December 1998 Issue

The Grace of Jesus Christ is a touching sermon preached by Martin Niemoller in 1936. The German pastor keenly felt the persecution by his government. He sensed a challenge to "our right to spread the Gospel." Theologically, he argued that there was a threat to the church's claim that the Gospel is the one true message of salvation. He acknowledged that the government's attack seemed to be against the Old Testament and against the Apostle Paul (anti-Semitism), but the preacher boldly declared that the attack was really aimed at "the one and only Lord in Whom we believe, namely, Jesus of Nazareth." The pastor warned that for his country the Christian era was being replaced by another.

"Jesus Christ is at stake" was his plea. Niemoller acknowledged that since the Enlightenment Christ was being replaced by other "lords" (reason, knowledge, insight), Karl Marx had declared Jesus to be the "parsons' fairy-tale, destined to comfort stupid people by holding out hopes of a life beyond the grave, and so to keep them in good humour." For most, the pastor argued Jesus was a great personality to be admired but not worshipped.

This sermon was preached on December 20th, and the pastor lamented how his nation no longer celebrated Christmas. "Our nation celebrates the myth of eternal birth, our national celebrates the myth of re-awakening light, its own wayward hope of re-awakening, but not the birth of Mary's son."

For Niemoller, it was a great question and test of faith. The narcissism of his nation was proclaiming: "I am the Lord, my own God!" Niemoller heard the transcendent God claim: "I am the Lord! I am thy God!" It was at this moment that the preacher experienced "grace not only as an attack on our pride, but as a gentle ray of hope, as the one and only possibility of our being brought back from the falsehood of life to the truth of life, before God, under God and with God." Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (v.17) for this man of great faith and courage.¹

In his little book, Three Sermons, C. H. Dodd has a sermon, The Incarna- tion, based on verse 14. The other sermons are The Meaning of the Cross, and The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Surprisingly, he begins this sermon with an elaboration on the Sacrament of Holy Communion which he claims is a distinctive way of worship for Christians everywhere. The point is that the Sacrament commemorates "an historical event and an historical Person" (the Incarnation). Further, in the Sacrament, Christ continues to be present, continues to be incarnate. Dodd makes the point that "all this is no afterthought, foisted upon the Church in the course of its centuries of development." It is incarnational. It is the backbone of the church. It is historical.

The incarnation is puzzling at times. There are many things that Jesus (the incarnate one) did and said that are perplexing and difficult to understand. Dodd refers to Mark's emphasis on the "mystery of the Kingdom of God." Some aspects of the incarnation are mysterious and hard to fathom. Dodd also suggested that this is Mark's term for the incarnation -- "the (mystery of the) kingdom of God has come upon you." For Matthew, the word for incarnation is Emmanuel, i.e., "God with us." Perhaps more so that Mark or Matthew, the gospel writer John captures the concept of incarnation best in the phrase -- "the Word became flesh."

Dodd agreed with "natural religion" that the Word is in nature and that one can trace the revelation of the Creator in creation. Still, the Word (the revelation) was in the world (nature) but the world (those in the world) did not know him in the most profound sense of knowing. General revelation in nature was not enough. A special revelation (the Word became flesh) was necessary. "Now the Word is uttered in a Man, who, living among men, shows forth the splendour of the divine nature in terms of personal character and social action, and so finds us where we live." For Dodd, this was not a one time flashing of the eternal light on the earthly darkness ("we beheld his glory"), rather the incarnation is a permanent center of grace and truth which radiates to all people.

Dodd reminds us that the incarnation is not limited to the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel. John shares over and over again the incarnational life. The incarnation was not a momentary happening, it was a life, lived in time among other flesh. In closing, Dodd connects his thoughts to the Sacrament with which he began. "The mystery of the Word made flesh is not to be sought on the summit of some Everest of metaphysical speculation or historical research. It awaits us in the worshipping fellowship of the universal Church."²

Leonard A. Griffith, while pastor in Ottawa, began a sermon in 1954 by sharing an incident he had recently heard. A little girl was being put to bed by her mother during a loud thunderstorm. As the mother tried to leave the room, the little girl insisted that she stay to comfort her during the storm. The mother explained that she and her husband wanted to eat dinner and spend some time together. The mother tried to calm the little girl by saying, "God will take care of you. There's no need to be afraid." The little girl cried out, "I know mommy, but when it thunders that way, a little girl like me wants somebody with skin on!"

Griffith insisted that this story illustrated the essential truth of the text: "the invisible spirit of God did once clothe himself in skin and come to dwell among us full of grace and truth." Like Dodd, Griffith acknowledged that people had seen God in history and in nature. They were only partial revelations. They had perhaps seen God with their hearts, but in Christ, people could see God with their eyes. God had put on skin.

Griffith explained how most of the time one can tell something about the parent from the child. That is why we have coined phrases like "a chip off the old block." In a similar way, we can know about God by looking to Jesus. Griffith warned his listeners however about anthropomorhizing God. God is still God, the incredible, unfathomable energy source behind this universe. In Christ, we do get an accurate picture of the attributes and the intentions of God. He compared this to two men crossing a frozen pond in the middle of the night. One man, representing those who only believe in the general revelation or none at all, slips and falls on the ice and is disoriented by the darkness of the night. The other man, representing those who choose to believe in the special revelation in Christ, is able to cross the pond, although slipping and sliding at times, because he sees a light on the other side of the pond ("the light shines in the darkness"). (The sermon was broadcast on CBC Radio Canada.)

On the Protestant Hour in 1959, Edmund Steimle preached When God Gets Down to Earth in which he insists that God is more realistic at Christmas than we are. Our behavior becomes quite bizarre: trees spring up in the middle of living rooms, buildings are decorated with colored lights, people rush around in hysterics. Steimle admits that he likes the craziness of Christmas but realizes that our Christmas celebrations are quite ludicrous at times. After Christmas, we manage to "come back down to earth."

Steimle even takes issue with the biblical account of Christmas. He saw a kind of unrealism in the stories of magical stars, traveling wise men and choruses of angels when God was being most realistic and practical. Christ's birth in Bethlehem was God "getting down to earth" which was soberingly realistic.

According to Steimle, the best people are down to earth people. The greatest people are both extremely talented and down to earth, able to communicate with any person. His examples were Abraham Lincoln who was known for his leadership and his down to earthiness and Albert Schweitzer who took his immense talents to be down to earth with the people of Africa.

The greatest of people are both talented and approachable. In Christ, God was approachable. This is what is so down to earth about the incarnation -- God chose to be approachable. In a similar way, we need God most in our common, down to earth experiences.

Created and Uncreated Light was the title of a sermon by Thomas Torrance of the University of Edinburgh in 1988. He believes that the analogy of light used by John in this text is a purposeful choice. First, he urges us to consider the constancy of light. All objects in space are defined in reference to light; however, "light is not defined in reference to anything else." If light did not respond in a constant way, the universe would be in chaos. In the same way, God, the uncreated light, is constant. The Bible describes this constancy with terms like faithfulness, fidelity and covenant. Therefore, we have "order in both faith and science."

Second, Torrance would have us consider the invisibility of light. We cannot see light; we only see what is illuminated by light. John the Baptist "was not the light but came to bear witness to the (uncreated) light." In the Old Testament period, the light (of God) could illuminate but could not be seen. In Christ, the uncreated light of God became visible and incarnate.

Third, light is laden with information. Extensive formulas are needed to decode light's information. Christ was the light sent from God, full of information for humankind. Fourth, light is impartial. Light acts in the same way from all points of view. The speed of light cannot be altered. In the same way, the grace of God is impartial. We cannot add to or take away from the grace of God.

Torrance's sermon may seem superficial in some ways, but in the sermon he uses many physical and metaphysical examples to give the sermon a most substantial grounding.

There are many fine sermons in print on this text. Like the above, most elaborate on the themes of incarnation and grace.

David Howell