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INJ
“Glory to God, Peace to Men”
St Luke 2:1-20
Evening Service
Christmas Eve, 2005
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Dear Saints,
Merry Christmas! What a joy it is to be gathered together as the Lord's people to celebrate His birth, to hear together the Christmas story.
Of this Gospel reading that we just heard, Dr Martin Luther says, “This Gospel is so clear that it requires very little explanation, but it should be well considered and taken deeply to heart; and no one will receive more benefit from it than those who, with a calm, quiet heart, banish everything else from their mind, and diligently look into it.” [Martin Luther, Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, I.I.137] A calm and quiet heart, this, I believe, is a difficult thing to find, especially in this busy season.
I hope tonight, in these next few minutes, we can, with calm, quiet hearts, consider the wonderful miracle of Christmas and let the preaching of the angel sink deeply into our ears and hearts.
After the quiet birth of Jesus, the Virgin-mother Mary attends to her newborn Child. At the same time in the fields, there are shepherds tending to their sheep. It is into the midst of there everyday shepherding that the glory of God comes and the angelic preacher, saying, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” [2:10-12] At the announcement of this good news and the hearing of this angelic sermon heaven itself cannot contain its joy and excitement, but thunders and breaks forth in song. The skies are filled with angels, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.”
This angel's sermon is not just for the shepherds, but for us as well. First the angel says to the shepherds and to us, “Do not be afraid.” We all have reason to be afraid. Fear and questions surround us. Will there be enough money? Will we be healthy as we get older? Will the conflicts in our families resolve, or keep dragging out in fits of bitterness and anger? So many are the problems in our lives, but around the corner is the problem of our death. We are all on that slow and sometimes fearful march to the grave. But more than this, there is reason for all of us to be really and truly afraid, terrified. For each of us is a sinner, through and through. And because of this, because we are sinners we have earned and justly deserve God's punishment, His wrath, and eternity cast from His face in hell. This is reason to fear.
But listen, you who are afraid, listen to what the angel is preaching to you tonight: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Isn't this the last thing that we would expect to hear? The word that we deserve from heaven is a judgment of condemnation and judgment. The angel should say, “Be afraid, for behold, I bring you bad tidings of great despair.” This is what we expect, what we deserve, but listen to what we get, “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”
And the good news and great tidings come: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The good news is a person, is Jesus, the Baby, born this night. The first Christmas sermon, and listen to how beautiful.
The angel does not just say, “There is born this day,” but, “there is born to you this day.” To you, for you, for your benefit. This wonderful birth is not just a curious fact of history, Jesus' birth is for you. Do you ever wonder about why Christmas is such a big deal? After all, Jesus was born a long time ago and in a land far away. But this birth is not distant, it is not far away, it is not insignificant, it is, as the angel said, for you. His birth was for you, just like His life was for you, and, most of all, His death is for you, all of this for us. As the angel preaches: “There is born to you this day, in the city of David, a Savior.”
See how God gives us what we need. “If we had needed information, God would have sent an educator. If we had needed technology, He could have sent a scientist. If we had needed more money, He could have sent a financial planner or accountant.” (Pr Pless) But God sends us the Savior. That is our real need, that we, who are born into the darkness of sin and death would be forgiven and given life and salvation. And salvation is what He has given to us in the incarnation, birth, life and death of our dearest Lord Jesus.
At Christmas we rejoice that the Lord Jesus has sunk Himself into our flesh, that our blood runs through God's veins, that He is bone of our bone and flesh or our flesh, and that He takes that flesh to the cross to die for us and open the doors to heaven and everlasting light. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God with us, God in our flesh, God for us, God saving us, God forgiving us.
And this mighty God in the flesh comes to us, not in splendor or glory, but in great humility. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. In a manger, a food trough for oxen. I suspect that this is the last place you might look for the new-born Savior of the world. But their He lies, the Babe, your Jesus, our Savior. And so we have sung:
O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
His manger is our paradise, our life, our great joy. For there the Lord made flesh is manifest for us and for our salvation.
Dear Saints, This Christmas season, may the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit grant us His grace, that we hear, believe, and have great joy in the preaching of the angel:
Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
Amen.
And now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Wolfmueller