John 1:1-13
November 30, 2025
I’m sure we’ve all seen the television commercials from Allstate with the guy who calls himself “mayhem.” The commercials are designed to show how easily people get distracted when they are driving as they end up in a car accident, and they will be in real trouble without Allstate. They even show us how your house can get damaged when we are distracted or not paying attention to certain things, such as wiring up our Christmas lights.
For many people Christmas can be like a car accident, in that it can be a disaster. Instead of a time of joy, it becomes a time of frustration and depression. Instead of experiencing laughter, some people experience fighting and pain. Instead of joining together with family and friends, many people can be very lonely. I think about members of our armed forces, serving in places around the world, far away from their families. I think about people who are in prison, separated from family and friends. I think about some of you who mourned the death of loved one this year and how different Christmas will be, even if your house is filled with guests. Why is it that for some people Christmas can be about as much fun as the “mayhem” of a car accident?
I think it is because many people are not looking the right way. Many people are distracted from what Christmas and Christianity are all about. So to keep us focused we begin this Advent season by lighting a candle to remind us that we need to prepare for the coming of Christ, the light of the world, and the first step in our preparations involve looking at a man named John the Baptist. Our Gospel lesson for today tells us that, “He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light (John 1:7-8). John’s purpose in life, our text tells us, was to be a witness to the coming light of the world, Jesus Christ. His job was to stand in the desert and point people toward Jesus. Obviously he did not use bright lights or big signs to show people the way, instead he used his words to point them to Jesus. But some people had questions, namely the religious leaders of the land who asked John who he was. John told them, “I am not the light;” and no matter how many times or ways they questioned him, he never lost his focus on who he was and what he had come to do.
It is so easy today to lose our focus and to become distracted during this special time of the year. There is so much to do, so much to think about. There is shopping and decorating and socializing. There are family and work activities that can be overwhelming. I’m sure many of you started thinking this weekend about all the things you need to do for Christmas. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also be exhausting to the point that you get burned out or even depressed.
But if you truly take the time to focus on Jesus, if you let Him be the top priority during this season, things change. In fact, everything else seems to fall into place. Just as John the Baptist pointed people to Jesus, you also can be that person who points people to the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.
There are plenty of advertisements for shopping during this time of the year. There are also lots of advertisements for giving to charities. There’s a lot of talk about Christmas parties; lots of sappy articles and Hallmark movies about family and love. But where are the advertisements about the Light of the World, Jesus Christ? Where are the articles about the birth of the Savior? Well, those advertisements are sitting right here in this sanctuary. The advertisements are you and me. During the first century, it was John the Baptist. He was the witness. He was the one who testified about the Light, but now it’s you and me – we are the witnesses.
But what does that mean? What does that look like for all of us? How does one become a witness for Jesus in our world today? Paul tells us in our second lesson from Romans that we are to dress a certain way. He says in verse 14 to “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.” That is, we are to live differently from people who are not Christians or those who do not attend a church. We are to live as God’s forgiven children, demonstrating a different kind of life to them, which involves being thankful in all circumstances and putting others before ourselves. But this is not easy. Even though we are children of God, we still have natural inclinations to want to wear the clothing of this world – the clothing of lust, greed, and deceit. In fact, Satan is constantly trying to rip Christ off of us. He will show us all kinds of gadgets that he insists we must have and deserve, instead of remembering those less fortunate than us. He’ll say, “Try on these new shoes of promotion through some words of gossip and lies.” Sadly we give in to those temptations.
Human sin has sure made a horrible mess of things in this world and God knew it would take far more than just another preacher or diplomat or educator to fix it all. So he sent what was needed as John tells us in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” There on the straw of an animal’s feeding trough was not simply a cute little baby named Jesus, like some character out of a children’s storybook. There on that straw was the eternal God who had come down to our world to rescue us helpless people by His living, His dying, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. He was as human as human can be, a real Child who gave his mother real birth-pains and who had skin on him just as we do. He grew up and faced the real disappointment of being rejected and the pain of being alone as He hung on a cross.
How sad that in the midst of this incredible news, John says of Jesus, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” God was alone, you could say on that first Christmas as the people of Bethlehem did not care about the gift God had for them. They took no notice of him, made no room in the inn for his mother. The very people he came to rescue had other things to do and other things worry about.
And it keeps happening today, doesn’t it. Many shows on television at this time of the year will show people arguing with each other over decorations and presents, some will talk about watching a movie on Christmas Eve, and others will talk about their willingness to work on Christmas so some can be home. You will see all kinds of warm, loving scenes; but you won’t find anyone praying, nobody talking about worship, and no one adoring the gift of God’s Son. But this is not just a problem on television, we see it in our own neighborhoods. While many houses have all kinds of lights on the outside and blow up figures in the front yard, many people have no interest in celebrating the greatest gift God could ever give us – the gift of His Son to save us.
So let us all be a witness for Jesus during this Advent season as we prepare to celebrate Christmas by sharing our faith with others when the opportunity presents itself. In fact, if someone notices that you are different from others during this season and says, “I always feel so stressed out during the holidays. I can’t wait until they are over. How do you seem to keep it all together?” You can respond with a simple Christmas story saying, “What helps me during the Christmas season is remember what’s most important. During my life, I have made mistakes over and over again, and no matter how hard I try, I’m still making mistakes today. But I know God still loves me and He demonstrated that love by coming down to this earth in the person of Jesus. He was born for me, He lived for me, and He died for me to forgive me, to wash away all of my mistakes so that I could live with Him today and forever – that’s what Christmas is all about. When I focus on that amazing reality, I am able to truly enjoy the holiday season.”
Be a witness for Christ this Christmas. Live that Christian life for others to see and share that simple Christmas story with others. Don’t let yourself get distracted this Christmas. Be a John the Baptist and point people to Jesus, no matter where you are. Who knows, maybe through you someone will receive the greatest gift of all this Christmas – the gift of faith in our Savior, Jesus.
