Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Eve
Notes
Transcript
THEME: The true story of Jesus’ birth reveals and foretells the reconciliation of God and man and the fulfillment of history in His incarnation and death and resurrection.
GOAL: That the hearer would believe that God truly became man in Jesus to redeem us, and that He makes His manger for us now in the Word and Sacrament.
God Gives Heaven’s Best Gift
“Our Brother is Born for Us”
Fairy tales begin with the words “Once upon a time.” But the Christmas Gospel begins with the words “And it came to pass in those days.” Other versions start off with a simple, “BEHOLD”!
And we can learn from the world around us to expect big things at Christmas. We will never learn from the world, however, where to find these things. The places in which God hides his gifts are completely unexpected. The King who comes to bring peace is a child. His parents are steeped in poverty. His cradle is a cattle trough. The form in which the fullness of God’s glory is ordinary and unassuming. The sacrifice by which he will set things right between heaven and earth is himself.
Because God hides these gifts in such unexpected places, many will never find them. However, for those on whom the radiant light of Christmas has shone, those divine blessings will always be there for the taking.
And the best part? There will be no line in which to stand, and no money to be paid. Even the shepherds get a front row seat to see heaven’s best gift face to face, and completely unafraid.
So, expect big things out of Christmas. Expect God to put them in unlikely places. Expect that when you find them, nothing will stand in your way.
God Best Gift for you — with a tag that says “For You” is His Promise Kept, it’s yours in the Hearing His Announcement. Now God invites us all to see His Gift Revealed.
A Promise Kept
A Promise Kept
Christmas is not about escaping into some fantasy world.
It’s about our life in the real world being redeemed and renewed by the Lord.
It’s about the real Son of God, through whom all things were created,
who entered into His creation as a true and literal baby boy,
with real flesh and blood.
It’s about a first-time Mom giving birth to Him in the humblest of circumstances—in the cold of night, among real livestock and hay and smell.
It’s about the Lord of all taking on the form of a servant and being laid in a cattle trough — a manger — so that He might rescue us from our sin.
There is nothing unreal or imaginary about Christmas, for Jesus is the concrete and tangible love of God come to walk among us.
Christ was born among the animals for us.
Because of sin, we have become like animals—survival of the fittest, self-preservation at all costs, following our basest instincts and desires.
We have all fallen away from God, wanting to go our own way and do our own thing.
In the process, we have become inhuman — like animals.
So in order to save us from eternal death, Jesus, the Son of God, took on our human nature and caused Himself to be placed in a feeding trough.
The One who slept near those working animals came to lift us out of our inhumanity and set us free from the beastly power of death and the devil.
Jesus descended to the depths of our fallenness in order to raise us to the heights of eternal life with Himself. He became like us so that we might become like Him.
In the stable with the animals, we see Jesus as the new Adam,
who has come to restore us and all things to paradise,
to recreate us by His coming in the flesh.
God the Son took our humanity into Himself so that we might be made new in Him.
By His conception and birth, Jesus has sanctified and purified our natures. His incarnation permeates and hallows mankind.
God has greatly exalted us by becoming not an angel or any other creature but a true man, our human Brother.
Christ became one of us so that He might take our place under the Law in order to free us from its damnation.
Jesus’ lowly birth foreshadows the humble life He would lead for us and the shameful death He would suffer on our behalf.
The wood of a manger would later be traded for the wood of a cross.
And just as Jesus was wrapped in cloths in His birth, so also He would be wrapped in cloths in His death—the grave-clothes He would leave behind in His glorious resurrection.
The Son of God was born among us and became man for this very purpose:
to die in the flesh in our place and to shed His blood to ransom and purchase us from the powers of darkness.
He was made to be like us in every way, but without sin, so He could be our perfect stand-in.
As true man, He was our substitute in death; as true God, He paid the infinite price our sins required, which we could not even begin to pay.
Therefore, only in this fully divine man—Jesus Christ—is there eternal life. Only in this child, who was laid in a manger and who is now bodily raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father, is there salvation. Only He could accomplish it. Every other religion is an illusion and a false hope.
An Announcement is Made
An Announcement is Made
The angels tell us of our only real hope: “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
Do not be afraid—do not be in terror any longer of death or of the judgment of God, for your sins are forgiven.
Even the evils and the injustices that have been done to you have been cleansed from you by this holy birth.
Christ the Savior has come to rescue you from the devil’s prison house and to bring you into the eternal kingdom of God.
Light has broken in and shattered the darkness forever. Rejoice greatly in the good news, for all of this is for you! Jesus is born to you, the angels said. He is your merciful King, your gracious Lord.
The angels certainly rejoiced over what God was doing for us.
After announcing the good news to the shepherds, a whole multitude of the heavenly host spilled over heaven’s edge and burst forth with praise to God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The very coming of Christ is a sign of God’s good will toward us, that He wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Only Jesus brings real peace on earth—not temporary peace between people but eternal peace with God.
In Christ, we who were once at war with God are now reconciled and put right with Him. God and man come together in Jesus, because He is Himself both God and man. Those who believe and are baptized into the body of Christ are thereby reunited with God. Truly, Jesus is your Prince of Peace.
And now God want us to see Jesus as,
The Gift Revealed
The Gift Revealed
To reveal the Gift, the angels told the the shepherds what to specifically look for.
“And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
The angels wanted to make sure the shepherds didn’t miss heaven’s best gift, so they gave them a description of what to look for.
As the song goes, we are prone to look for love in all the wrong places; and for that matter, we are prone to look in the wrong places for hope as well.
Or, we have pictured in our minds what hope should look like.
But, the description of “a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths” — RAGS — and lying in a manger — an animal feed box — is unmistakable
You also are given a sign of where to find Jesus.
He is to be found humbly mangered in the Word and Sacraments.
Jesus has told us that His Words are “spirit and life” (John 6:63).
He also said, “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56).
Jesus went on to say, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like your fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:57-58).
You don’t need to go to grandiose reenactments of the Christmas story to know closeness to the Christ Child.
The Nativity is here, because Jesus Himself is here, concretely and tangibly — in the very Word you are now hearing.
These are His Words, and they are “spirit and life”. The Word is His manger, in which His is truly present to bring to you all the blessings of this holy night. There, you are literally given to kneel before Him.
Of course, if all this is the living nativity, if that is the manger, the feeding trough (HOLD UP A BIBLE), then you and I are the animals. But so be it. Let us humbly kneel before the Word of Christ so that our humanity may be eternally restored in Him who is truly human and truly divine.
Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah — our Savior — promised according to God’s purpose and promise, who is God’s agent of salvation for all peoples everywhere. We have heard the announcement and His precious gift to you has been revealed.
Therefore, let us, with Mary, keep and ponder all these things in our heart in penitent faith. And let us with the shepherds glorify and praise God for all the things we have heard and seen in Christ, just as it has been told to us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.