Christmas Day

This past Tuesday our St Paul Pre School had their Children’s Christmas program.  Those of you who do Facebook might have noticed the picture I posted of the line-up of half sized shepherds, an inn keeper, Mary, Joseph, a few wise men, and of course a handful of angels (one of whom happened to be my daughter).  Tori had been practicing her “Glory to God in the highest” line and had it down pat.  She was ready with it right on cue.  All the kids did a great job.  As the children finished their program everyone was smiling and appreciative of their effort.

Our experience of angels usually has mostly to do with that sort of a thing, children dressed up and wearing a white robe, a gold garland around their heads. 

The Shepherds on the hillside outside Jerusalem had an experience that was much different. Instead of cute kids in costume, they saw the glory of heaven revealed before them.   They witnessed the true power and majesty of the Angels.  They saw them in all their Heavenly splendor and they were terrified.  The shepherds fell on their faces at the sight of only one of these angels so that the angel said to them “Do not be afraid.”

Now… we have considered the majesty of these angels before; that they were powerful and mighty and that they induced fear in the hearts of those who encountered them.  Yet what needs to be remembered and what is of greatest importance is that these heavenly beings in spite of all their power and glory they were only reflections of the glory of that child who way lying in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  The true glory, the true power, the true majesty was hidden behind the face of a child who lie in the arms of his virgin mother.

Last week we talked about the two natures of Jesus – his divinity and humanity, true God begotten of the Father before Eternity and true man born of the virgin Mary.  Today, Christmas Day is a celebration that gift, that miracle of Jesus who is God in our flesh born to be our brother so that we could be God’s children.

John, who wrote our Gospel also wrote Revelation, the last book in the New Testament.  This same Jesus born on Christmas Day appeared to John to give to him this Revelation while he was in prisoned on Patmos.  And there Jesus came to him without the mask.  The resurrected Christ appeared to John and spoke to him with a voice like a trumpet.  Searching to find the right words to describe what he saw John writes,

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.   (Revelation 1:10-16 ESV)

John saw Jesus and fell down prostrate before him.  He beheld the glory of Christ and it was too much for him.  This was he of whom John had written “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  This was the Word who had become flesh.  And John saw him revealed in his glory.

Sometimes when we see the children dressed in their robes, wearing their golden halos, saying their lines we are tempted to see the Christ also in these terms; like a children’s story that warms the heart or brings a smile to our faces.  Sometimes we are tempted to forget that this child in this quiet Judean village of Bethlehem was Christ; that the Angels celebrated not just a baby, but their Lord and God whom they served in heaven before his throne; that he was a king not in just terms of who he would be and what he would do someday, but that he was heaven’s King come to bring heaven’s reign to earth, to men.  To you.

The mission of this Child was to be King.  We see it in his birth, in the way he came into the world, in his conception, in the message Gabriel gave to Mary that “He would be great that He would sit on the throne of his father David and reign over the house of Jacob.”   We see it in the angle choirs who heralded his coming, in the wise men who came to bring him kingly gifts, in the message proclaimed by John the Baptizer and then proclaimed by Jesus himself.  “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Jesus was king and he came to bring heaven’s kingdom to earth.

It is important that we remember the divinity of this child.  It is important that we not forget who he is.  If he is only a child or a baby and not a King and not Heaven’s king we will forget to bow before him, we will forget to fall prostrate before him.  He is coming again on the last day and we will see him as John saw him.  He will look on us with those eyes that pierce like a flame of fire and that mouth that speaks judgment like a sword.  If the angels were terrifying to the Shepherds, imagine the terror of Christ come in judgment on the last day.

But so that we might be ready and well prepared for that day Jesus came first as a child. He came heralded by angels and attended by Shepherds.  He came teaching and preaching about the reign of his Heavenly Kingdom.  He came healing and raising the dead.  He came calling disciples.  He came giving gifts of forgiveness.  But he was rejected, scorned by men and then rejected by God.  He was accused for our sake and suffered for our sin.  He was stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.  He was nailed to a cross to suffer in your place.

This King would have you know that his birth was for you because his death is for you.  Knowing this and believing this means you have a place in his kingdom.  There is no other way.  We can be too engrossed in our earthly kingdoms, We can consider this King as secondary to our other kings.  This cannot be.  There is one King.  And he can be second to none.  He calls you to believe Him and to worship him.

But know this, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  He is a good king.  He is a merciful King.  And he is a loving king.

In Hebrews 4 we read that if Heaven’s King is like me then he is able to sympathize with my weaknesses.

Luther writes “If it is true that God became a man like unto us in all things yet was without sin, it then follows that as far apart as God and man formerly were from each other, namely farther than heaven and earth are from each other, they now belong closely together; therefore no kinsman, however closely related, be they  brother and sister, is as closely related to me as is Christ, the Son of the everlasting Father.  For it is absolutely true if apart from Christ we consider how far God and man are from each other, it will be seen that they are farther apart from each other than heaven and earth.  However, if we reckon in connection with Christ, true God and man we discover that we are more closely related than a brother to his brother; in as much as God the Creator of heaven and earth has become true, natural man; the Son of the everlasting Father has become the earthly son of the Virgin.”

Christ has become like you. This King who sits on heaven’s throne and will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead is closer to you than your closest friend.  He is your advocate before the Father.  He pleads for your forgiveness and for your salvation before the Throne of heaven.  He mentions you by name and he will not let you out of his sight.

Heaven’s King and God’s Only Begotten Son has carried your burdens.  He has carried you sin.  He has carried your suffering.  He carried it through his life from his birth to his death and the journey began on Christmas, when the Christ Child was born, when the King of Heaven came King of the Jews to sit on the throne of his father David, to reign over the house of Jacob, to be Lord of Heaven and Earth.  He is your king and your lord.

On this day we remember that baby born in Bethlehem with all the peacefulness and purity and the stillness of the night of his nativity, but this image is only complete when we remember that this king is heaven’s king great and glorious who came to be our brother, closer than a brother, to die for our sin.

In the name of Jesus.  

Amen.