Text: John 1:1-9, 10-18
What do we mean when we ask, "Are you serious?"
This question can communicate different meanings depending on context and or inflection.
If you have a really eclectic mind like Frank Goad does, then you may immediately think of R. U. Sirius, (born Ken Goffman) a US writer, editor, talk show host, musician and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party.
But most of us think of the words, "Are you serious?"
Someone says to us, "The temperature is going to get down to 5 degrees on Tuesday. " And we reply, "Are you serious?" What do we mean? By that we mean, "That can't be true. Surely not. Are you serious?"
Someone says to us, "I'm going to give you a hundred dollar bill." And we reply, "Are you serious?" What do we mean? By that we mean, "Do you really mean that? Are you really going to give me a hundred dollar bill? Are you serious?"
Remember the old joke, "Call me a taxi." "Okay, you are a taxi." Well, someone might say to me, "Are you serious?" And I would reply, "No, most people call me Mickey."
If we were playing on a basketball team and trying to encourage the other players to do their very best, we might ask, "Are YOU serious?" By that we mean, "Let's take this game seriously. I am serious. Are you serious?" This last one gets at the most obvious meaning of the question. "Are you serious?" By which we mean, "Is it important to you?"
We can turn to the dictionary and find these meanings:
What would be the opposite of serious? Silly, funny, trivial, minor, flippant, lightweight.
People may dab at their faith. They may play at it. They may hold it with ulterior motives. We don't want any of that to be true of us. We want to take our faith seriously.
In the coming year, we are going to ask the people of South Elkhorn Christian Church the question, "Are you serious?" It will be our theme for the year. By that we mean, "Are you serious about your commitment to Christ?" "Are you taking your faith seriously, or are you just playing at it?" "Are you serious about Christianity, or are you a hypocrite?"
During the course of this year, we will address different themes related to this question every few weeks. As we go through the year, we will focus on a different aspect of our faith. We will ask, "Are you serious about faith, hope, love, prayer, Holy Week, creation, the Bible, discipleship, witness, service, fellowship, worship, stewardship, and Advent?"
For the next three weeks, we will be asking, "Are you serious about faith?" I suppose that all of our questions are summed up in asking if we take our faith seriously.
The Bible tells to be serious.
1 Peter 4:7 says, " . . .be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers."
Titus
2:2 says, " . . .be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in
love, and in endurance." Those will
be our theme verses for this year. They
both say very clearly that we are to "be serious."
In our lectionary text for today, we find John's introduction to his re-telling the story of Jesus. We know John is different when we read those very first words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Even the casual reader knows that the Gospel of John is a very different gospel. In John, there is no birth narrative, no baptism, no temptation, no exorcisms, no parables, no communion ritual, and no agony in the garden.
John was written many years after the other gospels at a time when this new religion was competing with the established religions of the day. John wants this new faith in Jesus to be taken seriously.
Instead of just describing the pleasant manger scene that we have rehearsed at Christmas with the shepherds, the angels, the magi, Joseph, Mary, and the animals gathered around the manger, John tells us the theological meanings of Jesus.
In a conscious attempt to imitate Genesis 1, John begins his gospel with these words, "In the beginning..." John is saying that the coming of Jesus into the world was another grand beginning for God.
The first three gospels tell touching stories about Jesus. John gives us the abstract meaning of Jesus.
In the other three gospels, we find Jesus speaking mostly in parables. His stories come from the everyday experiences of his audience. But in the Gospel of John, Jesus never tells a single parable.In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus only hints at who he really is. In John, Jesus is very specific about who he is and why he came to this world. "The Father and I are one." "He who has seen the Son has seen the Father." "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me."
John is also telling us the philosophical meanings of Jesus. John is trying to defend Christianity as a serious faith by borrowing ideas from Greek philosophy. This gospel was written during a time when Greek philosophy strongly influenced everyone's thinking. And this passage is one that could almost come directly from a book on Greek philosophy. The philosophers talked about the central unifying principle of the universe as "the logos, the word." So John makes the connection saying, "That central unifying principle of the universe is Jesus. Jesus is the Word, the logos."
Then the writer of the Gospel gathers steam as his words move from one philosophical level to a higher:
"The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."
"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God..."
And the writer finally burst forth with the classic phrase to describe the mystery of the Incarnation:
"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."
And suddenly the world had changed! God sent the Son to call humans to join the Kingdom of God, which was at hand. The testaments were divided. The centuries were cleft in two. And a new beginning had occurred. John cautions us not to take the pleasant stories of Jesus to lightly; it is serious business.
James Allen Francis suggested that it is easy to miss the profound impact of Jesus on the world. He wrote a poem that well describes the contrast:
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.
In the same way, John did not want anyone to miss the cosmic meaning of the coming of Jesus into the world. For John, it was no accident; it was no happenstance; and it was not a casual matter. For John, the coming of Christ was the most serious event in the history of the world. And he calls us to take this Jesus seriously.
Are you serious about your faith in Jesus Christ? Does it make a difference in your life? Will it make a difference in the coming year?
On this first Sunday of 2009, we are presented with a wonderful opportunity to begin again. The time has come to put away the old 2008 calendar with its worn and tattered pages. It is filled with notes indicating vital appointments long gone, with scratches designating vacations and holidays taken, and even with our idle doodling in the empty squares. All of the days of 2008 are over and gone, and most of us are really glad that it is over. There is no going back to even a single day. Put away the old calendar, and bring out the new one.
The fresh, new calendar for 2009 is crisp and clean without a wrinkle or a tear. And the pages are clean and white, awaiting our pen to mark all the important events of the coming year. The celebrations marking the New Year have called us to reflect over the past year and to make new resolutions about the coming year. Here is the opportunity to create a new year of life and a new life for the year. 2009 can be for each of us "The year of taking our faith seriously. "
Louisa Fletcher Tarkington wrote a poem, which says:
"So I wish there were some wonderful place
called the Land of Beginning Again,
where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
and all our poor selfish grief could be dropped,
like a shabby old coat at the door,
and never put on again."
This poem expresses the longing of most of us for an occasion to start over. Life has a way of becoming filled with mistakes, heartaches, and grief. There are times in life when we desperately need to begin again.
I think the events of life are sometimes like snow accumulating on a mountain pass. Little by little the weight of impending change gathers. Layer after layer of snow packs on the mountain throwing the center of gravity ever closer to the edge. Then finally the snow dam breaks cascading tons of snow crashing down the mountain side.
Don't you sense that life works that way at times? The circumstances of life mount up, gathering weight for change. Suddenly, in one event or in one day you step through to the other side and life becomes fresh and new.
What changes does God hold in store for you in 2009? Look at those blank pages of the calendar and ask yourself, "What great new beginnings lie just around the corner? How will the Word become flesh in 2009?"
Paul puts it this way in II Corinthians 5:17, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"
On this first Sunday of 2009, you are invited to come to Christ, believe in him, and take your faith seriously.