After only a week of married life, a young husband had to leave his bride to fight in the war. Though they were a half- world apart in distance, they frequently exchanged letters and occasionally he would send her a gift to remind her of his love. Then one night there was a sudden and unexpected knock on her door. Cautiously she opened it and to her amazement there stood her soldier-husband. On his face was a grin that extended from ear to ear. They ran into each other's arms and laughed and cried with the joy of reunion.

In times past God has been sending words and gifts of love to his children. In various ways through priests and prophets God has been sending messages of love and truth. Continually God has been sending gifts to us. But, on Christmas night God knocks on the door of humankind and presents himself as a man, a God with a human face. As John says in our text, no man has ever seen God until now we see him in the face of the Babe of Bethlehem. God becomes a man, identifies himself with man that we might know God personally, physically, realistically. This is what humans need today. We are constantly asking, "Where is God?" "What is God like?" and "Where can I find God?" Those questions are answered in God's becoming a human being. To look at Jesus is to see God. Look into the face of Christ and you look into the true nature of God. In the text John says, "We have seen his glory ..." In Jesus' face we see the glory of God.

A Face Of Life

On this Christmas day the Christ child is the center of attention. All eyes are upon the baby Jesus. When we look into the face of this child, what do we see? Our text tells us that one thing we see is that God is life. "In him was life," says verse 4. Life was in Christ, and automatically we understand that God is life. Another name for God is Life with a capital "L." God's very essence is life. God is Being as over against Non- being. It is not a case of God's having life but that God is life. Jesus once said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." As life, God is the author of all life. Our text refers to God as the creator of all things: "All things were made through him..." This life of God's as seen in Christ is permanent.

It is not a matter of threescore years and ten and that is the end. God's life is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. That is why eternal life, which we Christians claim, is a gift, never a human attainment. The life God gives is God's own life, and as God is eternal, the life God gives is eternal. Because of this, Christians have life in the very midst of physical death. When Norman Vincent Peale was a young minister in Brooklyn he saw one Christmas Eve two Christmas wreaths on a door. The one had a red ribbon and the other had a black ribbon. He sensed that the family had a death. Although he was not their pastor, he felt constrained to go and offer his sympathy. It was a family with children who had just moved there recently. When Peale knocked on the door, the man said, "Come in." In the living room was a casket holding the body of a six-year-old girl. When Peale offered his condolence, the father replied. "It's all right. She is with the Lord, you know." At the same time the mother was upstairs reading the Bible before two younger brothers went to bed. He heard her read, "Because I live, you shall live also."

Real, genuine, and true life for a person is life in God. To have life, a person must have Christ in him by faith and Christ must be born in him. According to the Bible, death is not only physical death but it is separation from God. The farther we get away from God the less life we have. If we have no faith, if we reject Christ, we live only an earthly existence which is banal, meaningless, and frustrating. This means that life is a relationship with God in Christ. Do you ask, "How does one maintain a relationship with the Author of Life?" To keep in touch with God means that we must pray daily, continuously. Worship is a way to keep close to God. Taking time out each day in private devotions when you read the Bible, reflect, and meditate is necessary to keep in contact with God. Jesus once said, "I am the vine, you are the branches." When a branch is broken off the vine, you know what happens. It withers and dies. To have true life, each of us must maintain constant contact with God, living in God's presence at all times. This is one main reason for God's coming to earth in the form of man. God came in Jesus to die for humans. He was born to die that all might have life. It meant the cross, because through the cross a sacrifice for sin would be made. Sin is what separates from God, and separation from God means death. Christ came to redeem us, to save us from death. By putting us at one with God, by restoring fellowship with God, we have life. So, when we look into the face of Jesus, we see that God is life.

A Face Of Light

Take a second look into the face of this helpless child in the manger and what do you see? According to our text, we can see that God is light. "In him was life, and the life was the light of all people ... The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world." There is radiance in the face of Jesus. It reflects the shining face of God, a face brighter than the sun. It is really too bright to look at and thus we dare look only into the face of Jesus which reflects the light. Of course, we do not know the exact calendar day when Jesus was born. But, was it not significant that the church chose December 25 as his birthday? It comes at the darkest time of the year, because December 21 is considered the shortest day of the year. Our world has been described as a people sitting in darkness. Because of this the world needs light, and God knew it! That is why Christ came: to lighten our darkness.

Do you need any proof that we are in darkness? There is the darkness of crime, sin, and disobedience. The FBI reports that 75 percent of all crimes take place in the dark. Crime flourishes in poorly lighted areas. That is one reason for street lights -- watch out for those dark alleys! Businessmen keep their stores and plants lighted at night to discourage break-ins. When you leave home for a vacation, you arrange to have lights burn during the night to make thieves think you are home. Also, there is the darkness of hatred. "Hate, Inc." sponsors an annual "National Hate Week" in America to foster unbridled hatred. Think of the hatred between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. The darkness of hatred is overwhelming in the Middle East where Jew and Arab hate each other to the threat of another world war. This hatred was expressed when three Arab guerillas crossed the border and killed four Jews. This so aroused hatred that the Jews killed the guerillas and threw their bodies out of an upper story window. They doused the bodies with gasoline, set them afire, and chanted, "Kill them again! Kill them again!" Think also of the darkness of our ignorance in spite of all our books, schools, and learned societies. We are in the dark when it comes to some of our main problems. Our leaders frankly admit they do not have the answer to problems such as cancer, inflation, the energy crisis, and even something as simple as the common cold. It is said that the only known cure for a cold is to come home, put your hat on the bedpost, and drink liquor until you see two hats. Then go to bed and sleep it off! As Goethe was dying, he cried out, "Light, more light!" That is the cry of our dark world this Christmas. Jesus is the light, for he said, "I am the light of the world." He is the light because he is of the Father and is a reflection of the God of light. When this baby in the manger grew up, he told his followers, "You are in the light of the world." At once this points to the great need for Christ and the church in the world. In Christ and his body, the church is the source of the world's light. To have Christ and the church is not something you can take or leave. It is a basic essential of life and of a good society. Light is needed to show men the truth, to point out the path that leads to life and peace. Light is needed to dispel the darkness of wickedness and crime in the world that it may become a safe place in which to live.

If we see that God is light in the face of Jesus, how does this light come to the world? It comes in Christ. Don't you see the radiance surrounding the manger? Since Christ is no longer in the world, the light of God comes through Christ's people, the church. Jesus said that we, his disciples, are the light of the world. If there are over 100 million Christians in America, why is there so much darkness here? If there are about a billion Christians in the world, why is there so much dark hatred in the world? Could it be that we Christians are failing to be lights to the world?

Is it possible that we have allowed the light to go out in our lamps? Are we like the foolish virgins in the parable? There was once a train and school bus collision. Seven children were killed. Later there was an investigation held. The signal man at the crossing was severely cross-examined. He insisted that he was swinging his lantern vigorously. The next day a friend complimented him for standing up under the heavy fire of questioning and sticking to his story. He replied, "I was afraid that the lawyer was going to ask me whether the lantern was lit!" This seems to be so much like the church today. We have equipment, buildings, programs, and procedures. We go through the mechanics of our religion. But often the light of Christ is not in our church business. People in the darkness cannot see the Light. This light of Christ needs to be rekindled at this Christmas time as Christ once more comes to be born anew, to burn again in our lives and churches.

If the light has gone out of the church, it may be due to the fact that in each of us the light of Christ no longer burns. When a little girl got home from church one Sunday where she had heard a sermon on "Let your light shine," she asked her mother what that meant. The mother explained that the light shone when we were sweet, kind and good. The next Sunday in the nursery, the child caused an uproar to the extent that the teacher had to get her mother to quiet her down. Remembering what she was told the previous Sunday the little girl blurted out, "I have blowed myself out!" Maybe that has happened to us also. We have blown out the light of Christ and are living in sin. If that is the case, we need to take Christ the Light once again into our hearts. Take the candle of your heart to Christ the Light and let him re-ignite your candle by touching him. If each of us is a candle in a dark world, the world will be brighter because we let our little lights shine and God will be glorified by our good works.

A Face Of Love

When we look at the God with the human face, we see love. There is nothing but kindness, tenderness and understanding in that face of Jesus. And this is the way it is with God. In a letter John simply says, "God is love." In our text we are told that "from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." In this same text, we see God's love in that by faith in Christ we become children of God. Luther considered John 3:16 the greatest text in the Bible: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ..." It is like Hallmark advertises, "When you care enough to send the very best." God cared enough for humankind to send God's very best. The very best was God in Jesus. Christmas, then, is a festival of love because we are now convinced as we gaze into the face of Jesus that God truly loves each of us. How can we be sure that God loves each of us? Love is best expressed in giving to the one loved. That is why at Christmas we have this mad craze of shopping for gifts. It all began with God's giving to humans and their giving to Jesus as the Wise Men brought their gifts to the manger-child. Gifts express love. They are physical tokens of love. We say, "I love you," with a gift. Of course, there is a danger in this. It is quite possible that this principle can be prostituted so the meaning is distorted and nullified. We all know that gifts can be given out of a sense of duty and obligation. Though we may not want to give, we are ashamed not to have a gift for one whom we know will be giving to us. Often a gift is presented without any love at all. We will all agree that such a gift without the heart of the giver is bare indeed and it may just as well not be given. So, it is not the material gift that is really the final proof of love. It is the person in the gift. Even better is to give yourself as a gift. This is what God did for us. God emptied himself of God's godly powers and prestige and humbled himself to be born of a virgin, and God came to the people of God who did not receive him. As Paul said, "God was in Christ."

In Jesus God gave himself to the world. And the tragedy of every Christmas is "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not." As God gave himself in Jesus, Christ gave himself to humankind. He came to die for humans. When he hung on a cross, Jesus did not die for himself or for his sins. He died for our sins. He gave his all that we might have life and light. As Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends ..." It is too late to take up the question of what gift would be the best you could give this Christmas. But, we do not have to wait until next Christmas to give this gift. The very best gift you could give is yourself, just as God and Jesus gave themselves to us. A lawyer once said that the greatest gift he ever got was one Christmas when his dad gave him a little box. Inside was a note: "Son, this year I will give you 365 hours, an hour after dinner each day in the coming year. We will talk about what you want to talk about, go where you want to go, play what you want to play. It will be your hour." The attorney said that his father kept the promise, and then renewed the gift each year. He confessed, "It was the greatest gift I ever had in my life." Every one of us would appreciate a gift like that. And so would God! In our liturgy we have the offering when we give to God our material gifts as an expression of our love and faith in God. But, there is another form of offering called the "offertory." It is the time when we re-give ourselves to God and his Christ. We give ourselves as we sing "Create in me a clean heart, O God ..." This is a far more expensive and appreciated gift than the check for $1,000 we may have put on the offering plate. On the mission field an old lady walked two miles to church in bare feet because she was too poor to buy shoes. When the offering came, she had not a cent to give but she walked up with the ushers, kissed the pastor, and told him that she would like to give herself to God in place of money. This Christmas God has given the supreme gift of himself in Jesus. Now is the time for us to respond with our chief gift to God -- the giving of ourselves in allegiance, love and service.

When you see God in the face of Jesus, a miracle happens. People see God in your face. When Jacob met Esau after years of estrangement, he was met with love and forgiveness. It made Jacob say to Esau, "For truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, with such favor have you received me." When Stephen was dying from being stoned to death for his Christian witness, the Book of Acts says, "His face was like the face of an angel." Because at Christmas we were given a God with a human face, we humans can have the face of God!