“The Big Picture” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, January 4, 2026, Year A / Christmas 2 – Proverbs 8:1-17 • John 1:1-18
THEME: At creation, God infused the world with the wisdom of his love so that we can thrive in it by living relationally.
Have you ever known someone who is so focused on details that they fail to see the big picture? There is an expression that describes them perfectly. We say they cannot see the forest for the trees. It occurred to me this week, that we risk treating the Christmas story the same way. We hear the Angel Gabriel announce that Mary will give birth to God’s son and the world’s savior. We hear him promise an extraordinary reversal of circumstance for poor powerless folk like her. We follow her and Joseph on their long, arduous trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We share their amazement when Mary gives birth to the Christ Child among the animals. We share the shepherds’ awe as the host of angels announce this divine, royal birth. We run with them down into village where they discover the baby Jesus in the manger. We share Mary’s amazement as they tell her their tale.
This story is so familiar to us that we are at risk of losing the sense of just how extraordinary and unexpected it is. Is there anything in this story that is not unexpected? From the standpoint of our world today, it defies reason and logic. On the surface, there is precious little about the good news of Christ’s birth that is consistent with the common understanding of how life works. So, the question we ask is “In what world does the Christmas story make sense?” And that is precisely the point. To understand the meaning and significance of the Christmas story, we have to adjust our understanding of the world itself. We need to see our world through a different framework, a different lens, a wider lens. In other words, we need to see the big picture of Christmas. That is exactly what John provides in the famous prologue to his gospel.
John is describing a world into which God has woven his counterintuitive wisdom from the very beginning, from creation itself. God’s Word – his truth – was the instrument of creation. Everything that is was made through the light of his love. Love is the logic of our world. God created Adam and Eve out of love for humanity. Can you just imagine God smiling from ear-to-ear as he fashions the beauty and bounty of the flora and fauna that sustain us? God guided the patriarchs and prophets out of love for his people. And when the time was right, he showed us the full extent of his love. He became one of us in the Christ child. And Jesus showed us how to live a life inspired, governed, and measured by love. But, as we know, sometimes love and tragedy go hand in hand.
The tragedy of the Christmas story is that the world into which Jesus was born, the world made through him and for him, rejected him. John says, “He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” That rejection continues to this very day. There are many who see no purpose, and no advantage, in loving and living for others. They would rather live for themselves. We tend to think of this as a modern cultural phenomenon, but living a self-centered, self-interested life has always been what the world deems wise. Worldly wisdom says, “Take care of yourself. Satisfy our own desires first and foremost. Make sure you get what you want. Then, you can consider the needs of others, but only if there is something in it for you.”
Sadly, there are many people who live like this. You and I know people like this. And sometimes it does seem like they succeed where others do not. When they do, people idolize them. Their faces appear on magazine covers. Their names are in bold print in newspaper headlines. In the world of social media, they have a powerful narcissistic platform of self-promotion. It has spawned an entire industry of so-called “influencers.” They craft clever, self-centered video snippets of their lives in order to project the image that they have it all. On the surface, they seem to have everything. The key word there is surface. Because, ultimately, self-centered living leads to only one place: a pit of isolation, loneliness, longing, and despair.
I cannot think of a better example than the character that Bette Middler played in the 1988 movie Beaches. It is a movie about two women who are life-long friends. It follows them as they navigate the challenges to their friendship through the ups and downs of life. After years of struggling to make it on the stage, Bette Middler’s character finally hits it big. When she does, she becomes completely self-absorbed. She is obsessed with her own success. After the performance of her new hit show, she is backstage talking to her best friend. She goes on and on about herself and her newfound fame. Finally, she turns to her friend and says, “But enough about me, let’s talk about you. What did YOU think of me?” Predictably, their friendship nosedives.
That is what inevitably happens when we live for ourselves instead of loving others. Love is the most powerful of all emotions. But love is far more than just a feeling. Love is the foundation of life itself. It is God’s organizing principle of creation. You and I bear the physical evidence of that. Our brains are literally wired for love. When we give and receive love, our brains are flooded with hormones that produce the experience of profound happiness and fulfillment. We cannot thrive without love. The absence of love produces stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depression. This is true of everyone from infants to the elderly.
We are made for love. We are made to thrive by sharing love. Folks, this is the big picture of Christmas. But many fail to see it. And many of those who do, fail to trust it. They hear the nativity story on Christmas Eve. They feel warm and fuzzy. They like the notion that God loves us, and the Christ child is living proof. But then, they act like his birth has not changed anything. Whether out of ego, insecurity, or fear, they view other people as potential competitors, not possible companions. For these worldly-blind folk, success is usually material, and always a zero-sum proposition. In their minds, the increased success and fulfillment of others reduces their own.
I have worked with people like this. I bet you have, too. It is almost never a happy experience. Folks who choose to live like this are missing the big picture. They cannot see the bonds of love that bind the world together, and all God’s children within it. Consequently, they miss out on what Jesus called life that truly is life. This life that Jesus wants for you and me is fundamentally relational. In relational living, God gives us three blessings to help us thrive: being ourselves, being celebrated, and being supported and supportive.
Being ourselves is to be authentic. It is the blessing of freedom to show our true self to others. From a young age, many of us assume that we have to put on a public face around other people. That assumption comes from the fear that our true self is not good enough, that others will think less of us, or even reject us, if we show them who we really are. But in the love-infused world that God designed for us, being our true self is to be free, not fearful. It means that we can be vulnerable without fear of judgment. That invites others to do the same. This mutual openness is the foundation of real relationship.
In addition to the freedom to be our true self with others, God also blesses us by mutually affirming and celebrating our differences. Out of love, God made us all different. Instead of judging others for their differences, we are free to affirm them. Our differences are what make us unique. In God’s eyes, they are to be celebrated, not judged.
Finally, the greatest blessing of living in this world that God wove together with love, means that we can share our experiences freely. Our triumphs and our troubles never have to happen in isolation. We can share our experiences with others, without fear. We celebrate with each other when things go well, and we offer compassion when things go awry. This is what it means to live relationally, according to the wisdom of God’s love. Living this way is like being on a trampoline. When we bounce down, others prevent us from falling too low. When we bounce up, they share in our joyous celebration.
Friends, this is the big picture. This is how God designed the world: by love, with love, and for love. This is how he intends us to thrive in it. How about you? Where in your life do you experience relational living, among those who see the big picture of Christmas? Where do you experience a community of mutual authenticity, affirmation, and support?
Can you invite others to be part of it, too? That is how Jesus wants us to share the good news of his birth.
May it be so.
