Christmas Day

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day

December 25, 2022

Text: John 1:1-18

            “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1; ESV).  ὁ λόγος in Greek.  And “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (v. 1).  That is to say, the Word, ὁ λόγος, eternally begotten of the Father, is the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God.  When God speaks in the beginning (for example, “Let there be light” [Gen. 1:3]), the Father is speaking forth the Son, “by whom all things were made,” as we confess in the Nicene Creed, almost directly quoting our Holy Gospel this morning, and, as St. John reminds us, “without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).  The Father said, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).  The Word of God accomplishes what He says, because the Word of God is God Himself, the eternal Son of the Father.  And all things are created, and all creation is sustained, through Him.  The Father does His creative work by means of the Son; and while we’re at it, let’s not forget the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, who is hovering over the waters in the beginning (Gen. 1:2).  But here, St. John would focus us in on the Son, the Word, ὁ λόγος.

            “In him was life,” John says (John 1:4).  The Source of our being alive (and here the word is not just βίος, as in biological life, but ζωὴ, the state of being a living soul)… The Source of our being alive as living souls is the Son of God.  And the life, the ζωὴ He gives us, John says, is “the light of men.”  And now we’re back to the Son as the Source of light. 

            So, through the Son, the Father has given us this creation, and made us living souls to receive it and enjoy it, and He has given us light, not only with which to see with our eyes, but warmth (yes, even this cold December), and, even more, the light of reason, illumination, what the philosophers and theologians call “the rational soul” (if we were to mash up the Greek word with English, we could say God has given us a λόγος-ified soul, which is all part of what it means to be created in God’s image).  And all this would be enough grace and mercy to demand our praises and thanksgivings for eternity. 

            But God is not content to leave it at that.  He was never content with that.  He wants more.  He made man for Himself, for communion, for relationship, to be the recipient of His intimate and substantial presence.  Even before sin came into the world, God’s earnest desire has always been to dwell with His people.  He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the day.  He spoke with Adam.  He gave Adam gift upon gift, grace upon grace.  When everything went wrong, there, in the Garden… when Adam and Eve fell into sin, plunging all of us, their sons and daughters, into curse and death and eternal condemnation… it wasn’t plan B to become one with humanity in order to save us.  That is His plan A, the eternal plan of God to become one with us, and that is precisely what saves us. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14).  That is, God the Son became flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and literally tabernacled (like the Tabernacle in ancient Israel), pitched His tent, among us.  How?  To use, now, the words of the Apostles’ Creed: He “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.”  And you know that story from last night, from Luke Chapter 2. 

            What happens when the Son of God becomes flesh, when the Word of our Father is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, His Incarnation, His enflehsment?  The Light (the Son Himself!) is shining in the darkness!  Now, not just the darkness of primordial creation.  But the darkness we brought upon ourselves.  Sin.  And sin’s wages: Death.  The devil, the old sly serpent, and his demonic lackies.  The curse.  Where the Light shines, the darkness is eliminated.  And He comes, this Light, to shine His saving rays and eliminate the darkness “far as the curse is found” (LSB 387:3).  That is why Christmas is such a season of joy! 

            But you know, He came into the world… the world that was made through Him… and the world did not know Him.  The Creator comes to His creation to redeem it and restore it, and the living souls, for whom He is the Source of life, would have nothing to do with Him.  If original righteousness is communion with God and faith in His Word, then original sin is rejection of God and unbelief.  Tragically, original sin infects all humanity… save the One who is born apart from the will of the flesh, without the cooperation of a human father to pass along sin, born of a virgin, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

            He came to His own.  That is, the Jews, the children of Israel, God’s chosen nation.  And His own people did not receive Him.  They had their own system of eliminating the darkness.  Their own inner light.  Their keeping of the Law.  Their good works.  They didn’t want God to come and fix what they would not acknowledge was broken.  So the Jews, and the rest of the world (the Gentiles), crucified Him.  They rejected Him to death.  They thought they were eliminating the darkness, but in reality, they were the very tools of darkness, and of the prince of darkness, stiving to eliminate the Light!

            Ah, but they played right into His hands, didn’t they?  The Word became flesh for this very purpose.  To stare the darkness of death in the face, be consumed by it, and pierce it from the inside out with His illuminating and darkness-eliminating rays of Light and Life.  Death is the black hole that swallows up sinners into hell.  But dark death made a big mistake when it swallowed the Light.  It has not overcome the Light.  In fact, it cannot.  For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of Mary, is risen from the dead. 

            And now, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,” to all who have been taken in and swallowed up by the Light, the Spirit of God hovering over the waters to enlighten and enliven, “he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).  He gave us to be born into Him by water and the Word, by faith.  And like His birth, our new birth is not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man.  It is of God Himself.  The Son of God gives us to become sons of God.  Baptized into Christ.  God’s own child, I gladly say it.  God’s Triune Name written upon us in water and in blood: “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” 

            And He sends His preachers, now, to shine His Light upon you.  John the Baptist.  Apostles and Prophets.  Christian pastors.  Not to mention Christian parents, Christian teachers, your brothers and sisters here in the Church.  And what happens?  In His Light do we see Light (Ps. 36:9).  The darkness in your life is dispelled and eliminated.  Your sins are forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.  The Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, so that you are not just a living soul, but a spirit with eternal life, looking forward to the resurrection of your body apart from the passions and corruptions of the flesh.  And you begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, the things of Light: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).  From the fulness of Jesus Christ, your Light and your Life, you receive grace upon grace (John 1:16)… upon grace upon grace.  And you know the Truth: Truth Incarnate in the Person of Jesus, and the Truth inscripturated in the Holy Bible.  Indeed, the Law came through Moses; Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ (v. 17). 

            And now, watch this: You see His glory.  Okay, not with your eyeballs, in the same way that the Evangelist, St. John, saw His glory in the Transfiguration, for example.  You will see it that way, in heaven, and in the Resurrection of the dead.  But you see it even now.  By faith.  In Jesus, as He comes to you.  “No one has ever seen God,” John says, but “the only God, who is at the Father’s side,” Jesus Christ, His Son, “has made him known” (v. 18).  That doesn’t just mean back there and then, at the time of John.  This is the new reality for the people of God ever since the angel appeared to Mary, and our Lord was conceived in her womb.  The Word became flesh… Incarnation!... and pitched His tent among us.  Emmanuel, God with us!  He who put His blood and skin on the line, on the cross, to win us for Himself, is not content with just some distant, spiritual or emotional connection.  No.  He comes down in the flesh and sets up camp right here.  Substantially.  With us.  Because He made us for Himself, and has now redeemed us for Himself, for communion, relationship, to be recipients of His intimate and substantial presence.  And to become one with Him as He feeds us with Himself.  His true body.  His true blood.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Born of the Virgin Mary.  Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. 

            When you eat and drink Jesus, the Light pierces you from the inside out and takes possession of you.  And whosoever is possessed and enveloped by that Light, that one no darkness can overcome.

            Merry Christmas!

            In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.