Sermon for 12/25/23: The Nativity of Our Lord

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The Child Is Born
Isaiah 9:6-7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jerusalem was in trouble, and the whole nation with her. The wrath of God, a terrible punishment, was hanging over them. But in the midst of the guilt and distress of the people of God, a voice was heard, gentle and mysterious, but full of confidence. That voice announces deliverance through the birth of a divine Child. The promise will not be fulfilled until seven hundred years later. But so deeply is the prophet immersed in the thoughts of God that he speaks of the future as he already sees it: “For to us a child is born...” What one day will be is already there in the sight of God, sure and certain. And it is not just something that will happen one day, but is already real for the prophet and his generation, and indeed, for all generations: “For to us a child is born...” No mere man can speak like that on his own.

But how can we, who do not even know what will happen tomorrow, understand that someone could see hundreds of years into the future? Those times were no more certain than they are today. Only the Spirit of God could enable such a thing. But the voice of this prophet was joined by other prophetic voices; it is heard still today in the joyful celebration of congregations like ours: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

This is beyond all human understanding: the birth of a child brings to all mankind salvation and deliverance. What kings, philosophers and artists, religious leaders and moral teachers have labored for in vain is brought about by the birth of a Child. A Child puts to shame the wisdom and efforts of the strong. A Child, born to a human mother and yet the Son of God, is the secret of the salvation of the world. All that is past and all that is yet to come is encompassed here. The unending comfort of the almighty God comes to us humbly, in the form of a Child. That this Child is born for us, that He is given to us; that this Child is God’s Son; that this Child is Emmanuel, God with us in flesh; that we know Him and have Him and love Him; that we are His and He is ours—this means that now our lives depend on Him alone.

But how shall we deal with such a Child? Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard or too proud to fold in prayer in the sight of this child? Have our heads become too full of serious thoughts and problems that we cannot bow our heads in humility before the wonder of this Child? Can we not forget, at least for now, all our stress and struggles, our inflated sense of importance, and for once humbly worship this Child as did the shepherds and the Magi? Can we not be like the aged Simeon, who took the Child in his arms and saw the fulfillment of all his waiting, and in this moment recognize the fulfillment of our lives?

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder...” How strange that such a responsibility should lie upon the weak shoulders of a new-born Child! However, this one thing we know: these shoulders will one day bear the weight of the whole world. With the cross, all the sin and sorrow of this world will be laid upon those shoulders. But His authority will remain. He will not break under the burden; He will see it through triumphantly! And the government that lies upon the shoulders of this Child is the patient bearing of our burden of sin and guilt. The bearing of that burden was already there in the manger, where the eternal Word of God took to Himself human flesh and bore it. It is precisely in the lowliness and weakness of the Child that this takes place. And that is also the nature of His governance: He receives the humble and the lowly, sinners all, bearing their burden; but He rejects and brings to nothing the proud, the high and mighty, the self-righteous.

But where do we find the throne and kingdom of the Child? It is present with Him in His Word and Sacraments, graciously ruling and governing His Church, among His faithful worshipers. In His kingdom, Jesus rules with “justice and righteousness.” His justice does not leave believers untouched. On them He executes His strongest judgment, and those who are truly His people do not seek to avoid that judgment. Instead they bow before it, because Jesus can grant righteousness only when He has judged sin. His kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, but the strength of His kingdom is that it rests on justice and righteousness that is divine. And this righteous kingdom will continue because it was established in the birth of this Child, the Son of God.

We are called to this kingdom which we find in the Church, with those who believe the Holy Word and cling to the Sacraments of Christ. Here in this Child we see our Savior and Deliverer, the One who gives us a new life of love. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this,” the prophet tells us. God is His own guarantee that this kingdom shall remain forever. In the end, it will defeat all resistance, even sin and death itself. God Himself lays His plans and then fulfils them. And He wants us to be with Him, not by compulsion, but by faith. “Immanuel, God with us:” this is the mystery of this holy day. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given!” Thanks be to God for this precious gift of life! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.