First Sunday of Christmas
27 December 2020
Morning Service
Revd Nicholas Mercer
Life is full of surprises
I have been ordained for nearly ten years and have preached throughout the year for many a year
However, this is the first time that I have found myself preaching on the Feast of St John the Evangelist
When I came to examine the Feast Days around Christmas, they all seem to make sense
The Feast Day of the Holy Innocents on the 28th December fits the Christmas Story
And the death of Thomas a Beckett on the 29th December is the day that he was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170
But why St John the Evangelist should be remembered on the 27th December is something I have been unable to fathom
That said, I believe that this is an appropriate time to remember this writer of the fourth and most theological Gospels
First of all St John merits a Feast Day of his own
All the other Gospel writers are remembered throughout the year
Mark in April
St Matthew in September
Luke in October and finally
St John in December
The fact that St John’s Feast Day is so close to Jesus’ birth seems appropriate too
For it is John who is, arguably, one of the closest of Jesus’ disciples
Not only was John one of the three disciples to be chosen to accompany Jesus to Mount Tabor when He was transfigured
But he was the only apostle to be with Jesus as he died on Calvary
Finally, he was chosen by Jesus to look after his Mother – Jesus gave all that he had left in the world – to him
The two of them could not be closer and it is therefore perhaps appropriate that they are so close together in the Church Calendar too
But as well as the proximity in time and place, I think that there are sound theological reasons to place the Feast Day of St John so close to Christmas
St John is the author of the fourth and most theological of the Gospels
Whilst the other authors depicted the life of Jesus, St John wrestles with the theological ramifications as well
The Biblical Scholar John Barton said of John’s Gospel
“The theology represents a high point even in the New Testament’s high Christology. With Jesus presented as the Word of God that existed from the beginning of time”
St John develops the teaching of St Paul and incorporates it into the life of Jesus
It is so wonderfully told and recounted each year in the prologue to John’s Gospel, namely
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not
St John reminds us that this heavenly babe is not just human but divine at the same time
Not just Jesus but the Son of God
Which brings me onto the last facet of St John and that is his depiction as an Eagle
It was the second century Bishop St Irenaeus of Lyon who depicted all the four Gospel writers as the different figures found in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 4: 7)
To St John he gives the privilege of being depicted as an eagle
Which is why you so often find lecterns in Church in this shape
But an eagle was chosen because it is supposed to have one super human quality – the ability to look the sun in the eye without blinking
True or not, it represents the ability of St John to look the truth in the eye and, in turn, impart that truth to us
So on the Feast of St John, just two days after Christmas, there could not be a more appropriate Saints Day
It reminds us of his proximity to Jesus
The majesty of his Gospel
But, above all, he completes the Christmas story by reminding us that Jesus is not only the Son of God but the Word made flesh