+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
More than 90 percent of Americans reportedly celebrate Christmas in some fashion, and that includes a big majority of non-Christians, such as Buddhists and Hindus, and even those with no religion. In celebrating Christmas, nearly 90 percent of Americans give and receive gifts, despite the fact that barely more than half of Americans celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. Of course, one can still give and receive gifts when celebrating Christmas asa cultural holiday, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that, although one could say the giving and receiving of gifts relates directly to Christmas’s being a religious holiday. The Gospel Reading for the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Day, speaks of both giving and receiving, and the Gospel Reading likewise speaks of God’s grace and His taking the initiative in our salvation. This morning we reflect on the Gospel Reading under the theme, “Giving and Receiving the Word become flesh”.
In the Gospel Reading, the Divinely‑inspired St. John, in a hymn-like fashion and drawing on Old Testament background (for example, Proverbs 8), tells us how the “Word”—that is, the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity—became flesh. The Nicene Creed, which we will confess in a little bit, says that the Son of God “was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary”. So, we also can call today “the Feast of the Incarnation”, as well as “the Christ Mass”. But, Christians really only celebrate the Word become flesh because He was given for all and is received by us who believe.
Although barely more than half of Americans celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, at last report about two‑thirds of Americans say four particular elements of the religious Christmas story reflect actual historical events: that Jesus was born to a virgin, was laid in a manger, had His birth announced by an angel to shepherds, and eventually received gifts from wise men guided by a star. Some 14 percent of Americans supposedly say that none of those things actually happened. In some sense, disbelief in the facts of the Word’s becoming flesh is not all that surprising, given disbelief in the meaning of the facts. Today’s Gospel Reading says the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, or perhaps better the darkness has not “understood” it. The True Light was in the world, and, though the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him—the world neither recognized Him nor was in a right relationship to Him. The True Light came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him—those whom He had created would not enter into fellowship with Him.
Other passages of Holy Scripture similarly speak of us in the world not knowing God by our wisdom, not understanding His wisdom, and by nature even not being able to understand the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 1:21; 2:8, 14). Truly on our own, on account of original sin, we are in the dark when it comes to God, not knowing Him or regarding Him (FC SD II:10). Later in St. John’s Gospel account, the Word become flesh Himself says that people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil, hating the light and not coming into it for fear their deeds will be exposed (John 3:19-20). We may fool ourselves now, but our evil deeds will be exposed in the end, and they will merit us eternal separation from God and the torment of hell, unless we repent. For, when we turn in sorrow from our sinful nature and all of our sin and when we trust God to forgive our sin on account of the Word become flesh, then God does just that—He forgives our sinful nature and all our sin, whatever our sin might be.
You see, although we on our own are not able to accept the things of the Spirit of God, God not only freely gives them to us, but He also enables us to receive them. God loved the world enough to give His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life; whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16, 18). As we heard in the Gospel Reading, that only begotten Son existed before the beginning, a Person distinct from God the Father yet sharing the same Divine essence. In the beginning, all things were made through Him, as the Father spoke them into being. In Him was life, the power to make alive, and that life was the light of human beings, that which enabled people to recognize Him. When the time had fully come (Galatians 4:4), the Word became flesh—born of the Virgin Mary, laid in a manger, announced by an angel to shepherds, and eventually given gifts from wise men guided by a star. The Word become flesh dwells among us, for He is the promised Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:20-23). As from the Tabernacle of old, so from the flesh of Jesus shines the glory of the only‑begotten Son from the Father. No one has ever seen God the Father, but the only‑begotten Son, Who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. In fact, Jesus says later in St. John’s Gospel account that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9), and Jesus’s claim to be one with the Father incited the Jewish leaders against Jesus (John 10:30-33). Ultimately, Jesus was crucified on the cross for your sins and for mine. Because we are flesh and blood, He partook of our flesh and blood in order to die and so redeem us (Hebrews 2:14). In Jesus’s death there on the cross is the glory of God (John 12:23-23). There on the cross is what today’s Epistle Reading called “purification for sins” (Hebrews 1:1-6). There on the cross is what today’s Old Testament Reading called “the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:7-10). There on the cross is the answer to today’s Collect for us to be freed “from the bondage of sin”.
The Word become flesh given for us is full of grace and truth, and from His fullness we receive grace upon grace. As we heard in the Gospel Reading, the True Light enlightens everyone, or at least wants to enlighten everyone. So, God sends ministers such as John the Baptizer to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through them. John preached and baptized, and his successors likewise purely preach the Gospel and rightly administer the Sacraments. Through the Word and Sacraments is given the Holy Spirit, Who takes from Jesus’s fullness and gives to us (John 16:14-15). And, there is nothing we have that we did not receive (1 Corinthians 4:7); even the faith that receives what God gives itself is a gift given to us (Ephesians 2:8-9)! Today’s Gospel Reading says God gives for us to become what we are not by nature: He gives for us to become children of God, born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but born of God’s will. God gives birth to us from above in Holy Baptism, by water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5-7), a washing of regeneration and renewal that saves those who believe (Titus 3:5). John the Baptizer pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36), and, as we sing in the historic Christian liturgy and as several of today’s hymns reiterate (Lutheran Service Book 379, 333, 621), here He is! In the Sacrament of the Altar, God the Father gives us the true bread from heaven, Jesus’s flesh, given for the life of the world (John 6:32, 51). Here is Your God (Isaiah 40:9)! Here is His salvation! Here we see with our eyes and touch that which was from before the beginning (1 John 1:1). Here is the dwelling of God with us, that He may be our God and we may be His people (Ezekiel 37:27; Revelation 21:3). Here is the glory of the only‑begotten Son. Here we partake of His divine nature, as He partook of our human nature.
Whether last night, this morning, later today, or some other time, probably most of us either have exchanged or will exchange material Christmas gifts. We can properly do so, especially as we reflect on “Giving and Receiving the Word become flesh”. By nature we had not regard for Him and could not receive Him, but God not only gave Him to us but also enabled us to receive Him for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Of course, God’s giving us and our receiving the Word become flesh is far more important than our exchanging material gifts. As I wrote in my Pilgrimage article this month, His coming to us is the greatest gift that we can share with family and friends. And, as you can read in my newspaper column tomorrow, His gift is priceless. In the words of our Closing Hymn, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! / Let earth receive her King” (LSB 387:1).
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +