Isaiah
62:10-12 Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:1-20
Grace Mercy and
Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today will be the Gospel Lesson just read, especially these
words, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in
swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for
them in the inn.” Thus far our
text.
Dear friends in
Christ, I think my favorite Christmas Hymn is “Hark the Herald Angels
Sing.” It is a hymn that pictures that
glorious moment that we are celebrating today.
The birth of Jesus. A little baby
is born, not in a hospital, not in a home, not even in the inn, but in a
stable. And yet, even with such a lowly
birth, with such little human fanfare, the angels sing, “Glory to the newborn
king!”
The angels sing
for a good reason, for even while people did not notice anything special, the
babe lying in the manger is special. He
is a human, just like you and me, and yet, he is also the creator of
Humans. He is the only begotten Son of
God, begotten before all the world existed, and he is also created human
flesh. When Mary nurses her child, she
nurses the God who formed her in her own mother’s womb.
That’s why the
angels are singing, they know who the baby is – the word made flesh who dwells
among us. “Christ the everlasting Lord”
and now “Pleased as Man with Man to Dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.” God with us.
God with us in human flesh. From
heaven above to Earth he has come!
Christmas is here.
That’s what
Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.
Jesus coming to us, to be with us, to live in our crummy world. He witnessed and experienced first hand all
our struggles. God was hungry. God got tired. God was thirsty, he breathed the very air he
had made in the very beginning. He wept,
he skinned his knees, he even went to the bathroom. Mary and Joseph had to potty train God! When he grew up, he personally knew people
who were sick, who died, who struggled with sin. Scripture records 12 that he was personally
friends with, even as they doubted who he was, as they questioned him, and as
they misunderstood why he had come.
For God came and
dwelt in our flesh for a reason. This
wasn’t just a field trip for God to experience His world. He came for a specific reason, to give us
something we need. He came into flesh,
so that flesh could suffer. He came to
breathe our air so that he could stop breathe his last breath, “Eloi, Eloi,
Lemma Sabachthani!” He took on our flesh
that thirsts, that feels pain, and that has blood coursing through its veins,
so that he could go to the cross and die.
Don’t you see,
Jesus came to die for you? To give you
forgiveness. To take away your sin. To give you hope. He took on your flesh so that he could pay
the payment your sin required. Your
guilt required your death. Your sin
meant you must die. And God would have
none of it, so he came here to take your place.
So God laid his
wonderful Glory aside, “Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons
of earth,” Born to give you second birth in flowing living waters of
baptism. For as the living body of God
died on the cross, it rose again on the third day, meaning all human flesh will
live, all human flesh will be raised, all human flesh that has died will rise
again on the last day. Some will go to
everlasting condemnation, but you dear friends, in Jesus, will raise to
everlasting life.
That’s why the
angels were excited. God was saving
you. God was accomplishing his most
glorious work, dying on a cross. Its Christmas!
Today you have good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord. Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good will to
those on whom his favor rest. Peace to
you, peace to me, peace to the whole world.
Jesus is born. He lays in a
manger in Bethlehem. He comes for
you. He comes to set you free from
sin. “Hark the herald Angels Sing! Glory to the New Born King!”
