Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The Christmas Day Gospel that we have just heard from John is different. Luke, in his Gospel, speaks about Jesus’s birth in the way that we are accustomed. You heard that Gospel read last night. Matthew also, in his Gospel, gives us history—perhaps more from Joseph’s perspective than from Mary’s. John is also speaking about real events—just as much as Luke or Matthew. He is speaking about the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, becoming flesh and being born. John the Baptist is the herald who goes before him, announcing his coming. God tabernacles among us in Jesus, just as God tabernacled among the Israelites in the tabernacle and, later, the temple. These are real events, but perhaps you could say that he is dealing with them using a very wide angle lens. In fact, his angle is so wide that he even is taking in the creation of the world. The opening words of his Gospel are so familiar. They are taken from the beginning of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The beginning of John’s Gospel reads, “In the beginning.” Furthermore, the very first things that happened in Genesis are also fleshed out in the Gospel’s opening statement. Genesis says in the beginning the world was without form and void. Then God spoke. He used words. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In John’s Gospel it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” With John speaking about Jesus being the light, his wide angle view takes in the whole sweep and span of created time. The wideness of his angle extends to this present time as he speaks about the light. Jesus says later in John, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In our present time we are to follow the light. The light is only on this earth for a set period of time, however. At the end, during Holy Week, Jesus says to the Jews of Jerusalem: “The light will be with you just a little while longer. Keep on walking while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” Soon the time of grace would be over for them. In another place Jesus says, “I must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” Night is coming. An end is coming. Thus you can see that the scope of this Christmas Gospel is very, very wide. In fact, it couldn’t be wider. It takes in all of created time. In the beginning was the light. Now is the light. Eventually the light will go away from this earth, but in the new heavens and the new earth the light will never go away. And so here we have a bold claim. When people are trying to figure out what the meaning of life is, they necessarily try to encapsulate all of life. They try to take in the widest possible angle so that all the meaning is captured and nothing is left out. What, then, is the meaning of life? Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father. He is life. He is grace. He is truth. He is light. No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father’s side, has made God known. Those who believe in Jesus are given the right to become children of God. They are born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God. This gives us tons of things that we could talk about. After all, we’re talking about the meaning of life here. But let’s focus on one of the things that is especially relevant to what we are commemorating at Christmas. Christmas is ab