Isaiah 9:2-7
Luke 2:1-20
When I first went to write this sermon, I wondered how I was to write a Christmas sermon, after Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Today, technically in the church year, is the first Sunday after Christmas but it is also the season of Christmas in the church year. I began to ponder “Christmas” as a day, an event, a season, and asked myself, just what is Christmas? Who is Christmas for? How did we first hear of Christmas and how do others hear of Christmas? Who started Christmas anyway?
I am sure you have heard it before, Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. It is a time when we look for all sorts of things to happen and continue in the world. We look for the peace, with the birth of the Prince of Peace. We look for our hopes for the world, our families and ourselves, to be fulfilled by the God incarnate, Jesus.
The Israelites looked for a savior to be born and one was. A savior for all of creation, the Son of God is sent by the Father in heaven. The Son to become God of flesh, in the womb of the Virgin Mary and be born. The Nicene Creed says that Jesus Christ is “…the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all the ages, [God from God,] Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father, through whom all things were made.”[1]
So, we have the setup, of who Jesus is in relation to creation and to God the Father. Buy why, why is there a Christmas that we celebrate? Just what is it that Emmanuel did for us? Again from the Nicene Creed, it says, “For us human beings and for our salvation he came down from the heavens, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became a human being. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death, and was buried.”[2]
The good news of the birth of a Savior, one that does so much for us, is what we celebrate today. When Jesus was born, the announcement first came from an angle, to shepherds that were in the field with their flock. You may have heard that God does and uses the unlikely and this day is no different.
I heard it said recently that we might be able to equate the status of shepherds at the time of the birth of Jesus to some of the lowliest of people, at least in the eyes of other humans. Have any of you ever been to a truck stop? There are all sorts of people that come and go through truck stops, and on first look, not all would be considered the cream of the crop. Not where a parent would want their child to find a perspective spouse. A shepherd was not even considered this high of stature. They were the people of the truck stop that were banned from even going to a truck stop.[3] Now that is really really lowly. The birth of God incarnate, in the lowliest of places, a manger, in the humblest form, born of a virgin of all things and announced to the most unlikely, shepherds.
Yes, God does not always use the obvious to get God’s will accomplished or to announce God’s will or actions. The shepherds are told of the birth and they go and see for themselves and then tell others. The unlikely, announcing the unlikely, to a people unwilling to know Jesus the Christ. If Jesus would come today, would we be willing to believe that he has come again? Especially if the unlikely are the ones to announce the coming.
Where do we look for Jesus today? Maybe someone looks up to the sky to see the Son. How about in nature? Nothing is made without the Son, who is Jesus the Christ. Surely Jesus is in the nature that surrounds us. Take a moment to do something that is a little uncomfortable. Look deep into the eyes of someone sitting next to you. Look, can you see Him? There Jesus is, in the unlikely again, your neighbor. In our baptism, we invite a change to happen. Jesus then seizes the opportunity to work upon us. He never forces Himself upon us, but waits for an invitation. Sometimes the invitation is simply, the willingness to listen to another person speak of Jesus.
When we speak of Jesus, we do so based upon the foundations found in the scriptures. The Son is then presented to others, cradled in the scripture, humbly for all to see, to be touched and experience the incarnate Son of God. He came into the world announced by the unlikely, in an unlikely way, for the unlikely. Not for the righteous but for the sinners.
The unlikely are likely to be used by God. There is a boy who grew up in a non-churched home. He grew up to be an atheist, who only knew Jesus Christ as a swear word. At the mention of God, he would cringe. The pledge of allegiance’s use of God offended him. The words of “In God We Trust” on the currency irked him to no end. Over many encounters with others, who carried the word of God in the cradle of scripture, he became changed. It was not that he changed but he was changed, his clay self was reshaped to be a disciple and evangelist for Jesus Christ. The impact of Jesus, as told by the unlikely can have significant impact. I should know, I was that un-churched, infuriated, irked person who hated hearing about God and only knew how to say Jesus Christ, when swearing about something.
So, back to my opening of the sermon today, and a story I read.
Who Started Christmas?
This morning I heard a story on the radio of a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable, and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year. Overwhelming pressure to go to every party and every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.
Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car, dragging her two kids in with her and all their bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn’t take it anymore and loudly stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.”
From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, “Don’t worry! We already crucified Him.” For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Don’t forget this year to keep the One Who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
As the unlikely, go and proclaim the unlikely to all you see. Today a savior has been born unto us, Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, the only Son of God, begotten not made. Whose birth, suffering and death is for you and me, so that we may always be joined in Him.
[1] Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 22–23.
[2] Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 23.
[3] http://benbergren.com/sermon-good-news-poor-spirit/, accessed 12/26/2014