THE WORD MADE FLESH
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have
seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of
grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out,
“This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks
before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his
fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law
was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at
the Father’s side, he has made him known.
John 1:14-18
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who
were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer
a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:4-7
One of the side effects of the vast commercialisation of Christmas is to have made
many thinking people, not all of them Christians either, determined increasingly to
see some meaning in the season as a festival, and find some reason for observing it.
More and more, people want Christmas to mean something to them.
Let me, then, give you a seed thought that will add some substance to greetings we
express to one another, our friends, families and workmates.
'The Word was made flesh' - this is how the Apostle John describes the mystery of
the Incarnation, and mystery there is in the wonderful condescension of God. How
low He stooped to enter His own creation, and how willing He was to do so for
our sakes!
But we must not stop at this thought. He who sent His Son into the world for our
salvation sends His Spirit into men's hearts that they might experience it. And for
the believer, the real joy of Christmas lies in this, that the Word has become flesh
again in his heart. He rejoices and exults not only in the virgin birth of the Saviour
in Bethlehem, but also in the virgin birth of faith in his soul. Christmas is no longer a
far-off event, enshrouded in the mists of the past, it is something that has happened
to him. Christ is born in him, and the Dayspring from on high has visited him with
salvation.
But if Christmas is the 'door' by which God entered the weariness and sinfulness of
our lost world, then the manner of His entrance is significant for us also. For it was
to a humble peasant maid that the eternal Word came, to evoke, both in act and
attitude, a response of utter submission to the gracious visitation: 'Behold the
handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.' This is how the Word
was made flesh, in the fulness of the time, and this is how the continuing miracle of
Christmas takes place in the hearts of men.
Submission and obedience are the open-hearted response to the message of the
angel - this is the ‘door' through which God comes to bless men with His salvation,
in the same silent, unobtrusive way.
No ear may hear His coming:
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
This is what makes Christmas mean something - nay, everything - to men. God
grant that it will not mean less than this to us