PROPERS: CHRISTMAS 1, YEAR A
TEXT: ISAIAH 61:10 – 62:3; JOHN 1:1-18
PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2019.
ONE SENTENCE: The “scandal of grace” symbolized in this season overcomes our common brokenness and invites the forgiveness of selves.
Nora and I took an evening a couple of weeks ago to watch a long-anticipated movie on Netflix. No – it was not The Irishman. It was the splendid movie, The Two Popes.
The movie is a speculative, fictionalized account of the non-existent-then-close relationship between two men who would become Pope – the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world.
The two men were Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who, early in the movie, is elected Pope Benedict XVI. He had previously been head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, a noted conservative, and described by many as God’s Rottweiler. He wanted no change in the church and, in fact, a return to earlier practices.
The other prominent figure in the movie is Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aries, who has traveled to Rome to earnestly seek Pope Benedict’s blessing of his resignation. He is a progressive, wanting to make the church relevant in modern culture.
They find themselves very much at cross-purposes – theologically, ecclesially, doctrinally, and in terms of plans for their individual futures.
As Pope, Benedict rebuffs Bergoglio’s entreaties to accept his resignation. He goes even further: He shocks the South American archbishop with his own plans: He will resign as pope – something which had not happened in more than 1,000 years.
And he goes on: Benedict expects that Bergoglio will be elected the next Pope. The prophecy by Benedict leaves Bergoglio stunned.
What ensues is a deeply profound and moving conversation between these two one-time rivals. They both share their deep searching for the voice of the Lord, and acknowledge their dreadful shortcomings in the past.
It was a scene which drew me to a personal insight – something which I had known intellectually long ago, but had chosen to forget in my service in the church.
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That insight can best be described in this way: I can look out at you and see a gathering of ordinary folks who have lived ordinary lives and have no personal failures or struggles to speak of. It makes preaching easy. It keeps our relationships antiseptic. It causes me to keep things on a surface level with you. There is no need to talk about the struggles of living a human life.
I know that we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. I know that we have faced struggles. But, all that is theoretical, isn’t it?
If I am lucky, you see me in such a one-dimensional, superficial sense, too.
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But, such a simple, cardboard cut-out humanity is not the reason Jesus came into the world. He came because we are broken. We have all failed – sometimes miserably. We have made huge personal mistakes. We have had motivations that were not in the same zip-code as admirable. We have had failed relationships. We have let others down. We have experienced bitter losses.
Those are the reasons for Christmas. As the prologue to the Gospel of John notes:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Both Benedict and the man who would become Francis acknowledged through the heart-rending conversation they shared that – even in spite of their failures (which you and I know in our own lives) – they had been touched by the grace of God. That grace is scandalous because it wipes the slate clean for any person – including you and me… and the worst person we can think of.
I want you to know that I see you differently. I hope you see me differently, too.
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The movie of those two Popes went further. The two men talked about recognizing the grace of God, and forgiving themselves, as well. Bergoglio, particularly, could not forgive himself for actions early in his ministry. The grace of God is one thing; to forgive oneself is another.
You probably know that line of thought. I certainly do.
But recognize this: If God has forgiven – literally forgotten – what is in your past, who are you to hold a higher standard?
A key point of Jesus’ life is that we have all been made new creations. As new creations, we put on new garments, as described by the Prophet Isaiah in today’s first lesson:
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
We are dressed differently. We wear the garments of salvation, and the robe of righteousness.
Christmas has come. We have welcomed him into our hearts. Now, as the New Year begins, wear the clothes with which you have been blessed as a new creation. Let the old fade away – let go of it. Release those burdens. Celebrate the grace that has come into the world, and into your life.
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