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Savior of the Nations, Come
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We are right to consider and speak of the miracle of birth. The fact that a child can live in its mother’s womb for nine months and then emerge and breathe and live on its own is an astounding miracle. We are amazed at how tiny an infant’s fingers and toes can be. Infant eyes are so lovely and bright. Pudgy little arms and legs that make the child look like the Michelin Man can stretch and flex. Who can resist these tiny features? Every birth is miraculous in its own way. Just about every adult has had the pleasure of holding a newborn, and that wonder and joy is multiplied when the child is our own flesh and blood.
Birth and life are exquisite. Perhaps that’s why we feel so tremendously shaken by the untimely death of infants and children. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a pastor is preside at the burial of an infant; the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a man is bury my own son. It seems we hear all too often about children who die as collateral damage in drive-by shootings. Abuse is epidemic. Attacks on schools seem to be a weekly occurrence. And, of course, we would be sinfully negligent to forget abortion. When we hear about such atrocities, we in the community of faith must do more than shake our heads and murmur our disappointment. We must affirm God’s sacred gift of life in the womb, life fresh from the womb, and life even to the moment of a natural death. Life matters. Life is a gift from God. The Light must shine in the darkness of our world and reveal this great truth to us, even when people don’t want to hear it. We must hear again the Word which tells us that God breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve. Life is a sacred gift, and we must remember and honor that gift, teaching our children the value of all life from the womb to the grave.
Such thoughts remind us of the words of our hymn: “Marvel now, O heaven and earth, that the Lord chose such a birth.” The life God created matters so much to Him that our Lord chose to born as one of us. God became flesh to dwell among us. He was born, as St. John tells us in His Gospel, to be the Light who shines in our darkness. We just sang about that Light shining for us and within us:
From the manger newborn light
Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides.
Despite the humble scene of our Lord’s birth, two important factors make our Lord’s birth a singular, unique event: Jesus was born of a virgin mother, and He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. The angel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” And so “the Word became flesh;” this child is both God and man, born to be Emmanuel: God with us in flesh to dwell among His people.
Not by human flesh or blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh—
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.
This exquisite birth of our Lord serves as a marvelous sign for all time that God acts in a unique way in the coming of Jesus. In His unique conception and humble birth, and in all His life upon earth that follows, God works to bring His redeeming and saving power to His creation. God became one of us, but without sin, in order to redeem each of us. His birth pushes us onward to behold His ministry—His preaching, teaching, and wondrous miracles—and then to behold His death and resurrection. This Jesus comes as the Savior of mankind, and in His coming, God acts purposefully to save us from our sins.
This Advent season, let us marvel at this profound sign which God has displayed for us. The virgin birth proclaims that Christ has come as the Father’s greatest Word of love. In the virgin birth, in our Lord’s cross and His resurrection, God expresses His love completely. As we just sang:
For you are the Father’s Son
Who in flesh the vict’ry won.
By Your mighty pow’r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.
That is what He came for; that is what He does. He comes to us in flesh, and forgiveness is won; salvation is fulfilled; eternal life is given. Knowing that we are powerless to live as He commands, knowing we are powerless to earn His favor, God requires nothing more than what His Son came to earn and win for us.
That is good news—news that we need to share until all people know of it and believe it. We must move beyond simply observing God’s sign; we must tell our neighbors about it. Christ, the “Savior of the nations,” is coming to give us the gift of life, and we must sing for joy to all the world. Just as the shepherds do when they hear the angel’s song, let us make known abroad what God has revealed to us: Jesus is coming! And so we cry out:
Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Your home!
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.
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