Christmas According to John

I told you in the first post this week that I would let you know my favorite Christmas account.

Is it Matthew that tells us Jesus came as our King? I love Matthew’s interest in how prophecy is fulfilled – I don’t understand it all, but I love seeing how he saw prophecy fulfilled. But it’s not my favorite narrative.

Is it the lack of a story in Mark? When I was a kid, Dad started a tradition of reading a Christmas narrative before we opened our presents. When we read from Luke it seemed like forever. Matthew was quicker, but lacked the angels in the field. I never could get Dad to read the Mark account, even though I’d ask him for it every year… I mean really, those gifts just don’t open themselves. I love remembering Jesus came with a purpose – He came to die, but the lack of an account in Mark is not my favorite account. Besides now I take some pleasure in making my kids wait to open their presents.

Is it the detail of Luke I love? Luke is the classic account. It has so much detail  and is so well written, it rolls of the tongue. I so appreciate knowing Jesus came for all, but it’s not my favorite account of the nativity.

So you guessed it. Christmas According to John is my favorite account. It puts the awe of the advent into me every year. I love reading it, reciting it, meditating on it. It’s powerful.

Where is it you ask? Well, here it is. I’m doing this from memory – I can’t remember how far it goes, but it starts with John 1:1:

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 all things were made, without him nothing has been made. In him was life and his life is the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it. There was one sent from God his name was John, he came a witness to the light to testify so that all men might believe. He himself was not the light, he came as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came into his own and his own did not receive him. Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God. Children not born of natural descent or human wisdom or a husband’s will… but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us…

There it is. “The Word became flesh and (literally) camped out for a while”.  Remember I said Matthew puts the birth of Jesus in Jewish history and Luke puts the birth of Jesus in World history? John puts the birth of Jesus in Cosmic history.

The One who spoke and the 400 million stars of this galaxy were formed and 400 million galaxies of this Universe came into being – the one who sustains the spin of an electron around a proton and makes the dark matter we’re only speculating about keep the universe together… took on flesh and camped out for a while.

Yes, Jesus came as our King. He came to die in our place. He came for all. But the thing that continually puts me in awe of Christmas is HE CAME. Immanual – “God With Us” stripped himself of his omnipresence and omniscience and came as a helpless baby in a manger.

I don’t understand. I can  only see the edges of this picture. But I appreciate it and I’m in awe of it.

Christmas According to John is God came.

What’s your favorite Christmas narrative and why? Love to hear your comments.