s arrival on the scene within human history when there are presents to unwrap, but Mark Wreford draws our attention back to the King’s speech
Merry Christmas! I love the festive time of year, with turkey, trimmings and traditions that make you cringe! Whether it’s the awkward uncle or the depressing predictability of sweet smelling body wash that reminds you that you’ve reached a certain age and people are no longer going to be buying you toys, there’s plenty of distraction around over the holiday season, but one of the things that I absolutely love is that it unashamedly intrudes into our daily life. That’s what it’s doing in this column too – we’re going to get sidetracked for a month and go back to exploring Christian morality next issue.
When it comes to intrusions, God’s incredible explosion onto the stage of human history is right up there. God is a different class entirely to humanity, and yet he entered the flawed, misreported, misunderstood realm of facts, figures, stories and everyday existence that we call history. It’s remarkable. Much is made of God’s speech in Genesis which resulted in the very creation of the earth on which we stand – along with everything else, of course! The fact is, though, that at this foundational junction in history, the King makes another speech.
John’s Gospel speaks of Jesus Christ as the ‘Word’. As you might imagine, there’s actually quite a lot tied up in this reference. In Greek, the word is logos, and that’s a word that was very important to ancient Greek philosophy, so when John picks it up and uses it, he’s deliberately trying to say something about Jesus. For us, though, it’s enough to realise that God’s words were written on our paper.
Paper is a rather delicate substance. If you don’t believe me, try to rescue a shopping list once you’ve dropped it in a puddle! You can screw it up, burn it, soak it, rip it, shred it, or simply obliterate your writing with extra ink. Human history is actually pretty similar. Jesus’ life is one of the best attested lives in the whole of ancient history – the evidence for it is incomparably greater than the evidence for the life of Julius Caesar, for example. But the fact is that Jesus could have been misheard – and he certainlywas misunderstood. What’s crazy is that God doesn’t really seem to care!
As I sit and write this article, I’m working quite hard to make sure that you don’t misunderstand me. What I can’t do is sit with you as you read and explain the tone of voice I want you to hear in this section. I can’t clarify points that you feel unsure of. That’s my limitation. The Holy Spirit, though, reveals truth, as John’s Gospel explains in chapter 16. In John’s Gospel, truth is a little bit like ‘Word’ – it’s a name for Jesus. Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is both the truth and the one who comes to show you the truth. He’s both the picture and the light by which we see it.
At Christmas, we celebrate the fact that Jesus came, but every week in churches up and down the country, we celebrate the fact that he is coming again. When we take communion, we ‘proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’. For us who live between the comings of Christ, we see the truth ‘through a glass darkly’. Jesus came to be our model and he will come again to conclude time and wed his perfect bride. Between those two moments, he remains present with us by his Spirit – the Spirit that reveals truth by showing us the significance of Jesus’ every word and deed and inspires us as we interpret Scripture. Jesus was the word of the Father spoken at a specific moment to a specific people in a specific place, but his significance was greater than that time and place could hold, which is why the Spirit is continually at work revealing all that Jesus means for a very different people in very different places at a very different time.
A very different time indeed! A time when Santa – who sometimes acquires disturbingly God-like attributes – often becomes the reason for the season of goodwill, and credit cards usurp the Lord’s provision. And we’re back to what I love about Christmas – the way that it looms like a black hole, shaping the gravity of our calendar around itself.
It might have become a commercialised holiday, but the fact remains that Christmas is fundamentally a part of the Christian liturgical calendar. Christmas is a religious event – a festival. It’s a spiritual event; like a wedding.
Weddings are another event at which life grinds to a halt for a day with some serious spiritual significance. The happy couple may be blissfully surrounded by a sea of cranberry, teal and gold with tiny biodegradable heart shapes in their hair, but the vows they exchange are part of a wonderfully holy moment. In a wedding, the community comes together to witness an event which points directly to the relationship between God and his church. For a whole day (if you make the afternoon cut, of course!) it’s hard to think about anything else.
And this is what I love about it: these events grab our attention. God has spoken and his Spirit will help us hear, but these events punctuate our lives with gentle reminders of his grace. That’s what’s wonderful about Christmas; it interrupts. At the darkest time of year, we pause to remember the day when the bright light of Truth penetrated human history and God’s Word was given to us.
This year, let’s remember that God’s gift to us was given on our terms. It’s not some alien imposition. He truly became a man. Let’s learn to look at the shape of Christ’s life and attempt to imitate it. Let’s learn to ask the Spirit to inspire our reading of Scripture – to bring out what is important for us to hear at this time in this place to bring us to a deeper relationship with the truth.
And let’s see the sacrament in the superficiality. Rather than hearing the gospel according to Hallmark this Christmas, why not embrace the intrusion of this wonderful festival into your packed schedule to restructure your life a little? Why not make time for Advent readings and ask the Spirit to show you how to invite Christ into your story as we celebrate his descent into our story?