The Word Made Flesh: Christmas Day and the Incarnation | Advent Day 25

In the beginning was the Word. Before the stars burned. Before the mountains rose. Before light separated from darkness. The Word was. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. John opens his Gospel not in Bethlehem but in eternity. Not with a manger but with the cosmos. He wants us to understand who lies in that feeding trough. The baby in swaddling cloths is the Word through whom all things were made. The Greek term John used was Logos. Greek philosophers knew this word, the rational principle underlying reality, the ordering force that gives coherence to chaos. John takes their term and transforms it. The Logos is not an abstraction. The Logos is a person. The Logos was with God. The Logos was God. And the Logos became flesh. This is the claim that changed everything. Not that God sent a message. Not that God dispatched an agent. But that God became human. The Creator entered creation. The Word who spoke the universe into being lay speechless in a manger. Twenty-five days we have traveled toward this moment. We began in the garden where Adam and Eve heard the first promise. We walked with Noah through the flood. We stood with Abraham under stars too numerous to count. We watched Isaac born to aged parents, witnessed Jacob wrestling for blessing, traced Joseph's journey from pit to palace. We encountered Moses at the burning bush and followed Israel through the Red Sea. Ruth gleaned in Bethlehem's fields. David was anointed king in that same village while still smelling of sheep. The prophets spoke through centuries of waiting. Isaiah proclaimed that a virgin would conceive. Micah pointed to Bethlehem. Then silence. Four hundred years of prophetic quiet. Until Zechariah burned incense and met Gabriel. Until a young woman in Nazareth said yes to the impossible. Until Joseph chose obedience. Until Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem because Caesar issued a decree. Until there was no room. Until a baby was laid in a manger. Until shepherds heard angels and came running. All of it leads here. To this child. To this moment. To the Word made flesh. Leonardo da Vinci began painting this moment in 1481. His Adoration of the Magi remains unfinished. Dozens of figures crowd around Mary and the child. Shepherds and Magi, spectators and seekers, all converge on this central point. Leonardo understood that the incarnation draws all humanity. Mary sits with quiet composure amid the chaos. The child reaches toward the gifts offered. Peace at the center. Motion at the edges. The unfinished state speaks theologically. Christ came. The kingdom began. We await final consummation. John says the Word "dwelt" among us. The Greek is "eskenosen," related to "skene," the word for tent. The Word "tabernacled" among us. The same presence that filled the Tabernacle in the wilderness now fills a human body. The glory cloud that descended on Mount Sinai now rests on a child's face. God has pitched His tent in our camp. "We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Two words capture everything. Grace and truth. The Hebrew phrase behind them is "hesed ve'emet," meaning covenant love and faithfulness. These words describe God's character throughout the Old Testament. John claims that the incarnate Word fully embodies these divine attributes. You want to know what God is like? Look at this child. Grace and truth have taken flesh. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John wrote his Gospel late in the first century. Persecution had begun. Christians were dying for their faith. The darkness was real. But the light remained. Still shines. Will never be extinguished. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The tragedy echoes. His own world. His own creation. They did not recognize him. The very hands that formed the stars received no welcome. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Here is the invitation. The same invitation that has stood open for two thousand years. The Son of God became human so that humans might become children of God. He descended so that we might ascend. He was born so that we might be reborn. This is the great exchange. This is the Christmas gift. Our calendar counts from this birth. History divides around this child. Something happened here that could not be ignored and cannot be undone. The journey that began in Eden ends in Bethlehem. But Bethlehem is not the end. The manger leads to a cross. The swaddling cloths foreshadow burial wrappings. The child who could not yet speak will one day cry, "It is finished." But that is another story. Today we celebrate birth. Today we worship at the manger. Today we join the shepherds and the Magi, the angels and all the faithful through the ages, in wonder at the mystery. The Word became flesh. God took up residence in human nature. The tabernacle pitched among us is now with us forever. He does not visit temporarily. He has joined humanity permanently. This changes everything about how you approach God. The Word speaks your language. The Eternal knows your limitations. The Almighty understands your weakness from the inside. You approach not a distant deity but an incarnate Savior who once lay in a manger. This Christmas, receive the gift. The right to become children of God stands open. Believe in His name. The One who descended into flesh invites you to ascend into His family. The exchange is complete. He took your nature. He offers His sonship. All who receive Him are received. All who believe belong. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Merry Christmas.