* * *
I’ve told the story before, but it fits well; a little boy was being unusually quiet and his mother asked him – “what are you doing?”
“I am drawing a picture of God.”
“Don’t be silly, no one knows what God looks like.”
“They will in a minute...” the little boy replied.
* * *
Tom Wright, a famous New Testament Scholar, now the bishop of Durham in england worked as a chaplain and professor at a British university.
When new students joined the college of which he was a part he would have a short introductory meeting with them to explain what his role was as chaplain. Many of the students would say to him – “well you won’t see much of me.”
When he asked why they would say: “Well I don’t believe in God.”
His response was always: “Well, tell me: exactly what God don’t you believe in?”
The students would inevitably respond by telling him they didn’t believe in a God who kept a list, judging them all the time. They didn’t believe in a God who favoured some people and hated others; who often seemed so unjust.
Tom Wright would surprise them by telling them that he didn’t believe in that God either…
He believed in a God who looked and behaved more like Jesus Christ, than the God which they had described.
* * *
As we read the papers and magazines, listen to preachers, watch TV and read books - or do whatever we do to get information… It becomes quite clear that different people have different pictures or impressions of what God is like.
† For some it seems that God is a God of war; sanctioning violence in his name.
† For some God seems particularly judgmental – always angry at someone.
† For some he is welcoming, loving all sorts of people of whom others don’t approve…
These differences of perspective make it look like we’re dealing with completely different religions, yet they are all perceptions that we could get of God from Christians… they might even be pictures that you and I have held to be true in the past.
If so many people seem to have so many different pictures of God - how can we – who would like to know what God is like – find out more about him?
* * *
At Christmas we celebrate this amazing thing… We can know God; as the first letter of John declares (and I paraphrase) we have heard him, we have seen him with our eyes, we have looked at him and touched him with our hands…
As the writer to the Hebrews proclaims:
“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of god’s very being…”
- Hebrews 1:1-3a (NRSV)
At Christmas we celebrate this profound, amazing and strangely simple story… We can know what God is like – God is just like Jesus.
* * *
In 1:14 of John’s gospel John sums up the introduction to his gospel by telling us – very basically:
Jesus is God in the flesh.
Jesus shows us what God is like.
* * *
John writes in 1:14:
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:14 (NRSV)
First John tells us that God became flesh:
The ‘Word’ which John talks about is not “The Bible” as some are misled to believe… John tells us quite clearly in verse 1 of John chapter 1 that “the Word was God.”
For Greeks this word, logos was a philosophical term which spoke about the principles and laws on which all of creation hangs – this logos is at the centre of the universe. John is telling us that Jesus is the one who holds all of creation together.
Second John tells us that Jesus shows us what God is like: “and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
John uses two concepts – the concept of glory, or glorification. And the concept of Jesus, as God’s only son.
The word glory, doxa in Greek refers to shedding light on something… It is different to the way we have come to use it in our language.
When we glorify something in our language we often make them out to be better or more than they really are. We’ll glorify a beetle, by making exaggerated claims… “It’s really a well disguised Porsche.”
When John speaks of the glory of Jesus – he is talking about seeing him clearly – and about how clearly and perfectly Jesus reflects his Father.
The second image he uses is that of ‘an only son.’
For people of Jesus’ day an only son was understood to be a perfect reflection of his father, a carbon copy.
John’s words again emphasise the truth that Jesus is what God is like.
And in five words John describes what Jesus makes known to us about God: He is “…full of grace and truth.”
Truth is quite easy to translate from the Greek, but the word translated as grace, is our root word for ‘charity’ charitas… the essence of our God, made known to us in Jesus Christ, is truth; and charity – a word for generous love made real.
* * *
So this is a Christmas gift which each of us, no matter how ‘naughty or nice’ receive. A perfectly painted picture of God – given to us in the humble and perfect person of Jesus Christ.
I wonder if there is a person in the world who on receiving a Christmas present – opens it carefully, looks at it for a moment and wraps it up again till next year… The children would tell us that that person is a fool.
They would tell us that the gifts that we receive are meant to be enjoyed, explored – sometimes cuddled up to at night when we are sleeping. If they are chocolates and biltong, then they’re meant to be eaten…
Maybe this God revealed in the birth of Christ is a God you too can truly believe in, someone in whom you can put your faith and trust. Someone you desperately need in a world that is not always filled with grace and truth.
John tells us that by believing in Jesus we receive the ability to become children of God; Later on, John tells us in 20:31 that by believing that Jesus is the Messiah – we might have life in his name.
So I invite you – to take this life giving Christmas gift quite seriously. Imagine it wrapped up under your tree this morning… open it, allow it to excite you; and like a child excited about their presents be prepared to tell all those around you about this wonderful gift you have received.
* * *
…the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Amen
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