The Baptism of Our Lord

The Baptism of Our Lord (C)

January 12, 2025

Text: Luke 3:15-22

            The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the River Jordan turns the whole world upside down; in fact, the whole cosmos, all creation, all things, visible and invisible.  Heaven descends.  God comes down to you in the flesh.  All the way down into your sin.  Jesus needs no Baptism for repentance and forgiveness.  He has no sin of His own.  But He is baptized into you, and into your sin, and the sin of the whole world.  He takes it into Himself.  He becomes sin for you (2 Cor. 5:21).  And so, He comes all the way down into sin’s wages, into your death… even death on the cross!... all the way down into your grave and your hell.  Why?  To put your sin to death in the flesh.  And to raise you up in the flesh.  To take you with Him in His ascent.  Up from the grave.  Christ is risen, but your sins are not.  Up into heaven.  Up to the seat of honor at the right hand of God.  Up into righteousness… His for you.  Yours in Him.  Up into life… Eternal life.  Resurrection life.  “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4; ESV).

            So your Baptism into Christ turns your whole world upside down.  In Holy Baptism, you died with Christ.  No longer dying, your death is done.  In Holy Baptism, you are raised with Christ.  Eternal life flows to you from the font.  You, who once were far off, have now been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 3:13).  You, who once were naked, have now put on Christ as your robe of righteousness (Gal. 3:27).  You, who once were lost, have now been found (Luke 15:24).  You, once walking in death (Col. 2:13), are now born again, anew, from above, by water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5).  You’ve been circumcised, not in the flesh, but in the heart (Rom. 2:29).  You’ve been given a new heart (Ps. 51:10).  And now, your whole life is a life of daily death and resurrection in Christ, repentance and faith.  You daily drown old Adam, your flesh, by repentance and contrition.  And you daily emerge and arise, a New Creation in Christ, to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. 

            And it is an Epiphany.  An epiphany is a revelation, a manifestation, a showing of something that has been hidden.  January 6^th was the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.  Known as the Gentile Christmas, on that day the Church commemorates the revelation to the wise men (Gentiles), and to the world, that Christ is born, not just for Jews, but for all people.  And that means, for you.  Here this little Baby is shown to be God in the flesh, your Savior, your Lord, and Wisdom incarnate.

            Now we are in the Epiphany Season, and each successive Sunday will be a revelation, a manifestation, a showing of this truth.  And this Sunday’s epiphany is a whopper!  In the Baptism of our Lord, our God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  See how our God paints the picture for us.  There is the incarnate Son, standing in the water, baptized by St. John, baptized for you, and into you.  Heaven, once closed to sinners, now is open, and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the bodily form of a dove.  And now the Spirit will be with Him always… not always visibly, but with Him always, in all His Words, and in all His works, delivering all His saving benefits.  And there is the Voice from heaven, God the Father Almighty, declaring to Jesus “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). 

            And now this is the baptismal pattern.  What happened to Jesus at His Baptism, happens to you at yours.  There is Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, in the water of the font, with His blood and death for the forgiveness of your sins, with His righteousness and life for your justification and salvation.  And heaven is opened to you.  The Holy Spirit descends upon you and remains with you, not visibly, as a dove, but assuredly nevertheless.  And that is faith, by the way.  Saving faith is God’s gift to you as the Spirit comes to you in His means of grace.  And a Voice speaks.  It is your Father in heaven.  “You,” He says at your Baptism into Christ… you, now…  you “are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

            Well, clearly everything has been turned on its head.  You can’t see all this with your eyes, of course.  All you see is the water dripping from your head.  And if you were baptized as an infant, you don’t even remember that.  But you know it.  You know it to be true, because that is what the Lord proclaims to you in His Word.  And what is that Word?  The Divine Name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You are baptized into the Name, as Jesus commanded when He instituted this Sacrament (Matt. 28:19).  Where the Name of God is, there is God Himself.  And God wants to be with you, to help you, to counsel you, to guide you, to bless you.  To provide for you and protect you.  To save you.  To give you life.  So He writes His Name on you, for the same reason you write your name on anything.  You belong to Him.  You are precious to Him, and He never wants to lose you.  He gives you His Name, for the same reason you bear the family name of your parents.  You are a member of His family, the Christian family, the Church.  He adopts you as His own.  He is your Father.  You are his child.  He loves you.  Because you are in Christ, His Son.  “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ” (LSB 594:1). 

            By the way, it’s not that you were baptized, past tense.  Sure, your Baptism happened at one particular point in time.  But your Baptism is never simply over and done.  Beloved, you are baptized, present tense.  That is your ongoing and eternal reality.  Don’t say, “I was baptized.”  Say, “I am baptized.”  Even if, God forbid, you fall away from the faith, the fact remains, you are baptized.  Now, you can leave your Baptism, that is true, and that would be absolutely tragic, because you would forfeit eternal life.  But your Baptism will never leave you.  And when any apostate (lapsed Christian) repents, and returns to the faith, there is his Baptism.  He need not be baptized again.  He simply returns to his one Baptism, the reality, the state of one who is baptized into Christ.  Because, after all, Baptism is not your work for God.  It is God’s work for you.  And He is faithful.  Therefore His Work abides. 

            Beloved, every day, remember your Baptism and the gifts that flow from it.  And by remember, I don’t mean simply that you should call it to mind.  Rather, live each day immersed in the water.  Repent of your sins every day.  Push old Adam back down under the water, and drown that sucker, your sinful nature, by dying to self and confessing your sins to your Father who loves you.  Read and hear the Gospel every day, that all your sins are forgiven on account of Christ.  And know that you are baptized into that reality, His death, His resurrection, for you.  Arise in Christ every day, to live in Christ, Christ living in you.  His Word in your ears, and in your heart and mind, the scent of His blood on your breath.  The Spirit in these means of grace, coming upon you and sanctifying you.  Every day, remember your Baptism in that way.

            And every day, as God’s own child, born anew in blest baptismal waters, and dearly loved, take upon your lips the prayer of the Baptized.  “Our Father,” we are given to say.  For in Baptism, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba!  Father!’” (Gal. 4:6).  And we know that “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear Father.”[1]

            Sinners once alienated from God, now beloved children of our heavenly Father.  Your whole world turned upside down.  Jesus upended it by His Baptism into you.  And then, by baptizing you into Himself.  Once you have died and arisen with Christ in Holy Baptism, your whole life becomes an Epiphany of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, for you.  And all things are made new.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.      

 

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[1] Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).

Second Sunday after Christmas

Second Sunday after Christmas (C)

January 5, 2025

Text: Luke 2:40-52

            Mary and Joseph were mistaken.  He was not lost.  He was never lost.  He was right where He was supposed to be.  He was doing just what He was supposed to do.  He was in His Father’s House.  That is the holy Temple, the place of sacrifice and atonement, the place of Torah and prayer, the place of God’s abiding presence with His people, Israel.  But there is another possible translation for the words rendered here, “in my Father’s house” (Luke 2:49; ESV), and perhaps it is the better one.  That is, “about my Father’s business.”  “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”  And, of course, that is His divine saving mission, accomplishing once and for all, and bringing to fulfillment, all the purposes for which God gave the Temple in the first place.  He is the Sacrifice, our Lord Jesus.  He is the Atonement.  He is Torah made flesh, and the object and answer to our prayers.  He is God’s Presence with us, our Emmanuel.  He is the true Temple.  And so, maybe these words are delicious Spirit-inspired double entendre.  Where else would He be, but in the Temple?  Where else would He be, but immersed in Torah with the teachers of Israel?  What else would He be doing, but His Father’s business… the business of undoing all that went wrong in Eden… doing to the full all that should and must be done if man is to be righteous before God… accomplishing the salvation of Israel, and of the world… present for us… saving us? 

            Mary and Joseph were desperately searching.  Don’t be troubled by their assumption that the twelve-year-old Boy was somewhere in the caravan.  That’s just par for the course.  On the yearly pilgrimage to the Holy City for the Passover, families, friends, and neighbors travelled together for safety and for fellowship.  And you know how that works.  All the kids gravitated toward one another.  They played together, while the adults did their boring adult things together.  Everybody watched for everybody else’s kids.  And while there weren’t street lights to come on at twilight, the sign that it’s time to go home, the kids knew to meet up with their parents at the end of the travel day, at the appointed stopping place.  It was there that Mary and Joseph realized… something is wrong.  If you are a parent, perhaps you know that terror.  Where is my child?  For Mary, it may have been the first taste of the sword prophesied by Simeon, the one piercing her own soul, also.  In any case, it is a foreshadowing.  This will not be the last time she tastes that terror with regard to her Son. 

            So the Holy Parents returned to Jerusalem, and they searched everywhere, or so they thought.  The reality is, they searched everywhere, except where they should have.  “After three days” (v. 46)… a time stamp I think not insignificant… they found Him.  You know where.  Doing you know what.  And as mothers are wont to do, Mary asked the question that would have produced tremendous guilt and contrition in any mere human child: “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (v. 48).  Of course, any mere human child would have sinned grievously against the Fourth Commandment by staying back, disappearing from his parents, worrying them half to death.  Take note of this, children.  Do not do this to your parents!  But Jesus is no mere human child.  Oh, He is human.  But He is also the sinless Son of God.  And He has a Father who takes precedence over Jospeh, and even over Mary, and He must honor that Father, by His presence in His Father’s House, doing His Father’s business.  And Mary and Joseph should have known that.  This is why He came.  This why He was born.  As Gabriel told them both.  Our Lord’s Third Commandment obligation (holding the Word of God sacred, and gladly hearing and learning it) trumps His Fourth Commandment obligation (honoring father and mother).  And, of course, in honoring His heavenly Father in this way, He hasn’t actually dishonored Mary and Joseph.  He has honored them greatly, by doing the work of the Law for them, fulfilling it for them… and for us… in their place, and in ours.  Also, teaching them, and us, that our first loyalty is to God, then to parents and other earthly authorities.  Always.  God comes first.  And that, as you know, is the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods.  We should fear, love, and trust in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) above all things.

            But back to Mary’s question for a moment.  It is not only the question of a distraught mother.  She is speaking for us.  Isn’t she?  Well, isn’t that your question, after all?  God… Jesus… where have You been?  Why have You treated me so?  I’ve looked everywhere for You!  I’m desperate, here!  I’m in great distress!  But I guess that doesn’t matter to You…  Are you sure about that?  Is it really that Jesus has sinned against you?  Now, be honest here.  You’ve been in Mary’s shoes, with her question, with her rebuke for Jesus.  Maybe you’re there right now.  Hear His answer to Mary… Hear His answer to you… not as scathing reprimand of your lament, but as a loving turning, a changing of your mind (a repentance!), an opening of your eyes, from the blindness of misperception and false belief, to the truth that you should have known, and, in fact, do already know: When you are searching for Jesus, for His help and deliverance, for His comfort and salvation… for the incarnate Presence of God for you… where should you look?  Where will you always find Him?  In His Father’s House.  Doing His Father’s Business.  Isn’t that self-evident?  Didn’t you learn that in Catechism class?  He is the Sacrifice of Atonement, offered upon the Altar of the cross.  Where else would He be, but where the fruits of His cross, the body and blood of the crucified and risen Lamb of God, are distributed and feasted upon?  He is the Word made flesh.  Where else would He be, but where the Scriptures are read and proclaimed into the ears and hearts of God’s holy people?  When you need Jesus, run to the Word.  You will always find Him there.  When you need Jesus, run to His Church, to preaching and Sacrament.  He is ever and always here, in the flesh, for you.   

            Why is that the last place we look?  It’s not that we’re ignorant.  It’s that we’re stubborn and rebellious.  We want to find Him ourselves, in the places we wishfully think He should be found (where is that?): In our hearts, in our reason, in our resolve.  On the couch.  On the screen.  In pleasure.  In power.  In wealth.  In wellbeing.  Well, you can think of other places.  But you know you will always find those places empty of Jesus, unless you find Him where He has promised to be for you.  In His Word and Sacrament.  Repent of looking for Him in all those other places.  Find Him here, and all those other things will be purified and filled with Him.  But, neglect Him here, and all those other things become filthy, empty idols.  They won’t actually help you with your distress, your anxiety, your sadness, your brokenness.  Rather, they’ll multiply your afflictions and break you to death.  Christ is your only help.  And you know where He is.  And you know what He has done, and what He is doing, for you and for your salvation.  His answer is calling you back.  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s House… about my Father’s Business?”

            You know what might be a good New Year’s resolution for you?  Be here more.  In your Father’s House, and about His Business, Word and Sacrament.  Not to fulfill an obligation (although it is an obligation, the Third Commandment).  But because Jesus is here, for you.  Be with Him.  He is here with you.  Read and hear the Scriptures more… to hear His voice.  To receive His Spirit and His wisdom.  Listen more carefully to the proclamation, and the Holy Absolution… that your faith in Christ be strengthened.  Take joy in God’s people.  Love them.  Jesus is here, in their midst.  And when you love them, you love Jesus.  Pray more… He is the object and the answer to your prayers.  Pray for yourself, for your family, your friends and acquaintances… your enemies… the nation, the authorities, your Church, your pastor.  For every need they may have, and most of all, that they know Jesus, and find Him here.  Because you know that praying with and in Jesus, your Father loves to hear your prayers, and answer them.

            Find Jesus here.  You will always find Jesus here with His forgiveness, righteousness, life, love, Spirit, consolation, and every other gift, for you.  When you don’t find Him everywhere else, it isn’t because He’s sinned against you, any more than He sinned against Mary and Joseph.  It’s that you weren’t looking in right places.  He is faithful.  He has told you just where to find Him.  He is always here for you.  He is always doing His Father’s Business for  you.  Beloved, merry Christmas.  Christ is born for you.  And here He is.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

First Sunday after Christmas

First Sunday after Christmas (C)

December 29, 2024

Text: Luke 2:22-40

            Any preacher will tell you that, after Advent and Christmas, the inkwell seems to have run dreadfully dry.  The effort toward profundity has syphoned all the pastoral energy.  The words… there simply are none left.  The mind is mush.  The tongue is swollen.  Am I just whining?  Probably.  Looking for sermon filler?  You’d better believe it.  But the simple fact of the matter remains: The preacher has come to the end of himself.

            Which is exactly right.  That is exactly how it should be.  What is he doing, anyway, this preacher, making it at all, or in any way, about him?  It is the temptation of every clergyman, in every sermon.  And I’m on the cusp of it, now, this danger of preaching myself.  But I think, perhaps, it’s just possible, that I may have a point here.  We preachers… and we Christians (and this includes you hearers)… in our contempt for the familiar, and our desire, ever and only, to speak and to hear something new… miss the profundity of the simple Gospel message.  As if that message is any less profound when the preacher speaks ineloquently, and in weakness, the same old message we’ve heard from time immemorial.  As if we already know it, and don’t need the reminder.  As if that message depends, in any way, on the bag full of wind behind the pulpit, or the eagerness of the hearers to hear it.  Christ is born for sinners, for every last person in these pews.  For you.  Even for the parson, if he’d just get over himself.  There is absolutely nothing more profound than that.  So, dear Pastor, get out of the way!  You must decrease… in fact, disappear!  Christ must increase, and be our all in all.  Dear Christian, open your ears.  Okay, you know it.  Hear it again, now, afresh, and for you.  Christ has come.  The Savior is born.  God in the flesh.  It is simple, and it is profound.

            Still, there is a text to explicate, a Gospel to be proclaimed, and woe to the preacher who will not proclaim it!  And woe to the Christian who will not hear it, ponder it, and treasure it.  What to say, though; what to say, when the words won’t come…  How about just let the Scripture speak for itself, and that in all its glorious simplicity.  It is Christmas, still, for us this day.  So receiving our Father’s Christmas Gift, let us unwrap it, and savor it, and embrace it with all our heart.  The Gift, of course, is life and salvation in God’s own Son.

            Israel of old receives this Gift.  The Purification.  The Redemption of the Firstborn.  Sacrifices given.  The fulfillment of the Law.  The LORD has come into His Temple, as He promised.  It is more than simply a rite of passage when His parents present Him in the Temple courts.  It is the Old Testament coming to completion!  And the inauguration of the New.  The shadows are giving way to the reality.  The types are culminating, now, in divine Antitype.  The prophecies are all coming true.  The High Priest of our salvation has entered the Sanctuary.  David’s royal Son has arrived to take up His throne.  And the precious heel of Mary’s Boy is poised to crush the serpent’s head. 

            Old Man Simeon receives this Gift.  Quite literally from the hands of Mary, whether she would give Him up, or not (that, incidentally, will be the story of her life!).  He takes the little Lord Jesus into His arms and embraces Him, and prays to Him: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel” (LSB, pp. 199-200; Luke 2:9-32).  By direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he composes a Christmas carol on the spot, a hymn the Church has sung ever since (talk about a Christmas gift!), the Nunc Dimittis, which we sing when we take up this same Lord Jesus in the eating and drinking of His Body and Blood.  This is the One Simeon had been waiting for.  The Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  Now the Christ Child is here.  And Simeon says that he can die, now, happily, and in peace.  He can depart, because he knows his salvation has come.  And not only his salvation, but Israel’s salvation, and the salvation of the whole world. 

            Mary and Joseph receive this Gift.  Of course, they are the first to receive Him, in the annunciation of His virginal conception, and in His birth in Bethlehem.  But here, they receive Him anew in the preaching of St. Simeon.  And in this way, they show you how you should receive Him ever anew.  In the preaching!  In the proclamation of who He is… that is what Simeon preaches in his song... and what He has come to do... that is what Simeon preaches in his prophecy to the Holy Parents.  “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed” (v. 34; ESV).  That is the Law and the Gospel.  All people will fall upon this Child.  Either upon His mercy, by faith in Him, or upon His Judgment in hellish wrath by unbelief.  Indeed, many will oppose Him.  And here Simeon enters upon the preaching of the cross.  They will oppose Him to death.  And you will see it, Mary.  A sword will pierce your own soul as you behold your Baby Boy, suffering, pierced, dying, dead, for the sins of the world.  And you will not see it, Joseph.  You will disappear from the Gospel narrative, apparently dying before Jesus enters upon His ministry.  Some have surmised (and I resonate with this), that in his dying before our Lord’s ministry and sacrificial death, God was mercifully sparing Joseph.  After all, what might Jospeh, the divinely appointed protector of God’s Son, have done when Jesus was arrested and mistreated?  He very well may have stepped in, in an attempt to prevent what must not be prevented, to rescue Jesus when He must not be rescued.  In any case, the Gift is for Mary and Joseph, too.  And note, what is true for them, is also true for us.  This Gift necessarily comes with crosses of our own to bear… sufferings, sorrows, piercing our body and soul, borne in faith, and patience, and hope for deliverance in the Baby born to bear the cross for us, and on the Third Day, to rise. 

            Blessed Anna receives this Gift.  Speaking of bearing the cross in faith, patience, and hope, she had borne her widowhood for decades.  Never departing from the Temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day, waiting, like Simeon, for the One, for Messiah to arrive.  And now, she sees Him.  And she knows.  And she can’t stop thanking God, and speaking of the Child to everyone, all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem!

            Well, isn’t that the Church?  Bearing the holy cross, while awaiting the Lord’s coming again to deliver us from all our afflictions.  Giving thanks always, and in everything, for the coming of the Lord in the flesh.  Receiving Him in the preaching, and in the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood.  Speaking of Him to one another, and to everyone.  Confessing Him.  Praising Him.  Praying to Him.  Living each day in Him.

            We, too, receive this Gift.  We are receiving Him now.  It’s so simple.  And for that reason, we so easily miss it.  We miss the profundity for the simplicity, for the familiarity.  “Yeah, yeah, Christmas.  Jesus born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, no room in the inn.  We know.  We know.  We’ve heard it.”  It is especially easy to slip into this on December 29^th, while most of the world has already moved on.  Repent of that.  Resist it, this taking the Gift for granted.  How?  Hear it.  Hear it again.  Hear it afresh.  Treasure it.  Ponder it.  Praise it, like Anna.  Receive it, like Simeon, here at the Altar.  Every Communion is Christmas, which is why we sing Simeon’s carol at Communcion. 

            Well, this preacher is relieved as another intense Advent and Christmas Season comes to a close.  Though we do have one more Christmas service together, next Sunday.  We get to spend the Twelfth Day of Christmas, gathered around the Altar, receiving and unwrapping the Gift!  Hear it one more time, beloved.  Hear it, and take it to heart, this profound truth: Christ is born for sinners, for every last person in these pews.  That is to say, Christ is born for you!  Merry Christmas.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.           

                

 

 

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day

December 25, 2024

Text: John 1:1-18

 

The arch-fiend, Satan, would do anything to keep your ears from hearing the Good News afresh.

 

Anything to prevent your mind, heart, and soul, from knowing it is true.

 

Anything, if only the Spirit would not blow upon the dying embers of your faith, the Christmas Gospel fanning it into flame once again.

 

He would distract you, the old serpent.  He would draw your attention away.  The hustle.  The bustle.  The tinsel on the tree.  The parties.  The preparations.  All the obligations.  The glamor and the glut.  The liberal libations.  Things that could be beautiful and good, now twisted, turning you from the substance toward the trappings, the mere sentimental seasonal sap.

 

He would tempt you, the dragon, and prey upon your hurts.  Discouragement and alarm.  Deceiving you and misleading you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.  Your sins.  Your guilt.  Your self-loathing.  Your shame.  He would throw these in your face, and rob you of all hope.  The sins of others?  He would throw those in your face, too, to harden your heart against those who bear God’s Image, and so, harden your heart against God Himself.

 

He would drown out the preaching with noise, and annoyances.  The constant cacophonous clamor of media, mainstream and social, the modern madness of a screen in every pocket.  The meaningless flow of endless information.  Hollow interaction in self-imposed isolation.

 

Because he hates it… he hates this Word sounding in your ears.  Still, the herald’s voice rings out, with all the power of God unto salvation.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  And we have seen His glory… glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

That message, that truth, blasts the fallen angel into the cavernous depths of hell, frozen and afire all at once with the wrath of God, the wrath appeased, now, for all who will receive the appeasement.

 

How humiliating it must be for the enemy of all mankind, to know he is defeated by a little Child, a mere Babe, born in a stable, in Bethlehem.  How humiliating… his forked tongue still flailing forth his lies, while his fangless skull lies crushed under a pierced heel.

 

Christ is born, God in human flesh, to save you from Satan, sin, and death.  Word of our Father, now in flesh appearing.  Let nothing hinder you from hearing this preaching.  From believing it, living it, and singing it forth in praise.

 

If you really want to set the demon’s rump ablaze… if you really want to kick the devil in the teeth… sing a Christmas carol.  Sing forth our Lord’s Incarnation.  Rejoice.  Proclaim.  Believe that it is true.  God rest ye merry, Christian ladies and gentlemen.  The devil is defeated.  The curse is now, for once, and forever, at an end.  Your warfare is over.  Your bondage done.  God and sinners are reconciled.  Repeat the sounding joy.  And let every ear, despite the devil and the whole world, hear.  Merry Christmas!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Eve

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Eve

December 24, 2024

Text: Luke 2:1-20

            “My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing that He cannot do…”  True enough.  But have you ever considered that the miracle of this night is that God does the impossible, not by being so big, so strong, and so mighty, but so small, so weak, so vulnerable?

            This was brought home to me in a recent devotion by the Rev. Scott Murray from Houston, a meditation on the words of Church Father, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, which I am now shamelessly plagiarizing!  (If you want the reference, I’d be happy to give it to you.[1])  My God is so small, so weak, and so vulnerable, there is nothing that He will not do… to save me.  To save you.  “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16; KJV).  And so, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).  “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (v. 7). 

            Let us ponder the great mystery of Christmas with St. Gregory.  “The holy Virgin returned to Nazareth [after having visited Elizabeth and Zechariah and the unborn St. John the Baptist, as we heard on Sunday] (Lk 1:56); and a decree of Caesar led her to come again to Bethlehem (Lk 2:1); and so, as proceeding herself from the royal house, she was brought to the royal house of David along with Joseph her espoused husband. And there ensued the mystery which transcends all wonders,” and listen, now, how the God who is so big and strong and mighty becomes for you so small and weak and vulnerable… Gregory continues, “the Virgin brought forth and bore in her hands Him who bears the whole creation by His Word. 'And there was no room for them in the inn' (Lk 2:7). He found no room who founded the whole earth by His Word. She nourished with her milk Him who imparts sustenance and life to everything that has breath. She wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes who binds the whole creation fast with His Word. She laid Him in a manger who rides seated upon the cherubim. A light from heaven shone round about Him who enlightens the whole creation. The hosts of heaven attended Him with their doxologies who is glorified in heaven from before all ages. A star with its torch guided them who had come from the distant parts of earth toward Him who is the true Orient. From the East came those who brought gifts to Him who for our sakes became poor. And the holy mother of God kept these words, and pondered them in her heart, like one who was the receptacle of all the mysteries.”[2]  Thus far St. Gregory.  Beloved, let us also ponder these things in our heart, and treasure this mystery of God become small for us.

            How small does He become?  Before He is a Newborn, (mystery of mysteries) Jesus, our God, is a Zygote, Blastocyst, a Fetus… which is to say that He is nothing less than an unborn, living Human Baby.  And that is of tremendous comfort for every Christian mother and father, especially during the stages of pregnancy…  and for anyone who has ever suffered a miscarriage, or a stillbirth… and for every woman ever told the satanic lie that she had no other choice (if she wanted to live a happy and fulfilling life) than to terminate her child in abortion… and for every extended family member who has ever borne that grief.  Jesus became so small as to become, in His flesh, one of them, one of these children!  Why?  Why did He do that?  Never forget the old adage of the Fathers with regard to our Lord’s Incarnation (His coming in the flesh), first stated negatively: “What was not assumed [by the divinity of the Son of God] was not redeemed.”  Okay, now state it positively: “What was assumed,” namely, our humanity, our flesh, our stages of development, “was redeemed.”  In other words, what Jesus has become, Jesus has redeemed.  He became thus for us, and for our redemption.

            And so, our God, to whom nothing can be added, who is fulness in Himself… grows, the little Lord Jesus.  Newborn.  Infant.  Toddler.  Child.  Pre-Teen.  Teenager.  Adult.  Our God becomes so small… and one is tempted to say, contrary to appearances, that He grows smaller with each stage of development… After all, if anyone would enter the Kingdom of Heaven, He must grow out of adulthood and become a little child!...  Our God becomes so small as to become one with us in every stage.  To assume our humanity in every stage.  To redeem our humanity… to redeem us… in every stage.      

            In fact, He grows smaller still.  He knows the pains of life for you.  He knows disappointment, heartbreak, illness, betrayal.  For you.  He knows your sins.  He bears your sins, becomes your sin, to redeem you from your sin.  And so, He grows smaller still.  Crucified, dead and buried.  He becomes One who is dying.  He becomes One who is dead.  To redeem those who are dying and dead.  The One who is the Life of the World submits to the nothingness of death.  For you.  That is why He is born in our flesh.  God, of course, cannot die.  He is the Living One.  But in our flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary… our God, the eternal Son of the Father… in fact dies.  “My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty,” rings rather hollow at the foot of the cross, and as they lay Him in the grave.  Rather, my God is so small, so weak, and so vulnerable… there is nothing my God will not do.  For me.  He dies for me.  He dies for you.  He dies for the world.  For the forgiveness of all of our sins.

            That in His resurrection from the dead… in the resurrection of the Body born of Mary… He may raise us out of sin and death.

            This little Baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the feeding trough of beasts, is our God.  So small.  So weak...  So powerful to save.  No wonder heaven breaks forth and the angels sing.  Let us never lose the wonder of it.  Beloved, take this into your ears, and ponder it deep within your heart: Christ, the Lord, our God, is born for you. 

            “O holy Child of Bethlehem,” be small for us, “we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.  We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!” (LSB 361:4).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                  

 

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[1] https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Memorial-Moment.html?soid=1101459756774&aid=QpdjRKvsH_8

[2] Gregory Thaumaturgus, Four Homilies, quoted in Murray’s devotion.

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Fourth Sunday in Advent (C)

December 22, 2024

Text: Luke 1:39-56

            The Blessed Virgin Mary is a Lady.  I mean that in the highest sense of the word.  Not simply as a vocative street address toward an unknown woman, as in, “Hey Lady!”  Lady, as in “Ladies and Gentlemen,” comes closer to the idea.  An aristocratic Lady of rank among the British may be more like it, albeit with two very important qualifications: Mary is no aristocrat (she’s a poor virgin girl from Nazareth, betrothed to a common laborer, St. Joseph), and her ladyship is not an accident of birth.  Then, too, the ladyship of Mary is really beyond all of these definitions. She is the Lady par excellence.  Why?  Is it her virtue?  That is certainly a part of it, though she is not sinless.  She, too, needed the redemption and forgiveness of her Son.  Is it her faith?  Yes, absolutely, but even more than that.  She is highly favored, the most highly favored Lady (as we just sang), not because of any merit or worthiness intrinsic to her, but because the Lord is with her.  And that, in a very particular way.  He’s in her womb.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit.  The eternal Son of the Father.  The Savior of the world.  Mary’s Son is Mary’s Lord.  And He comes to her by grace.  And He comes to us through her by grace.  We are most highly favored in her being most highly favored.

            Now, I didn’t issue a trigger warning at the beginning of this sermon, although I probably should have, not only because I’m once again making the politically perilous claim that there is, objectively speaking, such a thing as a woman, a biological reality, determined, not by the woman herself, but by the God who created her.  And that there is a model of femininity, a woman women should aspire to be; namely, blessed Mary.  But also, I know you Lutherans have an allergic reaction to saying too much good about the Mother of our Lord, and, as a result, you say far too little.  But the Bible doesn’t say but little, so you shouldn’t, either.  Once again, you’ve got to get over your “that’s too Catholic” absurdity.  Hopefully that’s enough said about that!  Mary is the Mother of God, as the Church has called her for centuries.  Does that title trouble you?  Let’s think this through.  Is Jesus God?  Yes.  Is Mary His mother?  Yes.  Okay then.  A Christian probably ought to hold the Mother of God in high esteem.  Right?  Good.  No, you shouldn’t pray to her.  No, you shouldn’t worship her.  But you should honor her.  You should imitate her.  You should give thanks for her faith and her example.  You should recognize that she’s a member of your Church, that she joins you at the Altar of her Son every Lord’s Day, with all the company of heaven.  You should meditate on these realities.  So let’s take this in order: Mary’s virtue, Mary’s faith, and Mary as most highly favored Lady.

            As a woman of virtue, Mary is the model, to be imitated by Christian women.  Men, too, in many ways, of course, but just like we held out St. John the Baptist as the model of masculinity last week, this week, we’re holding forth Mary.  First of all, she is chaste.  We know that because she is a virgin at the time of our Lord’s conception and birth.  Now, I know, and you know, there is debate about whether Mary remains “ever virgin.”  That is, whether Mary and Joseph ever consummated their marriage, whether she has other children, and all of that.  That has always seemed to me an awkward question, to say the least.  Do you ask your mother the details of her intimacy?  Okay, let’s not worry about that with Mary, either.  Let’s just give thanks that we have in Mary a woman who keeps the treasure of her sexuality within the bonds of God’s order.  She is a virgin at least until marriage (in fact, at least until the birth of Jesus), and what happens between her and Joseph thereafter is between her and Joseph and God, as ought to be the case for all married couples.  Now, we must say here that if you, man or woman, have not kept the virtue of chastity, as Mary did, do not despair.  What should you do?  You know it.  Repent of your sins.  Confess them to God.  Be absolved.  I encourage you to make use of private Confession and Absolution with your pastor.  And know that your sins are forgiven.  All of them.  Completely.  Freely.  For Jesus’ sake.  Now, it is never too late.  Take Mary as your model from this day forward.  If you were not chaste then, be chaste now. 

            What other virtues should we imitate of Mary?  How about humility?  She never puts herself first.  She puts God first, her Son first, and so us first.  How about modesty?  That goes along with her chastity.  Her behavior, her raiment, her lack of vanity.  Her beauty is, as Peter will later write, not to be found in braided hair or splendid jewelry or clothing, but in the hidden person of the heart, the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:3-4).  How about her longsuffering, patience, and courage?  In the face of people, who talk: “She’s pregnant!  And she and Joseph are only betrothed!  Whose child is it?  Her parents must be so ashamed!”  In the face of Joseph’s determination to put her away quietly.  Well, at least he doesn’t want to stone her, as is his right under the Law.  In the face of government compulsion to travel to Bethlehem for a census, for taxes, when here she is, about to be delivered.  No room for them in the inn.  A stable for a birthing room.  A manger for a crib.  In the face of a midnight flight to Egypt to save the Child’s life, while Herod’s henchmen slaughter every male child of Bethlehem, two and under.  How about her submission to God’s will, undertaking this divine mission to be the God-bearer, the mother of the Savior, in spite of the danger, in spite of the hardship, in spite of the impending heartbreak of it all?  How about her loving care for her husband, Joseph?  For her Child, Jesus?  For His brothers and sisters?  For Elizabeth, John, and Zechariah during her visit?  Etc., etc.  We can never say enough good about Mary.  Mark that, dear Lutherans.  She is the personification of the Proverbs 31 woman, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have some homework tonight.  Read the Chapter.  Now, trigger warning!  I’m about to tell a politically incorrect story about the kind of wife a young man should desire.  When I was in college, my pre-seminary brothers and I would often talk about our desire to find a Proverbs 31 woman for a wife.  We would pray for that.  (Oh, how God has answered my prayers, all thanks and praise to Him!)  Young men, you should pray for that, that if God so wills you to be married, your future spouse is a Proverbs 31 woman.  Somebody like Mary!    

            Then, Mary’s faith.  Of course, her virtue flows from her faith.  It is the fruit of faith.  But look at the extraordinary way her faith manifests.  She believes the angel’s word!  She believes God!  Though she knows how these things work, getting pregnant.  “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34; ESV).  She knows the impossibility of this miracle according to the natural order.  Still, she believes.  She takes for granted that the angel’s explanation is true, the Holy Spirit coming upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowing her, her own Child, the Son of God (note the Trinity in action!).  And she says yes to it.  The whole plan.  The scandal.  The pain.  The cross.  “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38).  She says yes, because she believes that God will carry her through.  She believes He knows better than she does.  She believes that this Child will be her Savior, and the Savior of the world.

            Now, you may be saying to yourself, “That’s wonderful.  Mary is great.  But I’m not.  I know I should follow her example in all of this.  But I haven’t.  And I don’t.”  My friend, that is absolutely true.  What are you to do?  Do not despair.  You know what I’m about to say.  Repent of your sins.  Confess them to God.  Be absolved.  Your sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, and Mary’s Son.  Take her for your example now.  And where you fail, repent, and know that your whole life is covered in God’s mercy for Christ’s sake. 

            Again, do you really think Mary is sinless?  Of course she isn’t.  She needed her Son’s salvation as much as any one of us.  What makes her, then, God’s most highly favored Lady?  Not her own righteousness.  Not her own merit or worthiness.  No, the gracious, merciful, justifying presence of her Son.  And see, in this, she’s actually the icon of something much bigger than her.  She is the icon of the Church.  Which is to say, you!  You, dear Church of God…  you are the most highly favored Lady.  In spite of all your sins and failures.  In spite of all that is messy, and weak, and broken, and wrong in this assembly, and with the whole Church of God in this world.  Not by your own merit or worthiness.  Not because you’re good at being God’s people (you’re no better than Israel in the Old Testament).  But by the gracious, merciful, justifying presence of Mary’s Son, Jesus, in your midst, you are God’s most highly favored Lady.  After all, Christ is present in His Word and Sacrament, with and for you.  And that is to say, you, dear Church, carry the Lord Jesus in your womb.  And where you carry Him, and speak His greeting, babes of God, young and old, born and unborn, leap for joy, rejoicing in the presence of their Savior.

            That is why Mary always and only points you to her Son.  She always and only directs your eyes and your ears toward Him.  As she said to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).  As she sings to us in our Holy Gospel: He is the One who looks on the humble estate of His servant… Mary, the Church, you… doing great things for you and bestowing mercy.  He is the One showing strength with His arm… the arm once affixed to the cross, but now risen and vigorous… scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts, bringing down the mighty from their thrones, and lifting up the lowly, repentant sinners.  He is the One who fills the hungry with good things, and sends those who are full of it empty away.  He helps His servant Israel… Mary, the Church, you… in remembrance of His mercy.  In accordance with His Promise.  So here He is in the flesh, for you.  He was born of Mary for this.  To suffer.  To be nailed to the cross.  To die for you, for the forgiveness of all of your sins.  To be buried in a tomb for you.  To rise again for you, the very flesh and blood born of Mary.  To come to you.  To baptize you into Himself.  To speak Himself into you, the voice of the Man, Mary’s Son.  The Voice of God, the Word of our Father.  To fill you, O hungry ones, with Himself: His body, His blood in the Holy Sacrament.  To give you His eternal life.  His resurrection life.  To raise you, bodily, from the dead, as He is risen, bodily, from the dead.  Receiving all of that, by grace alone, what does that make you, dear Church?  The most highly favored Lady. 

            Mary is a Lady.  You, dear Church, are a Lady.  In the highest sense of the Word.  Follow Mother Mary.  Do as she does.  Believe as she believes.  Women, receive her as your model.  Aspire to be like her.  Men, desire your women to be like her, and encourage and support them in that.  Dear Christian ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, be Christians like her.  Be who God created you to be.  Be who God redeemed you to be.  And like St. Mary, bear Christ wherever you go, singing His praise.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.