Outer Rim Territories

Service of Lessons and Carols Sermon: Luke 2:1-14

Vicar Christopher Gillespie Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost Saginaw, Michigan Service of Lessons and Carols and Candlelight (December 24, 2007 11:00 p.m.) Text: Luke 2:1-14 MP3 Audio Brothers and sisters in Christ, Our meditation for this in the Service of Lessons and Carols on Christmas eve midnight is from from the Gospel according to St. Luke, the second chapter: “Fear not; for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Let us pray: hear! The Conqueror has spoken: “Now the foe, Sin and woe, death and hell are broken!” God is man, man to deliver, And the Son Now is one With our blood forever. Amen. (LSB 360 st. 2)

For so many the Christ child is merely a picture of a birth no different than a birth on earth, with the family surrounding the new child, fawning over him, proclaiming the news to others of his birth, and bringing him gifts in celebration. But Christ's birth is not like our births - for Christ is both true God and true man. While born of woman, his father is God. We must be careful then to distinguish between our earthly births and the heavenly birth of the very son of God. Jesus is he who seers of old time, chanted of with one accord. Isaiah said: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Jesus was born of Mary true woman and the ideal mother. She is the mother that wouldn't for a moment consider abandoning her pregnancy to the abortionist or to the dumpster. Even in the midst of her scandal, having conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by man, she accepts this great gift of God within her. She carries the child to term and delivers him in the natural way - even while she cannot fathom the depths of her God has descended in order to save his people. She cares for him by clothing him, by nursing him at her breast, and by raising him in the ways of his people. The en-flesh-ment of God in the Christ-child means that he is more than just a man but is God. As true God he carries all the authority the power the Dominion of the father. The writer to the Hebrews says: “whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:2-3a) He is the Lord who sits at the right hand of God and whose enemies under under his feet. (Matthew 22:44) He is Immanuel, God with us. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) Yet in the manger where he lay his Godhead is humiliated. The creator has become a creature. God has descended to earth, he has subjected himself to his own creation, and will give himself up to the same curse wrought by Adam. He has flesh and bones and is not mere Spirit. (Luke 24:39) He hungered (Matthew 4:2), he thirsted (Jn 19:28) and suffered unto the point of death. His flesh is no mere object lesson. Christ didn’t enter the battle between heaven and hell halfway. His flesh is the very extent to which the very love of God is made manifest. That God so loved the world that he would give his only son in the flesh is the very mystery of the incarnation. God is made man for you. God's real presence as man, choosing to enter as a child, is beyond comprehension. Our minds cannot fathom the wonder of God in the flesh anymore than God acting through mere bread and wine and water and words. Can we, the finite, consider the infinite that is God? Our reason cannot comprehend what God's Word says is so. Consider the alternative to Christ’s being-made-man, God coming down to you: Perhaps you try to ascend into heaven on of our works? Perhaps you build a ladder of a pious life? Do you resurrect your mortal bodies by your acts of compassion? Do you join with the heavenly through by your love of your neighbor? Does the thought of ascent on such a ladder into heaven and stand before God grant you comfort and peace, the assurance of heaven? Or has the God who made himself known in the 10 Commandments rather instilled a righteous and holy fear of his wrath? To us who know the Law, an ascent into heaven on the basis of our own merits or action is frightening. For it is the thought of standing before God as the terrible judge, whose rule is just and overlooks no sin. It is he who will curse us and send as to hell. If we dare tear away the humanity of Jesus Christ we are left with nothing but a God who terrifies and damns. But God in his love has given us his son as a child - unique, lowly, and in poorest state - for our salvation. God sent his son in the flesh to die, that in his fleshy death, our sinful flesh too is crucified, that his resurrected flesh might be shared with us. We receive the resurrection of the dead just as Christ rose from the dead. “For there is one God, and one mediator of and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5) He is the “Word made flesh” being “in the form of God [...] but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18)

Advent has prepared us by the preaching of John the Baptist for the necessity of a Savior. John preached repentance and pointed to the absolution found in the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In the innocent birth of this babe in Bethlehem are all the many guilty, unclean, sinful, and accursed births of men made pure and holy. Christ came not just as a child to be fawned over. He came that his flesh might die and rise again for you and for your atonement. His body is offered up to redeem our bodies from the curse of sin. “The New Testament in my blood” that is spoken at the Lord's supper is not just atonement of the cross but is also his incarnation. For without the flesh and bones, skin and blood of Christ, he cannot be the atoning sacrifice for our flesh and bones, skin and blood. For us to be granted new bodies at the resurrection of the dead requires a God who comes as man - perfect, obedient, a servant of all - who would give himself over to the very death that we deserve so that we might have new life. God joins himself to flesh so that we might be joined to him. God is made man so that his son might be manifest in us. Christ's birth and death is our death to sin and our birth to new life. And so this evening, let us not look at the babe in the manger alone, but consider the cross on which the babe would hang. Let us look upon the birth of our savior and see the commencement of our new life in Him. God has heard our sad and bitter cry. He himself has become our Savior. From all our sins he has set us free. He came to share in our misery, and that we may share in the very love and joy of God. He comes in weakness, with nowhere to lay his head but in a trough for mangers on hay and not a feather bed. In this lowly estate we know that he cares for the poor like Joseph and the outcast like Mary and for the child who is spurned by all the inns of the world. For worldly honor and wealth and power are not his chosen dominion. Rather his dominion is over you. He comes to redeem your flesh, your bodies, to release you from bondage to send, death, and the Devil. He comes in the manger to grant you relief and comfort in the despair, mourning, melancholy, and sadness that occupies our earthly journey unto death. On this, the Feast of the Nativity, let God prepare a place in your heart for Christ to dwell. May your hymn of Christmas Eve not be “Jingle Bells” but “Silent Night”. We find comfort not in frivolity, dancing, singing, and festive merrymaking. Our true source for comfort and peace is Christ, the child in the manger, and Christ, the man crucified for our sins. In Christ our hearts leap for joy and our lips cannot be silent. We cannot but sing with a joyful tone of free gift of Christ's birth for our redemption. We sing with angels unto God in the highest heaven that he has graciously sent us his Son. This day the Father has granted us the new life promised in His Son - Christ Jesus - where true joy and comfort are found. Amen. May the peace of God who comes in the flesh and passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in the salvation that was brought by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.