Coming Home: A Christmas Meditation

“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.” John 1:10-11.

 

Which of these statements is true?

When Dorothy returns from her whirlwind trip to Oz, she realizes that "there is no place like home." She was already home. All she had to do was realize she was, click her heals, and he was home. She discovers that home truly is where the heart is, and she revels in her the love and nurture of her family.

In a contrasting bit of proverbial wisdom, we have the famous novel of Thomas Wolfe, informing us, "You can't go home again." You might be able to return physically to the place of your birth, but nothing and no one, including yourself, will be the same. The "home" of your memory no longer exists.

The Wizard or Wolfe? Who does have it right?

 Let us look.

 All of us yearn for "home" -- a powerful word that stirs up deep emotions. If you ask people of any age to describe the home where they grew up, they will be able to provide a lengthy and detailed description. Undoubtedly, they will remember details like where they slept, what mealtime was like and who sat around the dinner table. Being the only boy and oldest child of five, I had my room in the basement of one of our many homes of my early childhood. I discovered many years later than my mother felt sorry for me because it was the basement. I told her that for me, it was special. What I remembered was that it was my private space. As we got older, schedules became difficult. However, I knew I was to be home by 5 PM, ready for a meal together. Sunday after church was usually the meal dad prepared. Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, with oyster stew as part of the celebration, still lingers with me. For better or worse, home, and the memories of home, become part of our very being and travel with us throughout our lives.

"Home" is supposed to be a safe haven, a port in the storm, a place where the door is always open, and you can count on being welcomed. Home is supposed to be that place where people will accept you just the way you are. My sisters still remember my habit of playing strat-o-matic baseball in my room. I guess they accepted that about me, and still do.

 Nevertheless, what would happen if we did not have a home to which to go back? What if there were no one and no place that welcomed us?

Christmas is the celebration that Jesus did indeed come home again. The Word, who "was with God ... and was God" came back to dwell among God's people whom he had known from the very beginning. "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (v. 14) -- that is the miracle of Christmas. Jesus is home!

 The next miracle is supposed to be the celebration of Epiphany when we rejoice that, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it" (v. 5).

However, there is a problem. Jesus "was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him" (v. 10). It seems that Thomas Wolfe was right -- you really cannot go home again. The homecoming celebration fell flat because, when the guest of honor showed up, it turned out that no one recognized him. Or even worse -- if they did know him, they did not open their hearts to him and welcome him.

 It is one of the saddest verses in the Bible -- Jesus comes into the world that he has known even before the world knew itself and the world ignores him. They "did not know him" (v. 11).

How could his own people not recognize or acknowledge him?

Why can Jesus not go home again? What is going on here?

Blindness, Physical and Spiritual

Called “Argus” — named after the mythological Greek god who had 100 eyes — this innovative system can help blind people to see by providing them with an artificial retina.

Here is how it works: Doctors mount a small video camera on a pair of sunglasses. They connect this camera to a tiny electronic implant in the eye. They connect the implant to damaged photoreceptors on the retina of the patient— photoreceptors known as rods and cones. Then the images from the camera pass through the implant and stimulate the photoreceptors, which transmit signals to the brain through the optic nerve.

According to researchers at the 2005 meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, doctors have successfully implanted these artificial retinas in six patients, allowing them to see light and detect motion. Developed by researchers from the University of Southern California and the Doheny Eye Institute, this system works only with patients with degenerated rods and cones, a condition that is often caused by disease.

In February of 2013, Argus II found its production. The New York Times says the device allows people with a certain type of blindness to detect crosswalks on the street, the presence of people or cars, and sometimes even large numbers or letters.

The artificial retina is a sheet of electrodes implanted in the eye. They give the patient glasses with an attached camera and a portable video processor. This system allows visual signals to bypass the damaged portion of the retina and transmit to the brain.

With the artificial retina or retinal prosthesis, a blind person cannot see in the conventional sense, but can identify outlines and boundaries of objects, especially when there is contrast between light and dark — fireworks against a night sky or black socks mixed with white ones.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/health/fda-approves-technology-to-give-limited-vision-to-blind-people.html?_r=0

Here is the point. As human beings, we will go to great lengths to cure physical blindness. Artificial retinas are an amazing innovation. They focus on degenerated rods and cones.

Yet, when it comes to another form of blindness, we will hesitate to seek healing. Blindness of mind and spirit is serious, we need healing, but we avoid the medicine.

Maybe our personal darkness comes from depression, or disillusionment, or doubt. Perhaps it originates in discouraging work or a deteriorating relationship. Maybe it comes from having nothing to look forward to, no contribution to make, or no one to love.

Suddenly, the people who walk in darkness are able to see a great light, and those who dwell in a land of darkness — on them the light shines! (Isaiah 9:2).

In fact, if you read Isaiah 9:2-7, you will find that the prophet wants us to see the world differently. Do we dare?

⁶ For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

A False Light

The following will appear in the Pharos Tribune as part of the "Parson to Person" program they have.

 

Most people like to see their name in print.

But not Eddie Bueno.

When Bueno saw the name of his family mentioned in the local newspaper, he was not happy. In fact, he was “devastated.”

He had spent nearly his whole life trying to escape his family and so far had succeeded; the last thing he wanted was to read an article about his family with the headline “Denver’s Biggest Crime Family.” The article described how 15 of the 18 children of Pete and Della Bueno had a string of arrests, dubbing them “Denver’s biggest crime family.”

Just one big problem. The article did not mention that Eddie was not one of those 15 of 18 children, or that he had lived an upright successful life since age 13 when he left the family to pursue a better way.

What is one to do when someone portrays one’s character publicly in an inaccurate way? He was hurt enough to do something about it, so he sued the newspaper for portraying him in a “false light.” Thirty states allow such suits, similar to chargers of defamation of character.  The United States Supreme Court has also approved false light legal actions.

A jury agreed that the paper had portrayed Bueno unjustly in a false light and awarded him over $100,000. Nevertheless, on appeal, another justice overturned the case.

What does this legal notion of presenting someone in a false light have to do with us during the Christmas season?

Many Christians now prefer the title “Christ-follower.” I find either title quite challenging. We are identifying ourselves with Jesus Christ.

Christians offer a confession of sin (presenting Christ in a false light) on a regular basis in church. Within the Christian community, we will think of other groups as presenting Christ in a false light. As individuals, we might think of those with whom we disagree as doing so. Today, let us prayerfully reflect upon how we have done so.

In Romans 15:4-13, ending the ethical portion of the letter, we read of what it might mean to present Christ in a true light. Paul suggests that as Christ-followers, we would offer the light of hope, rooted in the promises of scripture to the Jewish people and that God has now promised to the world through Christ. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight,” we sing in “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” We would also offer the light of healing in relationships, welcoming each other even as Christ welcomed us. In the Advent hymn “Once in Royal David’s City,” we read, “Jesus is our childhood’s pattern/ daily like us lived and grew/ Jesus, little, weak and helpless, tears and smiles and comfort knew.” Then in another verse: “So, like Jesus, we should be/ serving God obediently.” We would also offer the light of holiness, in the sense of glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ “together” and “with one voice.” For Paul, that meant between Jew and Gentile, even as the traditional Advent hymn puts it, “O come, O come Emmanuel / and ransom captive Israel / that mourns in lonely exile here / until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! / Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.” If we within the Christian community are not offering to the world the God of hope, healing, and holiness, we are portraying Christ in a false light.

 

It is an interesting case for the second Sunday in Advent. The question for us, as we sit beneath the light of the Bethlehem star, and as we peer into the manger at the Bright and Morning Star, is, In what kind of light are we portraying God in Jesus Christ to the world? False light? Or true light? This question matters most during this season of light in which we celebrate and anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ.