24 December 2018
Text: John 1:1-14 (Isa 7:10-14, Micah 5:2-5a, Isa 9:2-7,
Matt 1:18-25, Matt 2:1-12)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Our
wait is over, dear brothers and sisters! Merry Christmas!
The Christmas story begins in different places in the minds of many people. For many secular people, the Christmas story begins the day after Thanksgiving, when the Best Buy campouts and fistfights at Walmart mark the start of the holy season. For most Christians, Christmas begins when the tree is put up, when the cards are sent, and when the presents are staged under the tree.
The Christmas story begins in different places in the minds of many people. For many secular people, the Christmas story begins the day after Thanksgiving, when the Best Buy campouts and fistfights at Walmart mark the start of the holy season. For most Christians, Christmas begins when the tree is put up, when the cards are sent, and when the presents are staged under the tree.
For
Christians who follow the liturgical calendar, Christmas begins now, as the
purple of Advent has given way to the white of Christmas, and as the Song of
the Angels, the Gloria in Excelsis, has returned to our liturgy.
For
Christians immersed in the Scriptures, the Christmas story also can be said to
have begun in our fifth reading, as the Magi arrive from the east, bearing
gifts for the baby King, following the star of Bethlehem, eluding the wicked and
murderous pretender to the throne named Herod. The story begins as the Magi, “going into the
house they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped
Him. Then opening their treasures, they
offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
Of
course, the Christmas story also includes the account of St. Matthew, who
introduced his account of Christmas like this: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ
took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph,
before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”
The evangelist includes the account of
the angel’s appearance to Joseph. At
this point, the birth of our Lord that first Christmas became inevitable.
But
from the perspective of God, the real beginning of the Christmas story began,
as the evangelist John begins his Gospel: “In the beginning.” For “in the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth.” This is the beginning of
all history: the history of the cosmos, the history of the supernatural, the
history of mankind – all of that is the Christmas story: a true story that
sweeps the entire history of man. For
the Christmas story is the history of humanity and God.
“In
the beginning was the Word” – the Word that made all things as time itself
begin. And in the fullness of time, “the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of
the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The
story of Christmas began with the beginning of time itself, at the creation. The story of Christmas continued with Adam and
Eve living perfect lives. The story of
Christmas includes their rebellion against God by the false promise and
temptation of the serpent, their estrangement from God, and their world
becoming broken, their bodies mortal. The
story of Christmas moves forward through God’s promise that the Seed of the
Woman would crush the serpent’s head. The
story of Christmas includes our other readings from the Old Testament.
For
God the Holy Spirit (who was hovering over creation in the beginning) spoke
through the prophets. He told the people
of God, through the prophet Micah, that their promised Savior would come from
lowly and little Bethlehem. And from
Bethlehem would come the “ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from
ancient days.” And the Savior would be
born of a woman, and “He shall stand and shepherd His flock…. And He shall be
their peace.”
God
spoke through Isaiah that the Savior would be a “great light” to “the people
who walked in darkness.” For “to us a
child is born, to us a Son is given.” This
Son – the Son of God and Son of Man – is the King, the final King, the eternal
King of Israel, of the World, of the universe. He will uphold His kingdom “with justice and
with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” The Christmas story is eternal, dear
friends. It extends from the creation of
everything by the Word unto “forevermore.”
The
Christmas story is about God, about Man, and about that sacred intersection
between divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ. It is about the eternal God the Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, breaking into space and time, conceived by the Holy Spirit and
born of the virgin Mary. It is about the
Word taking flesh and dwelling among us. It is about the light shining in the
darkness. For “in Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The
Christmas story includes the Easter story: the sacrificial death of the King
for the people, the Shepherd for the lambs, the holy priest for the unholy
victims of the serpent: the holy priest who becomes the holy sacrifice that
crushes the serpent’s head.
Yes,
indeed, the Christmas story is a story of revenge and bloodshed and of
vindication, of salvation and rescue, of love, sacrifice, of the joy of being
released from the prison of our own making, of the triumphant victory over sin,
death, and the serpent.
The
Christmas story is a story, but it isn’t like most of the stories we hear:
fictional tales of heroes and villains in comic books and novels and movies. For this story is history itself: a true story,
a narrative that actually takes place in space and time in the real world. In fact, it is the true history of God,
creation, man, and sin. It is the true history
of the prophecy, birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is our ongoing history of grace and truth,
of salvation and victory over the grave.
The story of Christmas is the epic struggle between righteousness and evil: an account written in blood, and lived out in this fallen world whose days are numbered. It is about our victory in Christ Jesus, even as we figuratively gaze upon the holy face of the baby, the mild and tender care of His mother, the watchful guardianship of his stepfather, the praise and song of shepherds and the angels, the offering of gifts and worship from the Magi, the reverence of the animals and even of the star – all of creation celebrating that Christmas and that Christ.
The story of Christmas is the epic struggle between righteousness and evil: an account written in blood, and lived out in this fallen world whose days are numbered. It is about our victory in Christ Jesus, even as we figuratively gaze upon the holy face of the baby, the mild and tender care of His mother, the watchful guardianship of his stepfather, the praise and song of shepherds and the angels, the offering of gifts and worship from the Magi, the reverence of the animals and even of the star – all of creation celebrating that Christmas and that Christ.
The
Christmas story doesn’t end tonight, or tomorrow, or even after the Twelve Days
are over. The Christmas story continues
wherever two or three gather, where His Word is proclaimed, where His body and
blood continue to be adored in the flesh and consumed by men and women and
children unto eternal life, sinners become saints; saints as victors over the
grave.
For
the pinnacle of the Christmas story is this, dear friends, “To all who did
receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man, but of God.”
In
Christ and by means of Christmas, we are children of God, dear brothers and
sisters.
His
story is our story. He has rescued us
and vindicated us, and so we celebrate His birth. While the world marks the holy season with the
empty service of the self, we Christians serve the Lord who empties Himself to
give everything to us – now, and even unto eternity. Amen.
Merry Christmas, dear brothers and sisters! Merry Christmas! Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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