Recently I was officiating at a funeral where I did not know many of the family particularly well. As it was near Christmas, I decided to us the idea of Advent as a departure point. I said that Christmas was the occasion for the God of the ages to come into the world in a unique way. That way was by becoming one of us. This is God's way of showing us His true nature.

When we contemplate our own deaths I wonder how each of us thinks about the time when we will face the God of eternity. Some face that day with faith. Others face it with fear. But when you think of meeting Jesus at the end of your life, I think it is a different matter, if you know who Jesus is.

At the internment, a family member said to me, "its comforting to know that the urn with the ashes is not my uncle. That is just an earthly body. His spirit lives on." I know this person well and could say, "yes that is true, but it is only through an earthly body that we know a person, and his earthly presence will be missed."

We can conceive of God in terms of many abstract . . .
Recently  I was officiating at a funeral where I did not know many of the family particularly well. As it was near Christmas, I decided to us the idea of Advent as a departure point. I said that Christmas was the occasion for the God of the ages to come into the world in a unique way. That way was by becoming one of us. This is God's way of showing us His true nature.

When we contemplate our own deaths I wonder how each of us thinks about the time when we will face the God of eternity. Some face that day with faith. Others face it with fear. But when you think of meeting Jesus at the end of your life, I think it is a different matter, if you know who Jesus is.

At the internment, a family member said to me, "its comforting to know that the urn with the ashes is not my uncle. That is just an earthly body. His spirit lives on."  I know this person well and could say, "yes that is true, but it is only through an earthly body that we know a person, and his earthly presence will be missed."

We can conceive of God in terms of many abstract attributes. Theology classes discuss topics such as the attributes of God. By that I mean words such as "omnipotent" "eternal" "imminent" "sovereign" and the list goes on. Those are interesting words and they have meaning, but the meaning is abstract--a philosophical concept until you see it in action in a person.

John the evangelist says "the word became flesh".
The word he uses for "word" is a Greek word, logos.
The meaning of logos is a philosophical concept that can be expressed as "the essence" of something.

The Swiss Theologian Karl Barth is quoted as saying  "The Word became flesh--and then through theologians it became words again." 1

John is saying that the whole essence of everything God is, became flesh and blood and is expressed in Jesus the man.
It is one thing to think about God as Spirit and think of all the divine characteristics.
It is another thing entirely to read the life of Jesus and see how he treated people, what he did, how he lived and what he said and then say, "that's what God is"

When you think about the fact that one day you too will face the God of the ages, is it a scary thought or a comforting thought?

In my undergraduate work I took a course on the 20th century English novel. One of the novels we studied was William Golding's "Lord of the Flies".2  In case you haven't read it or seen the movie, its a story of school-age boys who are stranded on a desert island with no one but themselves to look after them. Though their surroundings are idyllic, they descend into barbarism and murder. At the end of the story they are rescued by a warship.

One day we were discussing the end of the book when the boys are rescued and what Golding might have been saying. The topic of God intervening at the end of the age was presented as one theory. A man in my class who was an avowed agnostic said something I haven't forgotten. With deep emotion he said that while he was not a believer, the idea of a God intervening at the end of time was a terrifying thought for him.

I have often thought about that man. I was sure from things he said that he had been presented with some form of Christian teaching at some point in his life; but that the God he was running from, was a God who set us impossible standards then punished us severely for falling short. Seeing no way out of such a terrible dilemma, he simply rejected such a God as mythical and malignant.

What a contrast with Jesus!
In Jesus we see a face of God who challenges us the way an older brother challenges. But we see God who loves sinners, heals the sick, weeps at death, comforts and forgives the shamed, restores hope to the sorrowing; and when we fail, offers his own body for our forgiveness. This is love and kindness and mercy and justice with a human face and body.

When I think of my dying day, I think that it is Jesus who I will meet.
I can meet Jesus without fear, because his life tells me I am safe in his hands.

The whole of who God is, in one person. And that person is Jesus.
He came into the world as the light of the world and the darkness can never put it out.


When I was doing my theology in Kentucky, we went to a near-by national park. It is called Mammoth Cave park. Kentucky's substructure is largely limestone which is eroded by rainwater to form caves where the conditions are right.
You go deep into the caverns and then at one point are told to stand still and the lights will be turned off briefly so you can experience absolute total darkness. The lights are switched off and you stand in a darkness to so total your eyes will never adjust to. It is a bit scary. I read this story told my a man who was a pastor in a large Louisville church just before I arrived. His name is John Claypool.


John tells a similar story at Carlsburg Caverns. He and his family were deep in a cave and the lights were switched off. A small boy began to cry out of fear .But his older sister gave him comfort. "Don't worry, little brother!" she said. "Don't worry! There's somebody here who knows how to turn on the lights!"3

What ever the nature of the darkness we face--whether it is the darkness of death or any of a host of difficulties, we don't need to fear the darkness. Someone is here who knows how to turn on the light, and who is the light.
He has come as the Whole of God, the light of the world. His name is Jesus.

Preached
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia

Notes
Sermon illustrations by Tim Zingale,
www.Deaconsil.com
2. William Golding, The Lord of the Flies, Perigree Press
Zingale, op cit.
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Resources Consulted
William Hull, The Gospel of John, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, Broadman Press, 1970.
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdman's, 1971
Glendon E. Harris, Lectern Resource,  January 1990

Online Resources Consulted
Preachingtoday.com
Esermons.com
Deaconsil.com