I Wonder as I Wander: John 1:14-18

Good afternoon from the Panhandle on a beautiful day. Rain is the only thing that could make it better, but I'm not complaining. Only 9 days until Christmas Day here in the U.S. Are you and your family getting excited about Christmas yet. At my house I think the kids are more excited about Christmas break than Christmas itself.

The next Christmas Carol in this series is “I Wonder as I Wander.” Again the series was originally written by David Jenkins and I changed it a bit to for my sermon.

The Story Behind the Song: “I Wonder as I Wander,” the carol for this sermon, was discovered by John Jacob Niles, who spent many years wandering around the Appalachian Mountains in search of the origins of folk songs. A composer and singer born in Kentucky in 1892, Niles found one folk song that has become a monument to his years of hard work.

On a cold December day in North Carolina, he watched the people who lived in a poor community going about their daily chores. As he did this he began to hear the sound of a quiet, solitary voice that belonged to a little girl sitting alone on a bench. She was singing a song Niles had never heard before. When she finished, Niles asked her about the song. She told him that her mother had taught it to her, like her grandmother had taught it to her mother before her. The song was “I Wonder as I Wander.” He wrote the words in a small tablet, and long after he had left the child, he continued to hear the hauntingly beautiful words and melody.

They were deeply spiritual, very thoughtful, and very simple but profoundly contained the joy and wonder of Christmas. When Niles introduced the song just before the beginning of World War II, he awed people with his discovery. Until his death in 1980, Niles continued his search for the source of the carol. He never found its author, and concluded that the little girl was an angel sent to deliver a message of the wonder of Christ Jesus' birth.

”I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on’ry people like you and like I…
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

”When Mary birthed Jesus ‘twas in a cow’s stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

”If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s angels in heav’n for to sing,
He surely could have it, ‘cause He was the King.”

(Source: Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, pp. 86-90.)

The Mystery of the Incarnation

After the angel Gabriel delivered to Mary the news that she had been chosen by God to give birth to the Christ Child, he paid another visit to the young man, Joseph, to whom Mary was engaged to be married. In Joseph’s dream, the angel appeared to him with instructions to proceed with plans to wed Mary. 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)

We can imagine the emotional trauma Joseph endured, as he progressed from the horrible prospect of having to divorce Mary because she was pregnant, to the stunning news that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Christ, the Anointed One. In the space of a few hours, Joseph had to deal with the reality of God becoming flesh in the Person of God's Son, his stepson and dwelling among them.

The sermon this morning is drawn from the prologue of John’s Gospel that identified Christ Jesus as the Word made flesh. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (John 1:14-18).

The sermon title is that of the delightful carol, “I Wonder as I Wander,” which reflects something of the wonder Joseph must have experienced.

As John brought the prologue to his gospel to a close, the last five verses—verses 14 through 18—are like the mighty finale of a musical composition played by some great symphony orchestra. We hear the rolling of drums, the crashing of cymbals—the entire percussion section of the orchestra comes alive. The fingers of the harpist fly across the strings and the trumpets blast.

In these five verses three arresting facts surface regarding the incarnation of our Lord—the mystery by which God became man and dwelt among us. First of all, let us note:

1. The Great Condescension (vs. 14a)

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us…

To condescend means to lower oneself to a level not normally occupied, either physically, mentally, or socially. It means to descend, voluntarily, to the level of a person one is dealing with. And with human beings, this is not always done with kindness. Sometimes there is an air of contempt, snobbery, and haughtiness in human condescension. 

But there is another side to the use of this word. It also means to be graciously willing to do something regarded as beneath one’s dignity. This is what God did when He became flesh. With a mysterious mixture of Divine grace and love, God performed the greatest act of condescension of all time and eternity. He became human so that He could save us from our sins.

“The Word” is the term John uses to personify the very expression and manifestation of God. The creative power of God was in the Word (1:3). With such limitless power, the Word of God condescended to be compressed into human flesh. 

John purposely used the crude, blunt word, flesh. The sophisticated Greeks recoiled from the word flesh in regard to Deity. Flesh, to them, was corruptible, temporary, doomed to be destroyed and cast aside. No god would deal with anything as degrading as human flesh. Yet that is exactly what God did. He entered human flesh, which stands for the whole person. 

In becoming flesh, God accepted the limitations of humanity. He became vulnerable to those natural human weaknesses that accompany our flesh—hunger, thirst, physical weariness, and pain. He experienced the emotional traumas we experience—disappointment, sorrow, hurt, loneliness, and rejection. Because Christ Jesus had no sin nature, He did this without the trace of sin.

Christ Jesus committed no sin while He was on earth, yet He experienced sin in a way that was far more overwhelming than committing sin. Why did He cry out in Gethsemane in horror? What caused Him to sweat as it were “great drops of blood,” and to plead with His Heavenly Father, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me” (Mark 14:36). Christ Jesus was not about to succumb to just the temptation to sin. It was worse than that. He was about to “drink the cup” containing all the sordid sins of mankind compressed together. Christ Jesus became sin for all of us.

John states that Christ Jesus “lived for a while among us.” Literally that means He “pitched His tent” or “cast His lot” with us. He moved in with us as one of us. 

And when He did something amazing happened.

2. The Amazing Discovery (vs. 14b)

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Another word of deep significance in this description of our Lord’s Incarnation is glory. Human beings can achieve a degree of earthly glory. A person performs some outstanding deed, some benevolent act, or as a philanthropist, makes a great contribution of money to some worthy cause. Often this person is honored in a blaze of glory, admiration and appreciation. 

Or a person makes some astounding discovery that makes life easier or more pleasant or safer for us—like Jonas Salk who perfected the polio vaccine, or Pasteur, who invented a way to make milk and milk products safer for human consumption. A degree of human glory is attached to these people.

The first time we see the glory of God is when He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). What light was that? It was not the physical light of the sun or moon, for the sun, the moon, and stars had not yet been created. It was the glory of God in all of His heavenly brightness. God’s glory filled the earth with indescribable beauty. Then the glory of God appeared next in the mysterious cloud that guided the Israelites during their time in the wilderness, until they entered the Promised Land 40 years later. And lets not forget the night Christ Jesus was born: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-10).

Now John writes, “We have seen his glory”— he was speaking of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. It was manifested every time He performed a miracle and in His life-changing teachings that arrested the people, convicted them of their sins, and showed them the love of God and His desire to forgive them and make them His children. Christ Jesus’ glory was revealed when He was transfigured with Moses and Elijah before Peter, James, and John.

What about now? Is it possible for us to observe His glory today? Well, God’s glory does not abide in one body now, as it did in the body of Christ Jesus, but, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, this glory dwells within every believer. Because of this God's glory is present not just when we have our corporate worship on Wednesdays and Sundays. It is present in the marketplace on Monday, in the class room, on the basketball court, in the parts house, and when we do those monotonous, everyday tasks in the home. Where ever Christians are God's glory is there or should be.

The crowning statement John made provided:

3. The Startling Revelation (vs. 18)

Moses had an overwhelming desire to “see God” ; Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Exodus 33:18-20).

It was not mere human curiosity, but the compulsion of a man who bore the awesome responsibility of leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Often Moses reached the point of exasperation because of the people’s rebellion against his leadership. Feeling the extreme loneliness and sense of failure every leader feels at one time or another, Moses believed that if he could only see God’s glory, he could press on.

John declared that in Christ Jesus, we have the full revelation of God. No longer is He a faraway, mysterious Being, awesome and unapproachable in His glory and majesty. Rather Christ Jesus communicated the love and tenderness of our God through His teachings and His compassion toward sinful, hurting, desperate people. “No man ever spoke like this!” His enemies said of Him in John 7:46. The Roman centurion who led the crucifiers' said of Christ Jesus “This man really was God’s Son!” (Mark 15:39), 

One of the formal duties of the mayor of a city is to participate in ribbon-cutting ceremonies when a new business is opened in town. Often the mayor does the actual cutting. It is a symbolic act in which he or she serves as the host who welcomes the people into the new establishment. In a few moments after the ceremony, however, the mayor leaves and returns to his or her office or to their duties, and the owner or proprietor of the business assumes the position of prominence.

Christ Jesus dwelling among men was more than a ribbon-cutting ceremony when “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” It was not just a symbolic act when He identified with human beings and extended His offer of salvation to them. He did not come and then quickly go back to His exalted station of glory in heaven. No, Christ Jesus came and lived among us and as one of us for some thirty-three years. And in that time He gave the world the eternal revelation of who God is and what He longs to become to those who will place their trust in Him.

Conclusion:

Mystery is one of our English words that cover a lot of territory. There are many kinds of mysteries. In the world of literature, there are the “who-done-its” of the Agatha Christie style of writing that are entertaining and can keep us guessing “who did it,” right to the end. Then, innumerable scientific mysteries exist, such as the process of photosynthesis by which light transforms carbon dioxide and water into plant food, and plants turn it into oxygen. Today, there is the mystery of space as we probe the edges of the vast unknown. Yet the greatest of all mysteries is that of the Incarnation of the Son of God—that is the moment in time and eternity when God chose, by His own methods, to become a man and live with us as a man.

What can you say about Him today? You can observe His glory, both with the natural eye, and the eyes of your soul. You can know what God is like through a personal encounter with His Son, the Lord Christ Jesus. You can experience the wonder that Joseph experienced when the angel revealed to him that his beloved Mary would give birth to the Son of God, who would be “the Word made flesh.”