I grew up in a village in New Jersey which was predominantly blue-collar and Roman Catholic.  The village was too poor to have a high school, so we were bused to the larger town of Springfield, which was predominantly professional and Jewish.  And, as it was in those days before the Western World became enveloped in a cloud of political correctness; . . . in those days, part of a high school education was the hearing and telling of ethnic jokes.  As a result, my high school years introduced me to a wealth of Jewish stories.  And the reading appointed for today, once again, puts me in mind of one of my favorites.  It seems that there were two Jewish mothers who met on the street after a very long time in which they hadn’t seen one another.  Renewing old acquaintance, Rachel says to Sarah,

    “And how is that wonderful son of yours?  By now he must be a big success.”  And Sarah says,

    “Funny you should say that.  It’s not how things turned out.  I sent my son out into the world, and he comes home a Christian.”  And with surprise on her face, Rachel exclaims,

    “Funny you should say that.  I sent my son out into the world, and he comes home a Christian too!  I was on my way just now to talk with Rabbi Isaac about what I should do.”  So, Sarah joins Rachel, and the two ladies go to the synagogue, where they tell Rabbi Isaac what has happened to both their sons.  And Rabbi Isaac says,

    “Funny you should say that.  I sent my son out into the world, and he comes home a Christian as well!  . . . I’ll tell you what we must do.  Come with me and we’ll lay our complaint before God.”  So they go into the synagogue, and facing the East they pray,

    “O Lord God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, we lay our complaint before you:  we sent our sons out into the world, and they came home to us Christians.”  And the synagogue suddenly fills with a dense and luminous cloud, and choruses of the heavenly host can be heard in the distance, and peals of thunder.  And the voice of God speaks from the cloud,

    “Funny you should say that . . .”

    This story comes to mind today because Saint John the Evangelist makes a point of telling us that the world can be a hostile place.  And not only is the world a hostile place for people, . . . but it can be a hostile place for God as well.  And so, we read that

The true light that enlightens every man . . . was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.  He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

In other words, when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” . . . humanity did not know what it was looking at.  Original Sin befuddles us and fills our minds with darkness . . . so that when the divine light appears to us in all its glory, the brightness hurts and we only desire that the light be extinguished.  . . . But, even as John speaks of our darkness, . . . he excitedly tells us that while we do not know what we are and how we are supposed to be, . . . what we are is eternal!

In the beginning was the Word, . . . all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

What we are is eternal because we are the offspring of God’s own self-giving.  And although we do not know God and, because of it, cannot understand ourselves -- although we are in darkness and cannot overcome it --   . . . the darkness does not overcome God; . . . we are not lost to Him!

    And because we are the children of God’s very life and expressions of His grace -- because we are expressions of the divine Love -- God has gone to considerable pains to redeem our befuddled humanity which has become lost in the darkness it willfully prefers to the sacred light.  God has gone to considerable pains to guide us out of darkness into His eternal light.  And so, Saint John begins his Gospel by announcing that God Himself has come to us for the sake of revealing to us the Way that leads into the light; . . . God Himself has come to us for the sake of revealing to us the Way into intimate communion with our heavenly Father . . . so that we might discover who we truly are.  . . . John says that

the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Jesus is our identity; . . . Jesus is God’s revelation to us of who we truly are; Jesus is the Way out of the darkness and into the eternal light.

    The problem, however, is that our willfulness keeps impeding our progress.  As I suggested a moment ago, it is ever humanity’s tendency to love the promises but resist the light.  And so, it is ever our tendency to love the humanity of Jesus . . . and then to convince ourselves that because He shares our humanity, . . . Jesus also shares our disordered affections.  . . . It is ever our tendency to convince ourselves that because Jesus cherishes us, He cherishes the things we think we need; . . . the things we think we love.  But the purpose of the Incarnation, you see, . . .  the purpose of the Incarnation is not to affirm us; . . . the purpose of the Incarnation is to transfigure us!  The purpose of the Incarnation is to bring us into the Light by exhorting us to let go of the dark.  This is why the Gospel you have heard today is read on the First Sunday after Christmas.  On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we look adoringly upon the sweet Infant Jesus, consigned to a manger because there was no place for Him at the inn, . . . we look adoringly upon the Infant Jesus and we identify with Him.  Here is the Infant Jesus come to do good in the world, . . . and He is housed in a stable; . . . and we too want only good, . . . but the world is such a hostile place.  And so, looking upon the Christmas crèche, we convince ourselves that Jesus understands our problems and wants to console us by blessing what we want and what we think we need.  . . . But today we are reminded that that Infant, lying in a manger, is the Incarnate God!  He has not come among us in order to know us; . . . He has come to us in order for us to know Him!  Jesus is not who we are.  He is who we are called to become.  . . . The Lord God Almighty, Who is your heavenly Father, . . . the Lord God Almighty wants you to come home a Christian.  He wants you to leave off staring at the dark and suffer the difficult journey into the Light, . . . of which Jesus is the Way.  Alleluia.