Sermon for Christmas Eve morning, December 24,
2023
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward mankind.” Amen.
Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from
Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first census taken
while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3And
everyone went to register, each to his own town. 4And Joseph also went up from
Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judea, to the town of David, which
is called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and family line of
David. 5He went to be
registered with Mary, his wife, who was pledged to him in marriage and was
expecting a child. 6And so it
was that while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her
firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
8There were in the same country shepherds staying out in the
fields, keeping watch over their flock at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
terrified! 10But the angel
said to them, “Do not be afraid. For behold,
I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: 11Today
in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you:
You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly, there was with the
angel a multitude from the heavenly army, praising God and saying, 14“Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” 15When the angels went away from
them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Now let’s go to Bethlehem
and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to
us.” 16So they hurried off
and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they
told others the message they had been told about this child. 18And all who heard it were amazed
by what the shepherds said to them. 19But
Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen,
which were just as they had been told. (EHV)
The signs were there
for you.
Beloved in the Lord,
We don’t
rely on it so much anymore, but when travelling someplace unfamiliar years ago,
it was common to ask for detailed directions including landmarks and signs we
might watch for. Today, with
smartphones, we usually just put in the address of where we are going to and
the computer keeps us heading to that location, even recalculating if we should
miss a turn. However, years ago, you
would be told something like: go five miles south of town, take a right on the
second asphalt road you come to, then go a half mile past the second cross road
until you see the red barn with three cement stave silos on your right, and the
place you are looking for is the next farm on the left with a large oak tree
right in front of the house. Even if you
didn’t have road signs, you had those landmarks to guide you. Forty some years ago, I made numerous trips
and delivery runs with just such directions.
Our God didn’t want any of us to miss out on
the way to heaven. Therefore, in His
infinite wisdom, God gave us signs and landmarks to watch for so that we would
recognize the Savior and by faith receive our entrance into eternal glory. In our text this morning, we see that The
signs were there for you.
Now, Caesar didn’t realize he was working for
God’s plan, but the Lord used that pagan ruler’s ambitions to issue an edict
that would fulfil the prophecy God had given through Micah: “But you,
Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, from you,
will go out the one who will be the ruler for me in Israel.” (Micah 5:2) There was no other earthly reason for Mary
and Joseph to be in Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth, but God leaves nothing to
chance so that you and I, and even the sceptic, can see the sign.
Likewise, The Lord made sure that the man
chosen to marry the mother of the Savior came from David’s line, so that the
newborn Christ Child would not only be from David’s bloodline through Mary, but
in the eyes of the world would be a legal descendant of David because the
presumed father, Joseph, was also in the Davidic line. No adoption was necessary because with Joseph
and Mary betrothed to each other, the legality of their marriage was already
complete before Jesus’ birth.
However, so that there would be no doubt in our
minds about the Father of this Child, we have the eyewitness testimony of the
angel sent to Mary, as well as Joseph’s intent to divorce her when he learned
of her pregnancy, but that might still be suspect if God had not prophesied
through Isaiah in response to King Ahaz who refused to ask God for a sign. The prophet said, “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a
son and name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Again, God provided the sign so that we would know without any doubt
that Jesus is the promised Messiah sent to save us all from our sins.
Isaiah also prophesied that there would be
witnesses to the birth of our Lord: “The voice of your
watchmen—they lift up their
voices. Together they shout for joy,
because with both eyes they will see it when the Lord returns to Zion.” (Isaiah 52:8) The
shepherds keeping watch over their flocks that night rejoiced to see the
angel’s announcement was true. Every
detail given by that herald of the Lord Almighty was right there for those
ordinary men of Israel to verify as a sign for you and me that Mary’s firstborn
is the Savior of the world God had long promised.
As they returned to their flocks that night,
and in the days following, those shepherds testified to everyone they met what
they had seen and heard from the heavenly host: “Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” Likewise, “Mary treasured up all these
things, pondering them in her heart.”
The good doctor, Luke, who wrote this Gospel account took great pains to
interview many of the people who had known Jesus during His earthly life. Mary, obviously, was eyewitness number one,
but who knows whether Luke was able to interview even those ordinary shepherds
or some of the villagers who heard their testimony.
There was nothing secret about Jesus’
birth. Likewise, there was nothing kept
secret about Jesus’ life of perfect obedience that is credited to each of us by
faith, and there was nothing secret about the cruel treatment and abuse Jesus
endured before suffering the death of the cross (every aspect of which was
prophesied in Isaiah and the Psalms) so that you and I are counted holy in the
only court that matters, the Judgment Seat where our Savior, now ruling all
things from heaven, will render His verdict for everyone on the day He returns
in glory with all His angels proclaiming His return and then gathering in the
harvest of souls to be sifted and sorted, the elect who have been brought to
faith in Christ Jesus being gathered into the mansions of heaven, and those who
rejected the Son tossed into the eternal fires of hell.
The Lord has given us signs and landmarks that
tell the story of His love for us, so that we could see what Jesus meant when
He said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through
me. If you know me, you would also know
my Father. From now on you do know him
and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
Every detail of Scripture was recorded so that you could know the way of
salvation. As St. John reported on the
work and life of Christ, he wrote, “Jesus, in the presence of his disciples,
did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)
On that night almost two thousand years ago,
under the light of the glory of God, an angel announced Good News to a group of
shepherds out in the fields. He gave
them precise directions with landmarks and signs to see the Savior, and after
seeing and believing, “the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had
been told.” Isaiah likewise
prophesied of every herald who tells a friend or neighbor of all Jesus has
done: “How beautiful on the
mountains are the feet of a herald, who proclaims peace and preaches good news,
who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” (Isaiah 52:7)
There is one more sign that God put on you
personally so that you can be sure that Jesus lived and died so that you are
forgiven of all sin, and that it is God’s will to save you. In our epistle lesson from Titus we read, “He saved us through the
washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6)
In Baptism, God had his called messenger put
the Lord’s indelible mark of adoption and fatherhood on you. The pastor made the sign of the cross over
your forehead and your chest as a sign that the Lord God of heaven and earth has
redeemed you as His own precious child that He personally laid down His life on
a cross to save. Just as we read in the
Revelation that the angel “called out with a loud voice to the four angels
who were given power to harm the earth and the sea. He said, ‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or
the trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of God’s servants.’”
(Revelation 7:2-3)
Dear friends, as we remember and celebrate this
momentous birth of the Christ Child, Jesus, remember that God sent His Son and
set out all these signs and markers for you personally, so that by faith you
would be delivered from everlasting torture wandering lost in the wilderness of
hell’s prison. See the signs God told us
to look for. Treasure this birth and the
baptism by which God adopted you as His own beloved child for Jesus’ sake. The signs are there for you. Amen.
The peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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