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INJ
St John 1:1-14
'God in Our Flesh'
Divine Service
Christmas Day | December 25th, 2006
Dear Saints,
Merry Christmas!
Is your living room floor littered with wrapping paper? A bit like an indoor blizzard. It gets in the way, that paper, and you wad it up and throw it away.
But look, Jesus wraps Himself in our flesh, and it is never torn off or put away or thrown aside. If Jesus was interested in giving us what we deserve He would take us like a huge wadded up ball of wrapping paper and throw us into the fire place without a second thought about is, but saints, look, Jesus is not interested in giving us what we deserve, He is driven by His love for us, freely compelled by His mercy, even while we are His enemies.
He takes our crumpled and torn up humanity, and instead of discarding it or throwing it away, He takes it upon Himself. From the womb of the Virgin Mary Jesus is God-in-flesh, and this is a permanent in-flesh-ment. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” [St John 1:14] The divine Son of God is wrapped in our humanity, never to be separated from it.
This is the truth that has gathered us here on this cold Monday morning, the beautiful and wonderful truth that the Son of God has become our Brother and our Neighbor, our Roommate, the Word became flesh, and dwelt with us.
That's what Jesus' flesh means: it mean that He is named Immanuel, God-with-us, not God-far-away, but God-very-near. Jesus' flesh means that He is our Relative, our Brother; He, too, is a Son of Adam and a daughter of Eve. Jesus' flesh means that the gulf between earth and heaven, the gulf between death and life, the gulf between sin and the holy is bridged, the chasm is crossed, and it is not bridged and crossed by us and our own efforts, but by the Son of God who has come down to us. Jesus' flesh means that God no longer calls us His enemies or even His servants, but rather His friends.
We know that we don't deserve any of this, don't we; that what is going on at Christmas is not a matter of justice but mercy, a matter of indescribable gifts being given out.
It is one thing to stand at the zoo and watch the prairie dogs play; it is another thing to climb in with the prairie dogs in order to feed them and clean up there mess, but it is an altogether different thing to become a prairie dog yourself. The zoo keeper is 'with' the prairie dogs, and in a way so is the person standing there watching, but the person who becomes a prairie dog, this is the altogether different 'with' that Jesus is talking about. 'Immanuel: God-with-us.'
The text of John could be translated a bit more literally, “The word became flesh and dwelt with us: the Word became flesh and tabernacled with us, put up His tent with us.” This isn't talking about going camping.
Remember when the church was rescued from Egypt, and passed through the Red Sea, and then sent Moses up the mountain to speak with God. Moses is there for forty days and nights, and is given the vision of heaven, and then is sent down the mountain to build a replica of what he saw, a replica of the heavenly throne room, and that replica of heaven is the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
“Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” [Exodus 25:9] That is what the Lord told Moses to do, because the Lord wants an address right in the middle of His people. “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” [Exodus 25:8]
The tabernacle is the shadow of heaven cast on the earth. Heaven come down. And remember what happens? The tabernacle is built and the glory of the Lord descends from heaven and fills the tabernacle so that Moses and Aaron can't even get in. And then the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day, and the Lord leading His church through the wilderness.
These are the thoughts that are to go through our mind when we hear this text, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory.” Jesus is heaven coming down to earth, dressing up in our humility; God eternally wrapping Himself in our flesh. Jesus is not the shadow of the heavenly reality, He is it. God. The Word. Become. Flesh. Our Flesh.
And what does Jesus do with our flesh? Well, if He's going to take our flesh, then He's also going to end up taking our sin and our death.
One of the great things about Christmas is the decorations. That way, when the sermon gets a little long, there are lots of neat things to look at and learn from: the tree and all the Chrismons, the wreaths and the greens and the Christ-candle. (All of these decorations are sermons in themselves.) But there is one decoration that we never take down: the cross. That always hangs there to look upon, that we would remember want Jesus has done with our flesh, that it's pinned to the cross.
The flesh which is yours goes to the cross which should be yours to die the death that you and I ought to die, all that we might have life, even in our flesh, that is, in the resurrection.
It is to give us that life that Jesus has called and gather us here today. To forgive our sins and speak tenderly to us and to feed us. Today, on His birthday, Jesus feeds us the very same body and blood which He took upon Himself in the Virgin's womb, the very same body and blood which was nailed to the cross and poured out on calvary, and He gives it to us bound to His promise: for the remission of all of your sins.
In this way the Word become flesh, our Jesus, is still pleased to dwell with us, to tabernacle with us, and to call us His brothers and sisters and friends. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO