"Glitz, Glory, and a Glimpse"
John 1:1-5,9-14,16-18
Dec.24/02 Christmas Eve
Tinsel is shiny, shimmery, glittery, delicate - we decorate our Christmas trees with it. Tinsel is a reminder that Christmas has a lot to do with "glory". Luke records that the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds "and the glory of the Lord shone around them" (Lk.2:9). Handel adapted Scripture verses so choirs sing, "And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed"; and taking a page from the angels' songbooks, "Glory to God in the highest!" (Lk.2:14) What's all this "glory" talk about - just some shiny tinselly special effects, a sound and lights show like a fireworks display?
Actually the glitter of tinsel might be better thought of as a symbol of "glitz" rather than glory. Tinsel's shine is derivative, secondary; turn off the lights and you'll find it doesn't glow in the dark by itself, it merely reflects light coming from outside itself. And tinsel is cheap. When it falls on the floor, you find yourself having a serious debate whether it's easier to hang it back up on the tree or just throw it in the garbage. It has very little value, so let's say it represents "glitz" rather than glory.
Much of what this world views as "glorious" is actually "glitz" upon closer inspection -- lacking in real intrinsic value or eternal significance. Philip Yancey writes, "I remember sitting one Christmas season in a beautiful auditorium in London listening to Handel's Messiah, with a full chorus singing about the day when "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed". I had spent the morning in museums viewing remnants of England's glory -- the crown jewels, a solid gold ruler's mace, the Lord Mayor's gilded carriage -- and it occurred to me that just such images of wealth and power must have filled the minds of Isaiah's contemporaries who first heard that promise. When the Jews read Isaiah's words, no doubt they thought back with sharp nostalgia to the glory days of Solomon, then "the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones." The Messiah who showed up, however, wore a different kind of glory, the glory of humility...The God who roared, who could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard, this God emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenage couple for shelter, food, and love.
"In London, looking back toward the auditorium's royal box where the queen and her family sat, I caught glimpses of the more typical way rulers stride through the world: with bodyguards, and a trumpet fanfare, and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry. Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: Her 4,000 pounds of luggage included 2 outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, 40 pints of plasma, and white kid leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost 20 million dollars. In meek contrast, God's visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him...For just an instant the sky grew luminous with angels, yet who saw that spectacle? Illiterate hirelings who watched the flocks of others, "nobodies" who failed to leave their names."
We can think of other contrasts between this world's glitz and true glory. Once back in the days of President Clinton I was travelling through the states and poking around a gas bar convenience store. I was surprised to find in the souvenir section a variety of small plaques lampooning the current president for his back-room sexual misbehaviour. Here is arguably the most powerful man in the whole world, feared by rulers of nations, yet scoffed at in his own nation for the moral lapses he found himself unable to prevent. Or consider the stars of Hollywood, household names, winners of Academy awards - yet their private lives are held up for public ridicule in colourful tabloids beside the grocery checkout counter! Is this really what the world considers "glorious", such fragile fame and fortune?
As Mary and Joseph gazed into that special Baby's face, what was the glory like that they beheld there? On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples saw Jesus' face shine like the sun, and his clothes turned white as light (Mt.17:2). In John's post-resurrection vision recorded in Revelation 1(16), Christ's face "was like the sun shining in all its brilliance". What's going on here - is it just that Jesus is some super-nuclear kind of glow stick, or is there more to glory that might apply to us, too?
Certainly one aspect of glory relates to Christ's power, His latent possibilities and potential. All that exists came into being through Him. John 1(3f) says, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In Him was life..." Paul writes, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." (Colossians 1:16) We glimpse this awesome power and potential hidden in Jesus through miracles such as walking on water, calming the storm, feeding the 5000, raising Lazarus from the dead. Wow! Those are feats to knock your socks off!
Way back in the book of Exodus (33:18), Moses asks God a personal favour: "Show me your glory." In response, God promises that He will cause all His goodness to pass in front of Moses, and proclaim His name, Yahweh, in Moses' presence. The name "Yahweh" is related to the Hebrew verb "to be": God is the One who has the creative power to make things happen, to bring things into being; God's the One who ultimately IS. He is Truth, what's "really real", the ultimate fact we have to face.
So the "glory" the shepherds witnessed shining forth from the angel, and that Jesus' earthly parents saw reflected in His infant face, does have to do with divine unlimited power. But there was more than a CANDU in the cradle. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don't just tell us about Jesus' miraculous acts of power; that's only half the gospel.
The second aspect of glory besides power is compassion, pity, persistent pursuit. In Matthew 1(21), the angel said to Joseph, "you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." God's power wasn't being incarnated to blow us off the face of the planet as we probably deserved, but to rescue us from slavery to sin. Christ came on a mission of mercy. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
The tiny hand that playfully grasped Mary's finger would before long have a rough iron nail driven through its wrist. The infant torso she lovingly wrapped in swaddling cloths would at the cross suffer a deadly spear thrust. The baby's face gazing up at Joseph's beard would some thirty years later have its own whiskers yanked out, be beaten and slapped on my account; the soldiers at that time struck Jesus in the head, spat upon Him, struck Him on the head with a staff again and again (Mt.26:67; 27:30). Foreseeing this, Isaiah had prophesied centuries before, "there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness..." (Isaiah 52:14) We abused Him to a pulp. Yet His whole purpose through it all was to save us forever; at the height of the atrocity He prayed, "Father, forgive them..."
The power of Jesus' glory will compel every knee some day to bow and acknowledge Jesus is Lord. But it is His mercy, His loving compassion, His persistent pursuit of us despite our rejection that prompts my heart to bow in wonder and amazement. On my own, I know I just can't love like that, I don't find it in me. Our fallen tendency is to get even, to get jealous and murderous towards our brother Abel, to justify ourselves when mistreated or misunderstood. Jesus, on the other hand, chose to leave His exalted heavenly state to serve us, to deliver us from evil by suffering the punishment that should have been ours. We kept dishing out the pain to Him, but He kept right on loving us in spite of our hate. The grace component of His glory is even more astounding than His power.
After God proclaimed His name "Yahweh" to Moses, He defined Himself in these terms: "the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin..." (Exodus 34:6-7) That's what was shining out of those baby eyes that night in Bethlehem. That's why the angels sang about God's glory in conjunction with His favour resting on men (Lk.2.14). John (1:14,16) says, "We beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth....From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." Not just the power, the ultimate fact, the truth - but full of grace: not feeling like He had to defend His own interests, but prepared and willing to absorb the pain, the cost, on behalf of others - you and me. Hebrews (2:9) says "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." He accepted the discomfort of a cradle and torture on the cross so we might be spared the unending torment of hell.
The glory of the Lord has been revealed in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Will we reject Him or receive Him? The angel announced, "Today a Saviour has been born to you." (Lk.2:11) What are you going to do with Him? John wrote, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born...of God." (John 1:11-13) Jesus' birth means we can have new spiritual birth, a fresh start, being put right forever with God. Jesus longs to bring us glory. At the end of His earthly life He'd pray about the disciples, "I have given them the glory You gave me." (Jn.17:22) The cradle-to-cross project was all about "bringing many sons to glory" (Heb.2:10). Receive Him tonight by faith, before it's too late.
Can you catch a glimpse of the glory in the face of this baby, laying in a manger? Max Lucado writes, "He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being.
"Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.
"She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey! This baby had overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of eternity. His golden throne room had been abandoned in favour of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.
"Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.
"Those who missed His Majesty's arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren't looking. Little has changed in the last 2000 years, has it?"
Don't make the same mistake! Jesus offers you eternal glory instead of unending punishment. Receive Him, commit to Him, live for Him. Don't settle for glitz. Refuse to settle for the throw-away tinsel: go for the real thing! Let's pray.