Jeremiah 31:15-17; Revelation 14:1-5; St Matthew 2:13-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

St John’s Christmas Gospel says, He came unto His own, and His own people did not receive Him (Jn 1:11). Its not just wicked Herod. All of Jerusalem rejects Him. For all of Jerusalem is deeply troubled at the coming of the wise men from the East.

The wise men want to know where the King of kings, the Prince of Peace is to be born. They are wise by the virtual of Daniel and his friends. They had prophesied in their country. They rose through the political ranks. And under Nebuchadnezzar the received a dispensation for their freedom of worship as Christians.

These magi are converts, still living in Babylon, now Persia. They, along with all the faithful, awaited the advent of the Messiah. They must have had some of the Torah. For they have Balaam’s promised sign of a star from Numbers 24: I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a star shall rise out of Israel (Nu 24:17). They now see it fulfilled. In faith they traverse the great distance. With trust that the God of Moses has fulfilled His Word and provided a Savior, they risk life and limb, to gather to and worship the One announced.

But for the time being, the star has led them only to Jerusalem. They do not know where the Messiah is. So it seems that they did not have all the Old Testament. Or even all the things written by the time of Daniel. They don’t have Micah’s promise of Bethlehem, even though Micah predates Daniel.

But for those who had the Scriptures, it wasn’t a great mystery as to where the Messiah was to be born. The priests were well educated in the Scriptures. They knew about the thirty pieces of silver and the potter’s field. They were quick to respond to the wise men’s inquiry: Bethlehem. The Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.

Yet none of these biblical scholars followed the wise men to Bethlehem. Instead, they were troubled with Herod, and all Jerusalem. They were not rejoicing. They were raging, plotting, scheming. They did not want to the Messiah and the necessary upset He would bring to their world. To their power.

Herod lashes out with Satanic hatred and violence. It seems outrageous to us, but it was not out of character for him. He was paranoid and fearful. Fear makes men do irrational and dangerous things. Perhaps worse is that Herod did what he did with the consent and approval of both Jerusalem and the theologians. The boys of Bethlehem and their mothers bore the brunt of that wicked rage. Children and the innocent are always the victims of religio-political violence at the hands of the corrupt and wicked.

So those little boys gave up their lives while the fullness of God hidden in Mary’s Babe slipped off in the night. “Sweet flow’rets of the martyr band, plucked by the tyrant’s ruthless hand upon the threshold of the morn, like rosebuds by a tempest torn” (TLH 273:1). What kind of a God is this who lets the babies die? What kind of a reward is this for King David’s city? Where is the peace pronounced by angels to shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields? Where is God’s good will toward men?

The answer is not very satisfying to our intellect: the ways of God are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But it is satisfying to faith.

Why does God command Abraham to slaughter his promised son? Why does He offer up Job to Satan? Why does Christ allow Satan to sift Peter as wheat? Why does He give Paul his thorn in the flesh, his messenger of Satan? Why does He allow these baby boys to die, while His Son sneaks safely away? Why does He allow tragedy and illness, sorrow and pain, threat and even death to befall us?

If you think you know the answer, repentance is needed. Who are you to presume to know the mind of God? If we think we have plumbed those depths, that we understand Him, that His thoughts and ways makes sense, than we have committed idolatry. He is not fully comprehensible and we cannot judge Him. We have no right to make demands or to insist on what seems just to us.

Beloved, we submit in faith and in obedience to His Word, we wait for His goodness to be revealed.

We may not have answers to such questions, but we have what He has given unto us. We have His Word. It is His self-revelation to us. We can go nowhere else. In that Holy Book we are told that in this way, by horror of Herod’s slaughter in Bethlehem, the prophecy from Hosea is fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son (Hos 11:1).

That was the purpose. And it is good. The boys died. Their mothers mourned and refused comfort. Jesus escaped in weakness. But He, the true Holy Innocent, shall be called out of Egypt. He shall willingly lay down His life at the hands of another Herod, according to His Father’s will. His Blood shall avenge their shed blood. His death gives their death, and your death, meaning.  

And louder than the than the voice of the wailing mothers, is the voice like the sound of harpists, the symbolic 144,000 singing a new song before the throne.  

He does not consider it a light or trivial thing that His children suffer so greatly, whether in Bethlehem or now. He has given you incredible promises: in the Old Testament sign of circumcision, which these boys received, and in the New Testament the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, which you have received. You are baptized into His martyrdom, washed in His shed blood, and given the song of the elect upon your lips and in your hearts, for you have the Name of the Father and of the Lamb written upon you.  

This Gospel text teaches us that where Christ is revealed, there comes Cross and suffering. The Christian faith is not safe. Not only the tyrants of this world, but the devil himself, rage and fight against Christ and His Body the Church. You have the prayer of Psalm 54. Your have the promise of Jeremiah 31: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, declares the LORD. There is hope for your future.

What is seen with the martyred innocent of Bethlehem is seen in perfect hindsight, with the eyes of faith. It is not so easy for you or your loved ones, while you are yet living.  Thus do you confess the Cross and Passion, death and resurrection of Christ, even while you see, but do not always understand it, in your own bodies. Or in the burdens and sorrows of those you love.  

C.F.W. Walther preached mightily on this text.  His words are so rich, I quote them verbatim:

“There is a very rich comfort to be derived from the murder of the children of Bethlehem. We can, indeed, be comforted when God allows our dear children to suffer much, for this shows us that God wants to glorify Himself by their sufferings. They, too, become martyrs of Christ, bearing the cross for their Savior. By their suffering, they, too, will enter into glory. When you look upon the sickbed of your dear little one and your weak heart wants to break because of his suffering, do not murmur against your God! He, the all-loving heavenly Father, loves your children as much as you do, and precisely for that reason, He often lets them suffer greatly and bitterly here on earth. They now sow with many tears, but they will one day harvest with much joy. They may now experience great misery, but one day they will be very glorious. You cry over them now, but you will rejoice with them in eternity. Therefore you should say: “Lord, as You will. Your will be done!”

"When we suffer much and are troubled by the thought that God is angry with us, we should remember this comfort from the suffering of the Bethlehem children. God often lays great suffering upon the unbelieving world in wrath for the punishment of its sins, but He also allows His dear children to suffer out of love that He may be glorified in them. The bloody end of the Bethlehem children was not a punishment but a glorious deliverance and the greatest grace God could show them. Therefore, we who believe in Christ cannot doubt God’s fatherly love, even when He lays upon us much suffering in this life. God punishes and disciplines those whom He loves, knowing that one day He will make them glorious. He may let them struggle here, but He will one day bring them to a celebration of eternal victory. Those who mourn now will find eternal comfort” (God Grant It; p97-98).

Thus does St Paul proclaim, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rm 8:18). We wait with eager longing with all of creation for the redemption of our bodies and the revealing of the sons of God.

Death is not the end, dear children. The enemy loses. He does not get Rachel’s children. He does not get us. You belong to Christ. God be praised. He does all things well. For those who love Him, all things work together for good.  

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Isaiah 11:1-5; Galatians 4:1-7; St Luke 2:22-40
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

You heard from the prophet Isaiah this morning. The righteous reign of the Branch. Life shooting forth from death and destruction. David’s kingdom will be utterly wiped out. Yet from the stump of Jesse a new and greater David will come. A King whose rule will affect human history to the end of time. The promised Messiah.

Later the prophet will speak similarly concerning the destruction of Israel’s enemies. The Lord Himself will enact it. He will execute judgment against all her foes. He will tread the winepress and trample down all who oppose Him. All who reject His salvation. The Day of vengeance will come.

In response to this, Isaiah sings: I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that He has granted them according to His compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love. For He said, “Surely they are My people, children who will not deal falsely.” And He became their Savior (Is 63:7-8).

You heard it in the Last Sundays of the Church Year. It is now here. The shoot and branch have come. The advent of the Messiah ushers in the Day of vengeance.

This is the thought of Simeon in the Temple. For what does Isaiah’s song mean but that God is faithful to His people, even when they are faithless? What does Simeon’s song mean but that the Lord is the Master and he the servant, asking to be released? These two are verses of the same hymn.

As it was in Isaiah’s day, so also in Simeon’s. Things were dark indeed. Herod the Great, that despot, sat on the throne. The Sanhedrin were puppet priestly rulers. They were utterly corrupt and evil, in bed with whomever was currently in power. Meanwhile, the Pharisees were oppressing the people with legalism and false law. The Holy Spirit had not sent a prophet in the four hundred years since Malachi.

But now He lit upon Simeon in the Temple. And the Messianic age dawned upon the earth. Simeon may have known of the fuss at the Temple with Zechariah. He may have heard the prophecy we call the Benedictus, which Zechariah spoke at John’s circumcision. But the prophecies accompanying Christ’s entrance into our world didn’t occur at His circumcision, as with John the Baptist. They began here, at Mary’s purification and Jesus’ own presentation in the Temple, over a month later.
Whatever Simeon may or may not have known from Isaiah or Zechariah, by the Holy Spirit he knew this: Mary’s baby Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior who insists that faithless Israel is faithful and will ever be His people. He knew that this Little One is the tender shoot from Jesse’s stump bearing fruit unto the Lord in place of David’s failed kingdom. So also he knew that this Baby was set for sorrow and suffering and sacrifice.

Paul taught the Galatians that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. To be born under the Law means to be born under the curse. Though our Lord is without guilt and the concupiscence of original sin, He is nonetheless under its curse. He eats bread by the sweat of His face. He is returned to the earth upon death.

To be born under the Law means submitting to the Law’s many demands. Early in those demands, chronologically, followed 40 days after birth, that the mother is to be purified and the son presented in the Temple. Though poor, Mary and Joseph bring two sacrifices. The turtledoves and, nestled within the Virgin Mother’s embrace, the Lamb.

The One born of woman, born under the Law, comes now to redeem you, who were under the Law, enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Bound to your passions and entangled in your false worldviews and myths.

But Simeon is a true son of God by faith. He received the Spirit from the Father. He saw through the glass dimly. By the Spirit of wisdom and understanding he was privileged to judge this poor couple coming to do according to the Law, actually bringing in their Son the very end and fulfillment of the Law’s curses and demands. He sees the Shoot come forth and the buds of the Branch beginning. He speaks the truth Isaiah proclaimed. The Day has come.

For what Isaiah says is the essence of the Gospel: God declares that sinners are saints in the Christ. This is why Simeon rejoices despite the terrible sorrow of the Christ and St Mary. It is why he is hopeful despite he terrible state of the world and the Church in which he lives. We are privileged to learn from him.

The Lord’s love is steadfast. His great goodness and mercy are abundant. The Lord who parted the Red Sea and delivered His people from slavery had not changed. Isaiah tells the rebellious Israelites, who hate God and run after idols, that God says, Surely they are My people, children who will not deal falsely (Is 63:8). And in that saying, that holy promise and setting of His will, He became their Savior. He declared sinners to be holy.

His father and Mother marveled at what was said about Him. So ought we. For this Child was destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel. He would bring down the mighty from their thrones and exalt the lowly. He would fill the hungry with good things, but the rich He would send empty away. He will unit Jew and Gentile, reconciling not only man to God, but also man to man. In Him all humanity will be united under the fatherhood of Abraham. He will bring peace.

But what is good for us is terrible for Him. The Messiah, this Jesus, will also cause division. He will be rejected by many. This will be accomplished by His sorrow and suffering and self-sacrifice. And this will also bring sorrow and suffering on His Mother and His followers.

Being the Mother of the Messiah, of God Himself, is the greatest honor bestowed upon any creature, human or angels, in all of the universe. St Mary is the most blessed of women. But it is also a terrible burden. A sword will pierce her own soul, even as, to a lesser degree, we are all pierced by the Law. Simeon sees in this Child the fulfillment of the Law. His death shall bring the Law to its proper end.

But His death also shows us the awful price for our sins. This is what justice demands for what we have done: a man, tortured, naked, dying on a Cross, betrayed and abandoned by His friends, and worst of all, forsaken by God His Father.

This is what it takes to pierce our hearts so that they may be drained of selfish idolatry. Pierced that we would repent and throw ourselves upon God’s mercy.

But His suffering is not only the price of your redemption and freedom, but also the payment of the same. This is the cost of your adoption as sons. He dies in our place. He is Mary’s purification and our ransom. From under the Law He meets and answers the accusations of the Law for us who were pressed down under the Law.

And this horror is not only horror, it is also the Light for revelation to the Gentiles and the Glory of His people Israel.

This is what Isaiah and all the prophets were interested in. They recounted the steadfast love of the Lord which culminates in the Messiah. We learn this from Simeon and it is why we sing his song to this very day. In the Eucharist your eyes behold the Salvation of the Lord, the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem. And though the world and her rulers are corrupt and the Church is by schism torn asunder, God still sends the Spirit of His Son into your hearts by which you cry, Abba! Father!

You are not slaves, but sons. And if sons than heirs.

But no Christian is above his Master. We all go the way He has gone. The way that St Mary went. The sorrows of these days reveal the thoughts of our hearts. They reveal who we really are. They uncover and expose us. We need the constant baptismal clothing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this take heart, dear children. You are not your own. You are His. You belong to Him. He defines you as His people, even as He is your Savior.

Thus we are bold and eager like Simeon, to receive our Lord and await the end. So too do we rejoice in the sorrow of our Messiah that He endured for our joy, even as we are then able to rejoice in our own sufferings. Petitioning our Lord that He keep us firm in His Word and faith until we die. Lord, let us depart in peace.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38; Titus 3:4-7; St John 1:1-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

Forty-five days after they set out from Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness saying, Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger (Ex 16:1-3).

He had just freed them from slavery. He gave them safe passage through the Red Sea on dry ground, drowning Pharaoh and all his army, but they were concerned with their bellies. Better to be slaves and be fed than free and to hunger. Such is the mindset of fallen man. But God gives daily bread, even to all evil people.  

So now He will give them manna, bread from heaven, as their food. So much so its going to be coming out their ears! He says, At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD (Ex 16:7). The Lord’s glory is seen when He acts on behalf of His people. When He is dwelling among them. For them. When He is being their God, even though they are His faithless people.

Far greater, then, for the Israelites was when the glory of the Lord entered the Tabernacle. Moses set up the tent as God had commanded Him. The Ark of the Covenant, God’s throne, was carried into the Most Holy Place behind the veil. One year after they left Egypt, on their first birthday as His people, the Lord God of heaven and earth took up residence among them. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. For the cloud of the LORD was on the Tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

In the midst of the Israelite camp, dwelling among His people, God set up His tent. He who led them by a pillar of cloud during the day and fire by night from the time the left Egypt throughout all the forty years in the desert, dwelt among them. In their midst. In their camp. The Glory of the Lord was with them. When the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, they moved. When it came to rest, they stopped. The Lord led them and dwelt among them.

He was for them. He was on their side. He was their God and they were His people. He would feed them all their days. He would fight for them against their enemies. He would forgive them and make them a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, set apart from all others. A beacon and light in the darkness of this present age, which always seeks to swallow men’s souls. Through sacrifices of meat, grain, oil and wine the Lord would provide meals for them, communion with them as they had fellowship in His holiness.

Still, they could not see God. Most of the people were kept in front of the veil, outside the Most Holy Place. Only Moses could go behind the veil and speak with God. Then also the High Priest could venture into that sacred space, but only once a year, carrying the blood of the sacrifice. Even then, the Lord God was hidden by the cloud. No sinner could see God face to face and live.

John stresses this here. No one has ever seen God; the only God, He who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. This is the Word who was in the beginning with God. The Word that is God. The Son of the Father’s Love begotten. The One by Whom and through Whom and for Whom all things were made. Without Whom nothing was made that is made. He is the One who has made God known. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

What we read so simply as “dwelt” is gloriously more. The Word became flesh and εσκηνωσεν, enskinned among us. The Word set up His tent of skin among us. He tabernacled among us. He no longer dwells in a tent of cloth and animal hides. The Lord who once dwelt with Israel in the desert, during their wanderings, and up until David designed to build a Temple for Him, now tabernacles in human flesh.

I cannot help but wonder if that house of stone and wood, designed by David, constructed by Solomon, but never commanded by the Lord God, was actually a step down. The Lord used to move about with His people. The Temple was permanent. A plot of land. In any case, The Word became Flesh and tabernacled among us as a Man.

And we have seen His glory, writes John. Not in a cloud or fire, but in the face of the Man named Jesus.

Oh, that birth forever blessed,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bore the Savior of our race,
And the babe, the world’s Redeemer
First revealed His sacred face
Evermore and evermore (LSB 384:2)

Far more glorious than the cloud and fire of the Tabernacle was the face which Mary and Joseph and the shepherd saw peering out from the swaddling cloths. Peeking up at them from the manger. Hence Gerard van Honthorst’s Adoration of the Shepherds on your bulletin. The brilliancy of the Christ Child is set against the deep black all around. Light shines from Him into the darkness. The very darkness of our sin, the domain where Satan roams, where death reigns. This darkness has not overcome Him, but it continues to try. Even today.

But in the face of the Christ Child they beheld the Glory of the Lord. Here, in their midst God was made known. They could see Him and not die. They could behold Him and not be undone. Emmanuel. God with us. God for us. With us to die and rise as one of us. For us to die and rise in our place.

And just like Israel of old, only better, we see His glory when He is acting on our behalf. He is our God and we are His people. He is on our side. He fights against our enemies. He tramples not only under His foot, but under ours, sin, death, and the power of the devil. He drowns the devil’s army in the Red Sea of the baptismal font, as Paul writes to Titus: When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us . . .by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. He forgives us and make us His holy people. His New Israel.

And you see His glory, friends, in the setting up of His new and everlasting Tabernacle, not made with hands, when He enters the Most Holy Place through the veil of His own flesh. It is written, Christ has entered, not into holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb 9:24). The Incarnation, Nativity, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ Jesus is the true Glory of the Father which reveals the fullness of His grace and truth.

It was Moses who set up the Tent of Meeting according to the Lord’s instruction. But commenting on this text from Exodus in his Great Works of God series, Valerius Herberger instructs us, “Now the ‘glory of the LORD’ is our Lord Jesus Christ. He, our Savior Himself became the consecrating bishop [of the tabernacle], stooping with His golden censor, His pillar of cloud over the tent of institution; for He wished to consecrate it with the holy water of His grace and presence, cover it with His love, fill all hearts that prayed inside it with His comfort, and gracious visit it with His generous presence” (GWG: Exodus, p591).

He goes on to say, “Such is God’s old manner of bestowing grace that He fills first man’s ears with clear, comforting words and the preaching of the Gospel, and then his eyes with pleasant encouraging tokens of grace in the use of the most worthy Sacraments, that his heart made be filled with consolation and satisfied” (Ibid, p592).

Just as it was for Moses and Israel, so for you. From this Sacrifice our Lord provides a meal for you, communing with you by which you have fellowship in His holiness. From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace and truth, forgiveness and salvation, life and victory, these are the gifts He gives to you when you trust in Him. This is how you see His glory.

Christmas, which began last night, we hear with the children of Israel: At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And now, on the Day of our Lord’s nativity, we rejoice in that word: in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD. For Israel it was the promise of manna from heaven. For you, dear Christians, it is no less.

For this morning the true and living Bread from heaven comes to you. Here you enter into the Most Holy Place, as priests, washed in the regenerating and renewing Holy Spirit by water and Word in Holy Baptism. This morning you hear Jesus, your Great High Priest, the Word made Flesh, as you listen to His Scriptures. This morning you behold the Glory of the only begotten Son as you eat and drink His Body and Blood. And this, my friends, is what Christmas is all about.

We might enjoy “tales of Christmases long, long ago,” but the presents never live up to the hype. We might be frustrated that grinchy governors all around the country who have tried to stop Christmas from coming this year. But it came all the same. It is here, in the Word made Flesh, the Glory of the Lord tabernacled among us in Jesus. He came unto His own, but His own did not receive Him. To those who did receive Him, He gave the right to become children of God, begotten from above, being justified by His grace, becoming heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We may long to see the glorious sight of the Tabernacle or the angelic glory of that first Christmas. But the far greater glory of Christmas is seen by faith in the words spoken, the bread broken, and the wine poured. The greatest glory is what the Lord does for you: forgives all your sins.

Why look for glories of the past, when the Lord of Glory Himself is right here?

This is He whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord,
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word.
Now He shines, the long expected;
Let creation praise its Lord
Evermore and evermore (LSB 384:3).

You join in that “hymn and chant and high thanksgiving” (LSB 384:5) as you blend your voices with the angels’ Bethlehem pasture: “Glory be to God on high: and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (LSB 187) as the Glory of God dwells with mankind. Found in Mary’s Baby Boy, once lying in the manger, now mangered in Bread and Wine, His Body and Blood. For once again, the glory of God is seen when He acts on behalf of His people. Here He is for you.

So, regardless of how merry or blue your Christmas is, whether all your wishes come true or sad memories weigh on your heart, you are here this morning! And by faith in the Son of God, who loves you and gave Himself for you, you see the glory of the Lord. The Word became flesh and still dwells among us, and we behold His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth. A glorious and merry Christmas to you all.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; St Luke 2:1-20
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

We all know the Christmas Gospel. Decrees and shepherds. Angels and mangers. Its familiar to us. Its nostalgic. It conjures memories of fires and hot cocoa. Of children reading from the family Bible in front of the Christmas tree. Even those who rarely attend church, they never miss Christmas Eve and the reading of Luke 2, because, for many, it offers a brief respite, a serene pause from an otherwise frantic and frenzied holiday season. And that’s fine.

Well, its not really fine. Our Lord wants you here every Lord’s Day. He desires for you to be gathered around the manger of His Altar, regularly hearing His Word and frequently receiving His gifts. Not just on the “special” days. Every Sunday. This is how you live from His Advent and Christmas. Not just a few times a year, but weekly. For every Sunday is a little Advent and Christmas, Epiphany and Lent, Holy Week and Good Friday. Every Sunday is Easter and the Ascension and the Return of Christ. Every Sunday is the entirety of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension delivered to you! And He wants you to have it.

But you’re here now. And that’s good.

Even if you are a regular attender, though, there is a temptation inherent in this night and this Gospel text, I think. The temptation to hear it as a fable. A legend. A myth. To just imagine it as a fairy-tale story giving a sliver of Christmas cheer in a bleak world. Like ringing bells giving wings to angels. We half expect George Bailey to show up with Zuzu’s petals.

Luke wants you to be drawn into his narrative, to be sure. But he doesn’t want you to be drawn away from reality and into fantasy. Let’s be clear. Luke, and all the evangelists, are recording history. Real. Actual. History. Luke is especially concerned with compiling an orderly account from direct eyewitnesses. He has carefully done his research about everything from the beginning. He is concerned with precision, accuracy, and certainty. Not nostalgia, sentiment, and fond memories.

Caesar Augustus really lived. He really ordered a census of the entire Roman Empire. This is well known to historians. About the year 6 BC Quirinius was given the governing power of the East. And in about 4 BC a man named Joseph who was betrothed to a young, pregnant woman named Mary, traveled to their ancestral city to be registered.
And because they weren’t the only travelers who came to Bethlehem for the registration, there was no room for them in the village inn. And either no other home had a vacancy. Or, more likely, their families were ashamed of them, and so they were resigned to spend their nights in the stable with the animals. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn Son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger.

Sure, its not a precise, secretarial record. The background information, though accurate, is stylized. All superfluous items recede into the shadows or into forgetfulness. Its not a stenographic account, but the Scriptures are speaking of history. Only, they tell the events in a fashion much like an artist painting a picture. And tonight you are invited to smell the Scriptures. To taste them. Feel them. Experience and participate in them.

So it’s not like reading Dickens or Seuss on Christmas Eve. Or even like reading the ancient histories of Eusebius or Josephus. Scripture, while history, isn’t mere information. The beauty of Luke’s account, and all the Scriptures, is that it is the inspired and inerrant Word of the Lord which is living and active. It not only invites you to behold the story, it actually enfolds you, like a Babe in swaddling cloths, into the narrative!

And what you begin to realize is that far from being an idyllic winter journey of a young couple on their way to their hometown, this Christmas story is one of displacement, loneliness, fear and discomfort. A story of a first time Mother giving birth in a stable without the comfort of a family around her.

And now its not memories of hot cocoa and carols. Its real. Its tangible. And its not that dissimilar to our world today, having gone through our own nine months of extreme uncertainty, fear, and loneliness.

But fear not, for Luke, the evangelist-artist, sharpens the focus. Caesar Augustus ordered the census that caused them to travel. But the Lord our God is the One who controls all things. He uses Augustus even as He will later use Pilate and Herod. The Scriptures record history because our God acts in history. He is the Author of history. He works all things according to His will and Word. The nations rage. The peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed. But He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision (Ps 2; Introit).

And you begin to realize that Joseph and Mary didn’t end up in Bethlehem because of a census ordered by a pagan ruler. Or because its cutesy and nice. Christ is born in Bethlehem because it fulfills the Word of the Lord spoken through the prophet Micah: But you, O Bethlehem Ephratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come for Me one who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2). And Isaiah, For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder.

He’s not wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger because it makes a sweet memory. But because even at His birth He is already preparing for His death. For when He will be wrapped in grave cloths and placed in a tomb. And this is all according to His will and Word. Not happenstance or political maneuvering. The Savior, who is Christ the Lord, choose to be born in the City of David. He who lacks nothing chose to be born in great poverty and wretchedness for us. To be found that night in a lowly cattle shed.

And where are we? Where are you in this story? How does Luke enfold you into the Nativity? You are in the same place you find yourselves now. You, dear Christians, are out in the fields with the shepherds. You are relegated to the outskirts and borders. To the margins of society. Pushed aside for being lowly and despised. But do not take offense at this nor be embarrassed.

For to you the Lord sends His messengers to bring you good news of great joy. And though you are filled with fear and anxiety and trepidation, His Word not only invites you to come to find Him at the manger of His Altar. His Word actually makes this place a Bethlehem, His “House of Bread.” For the Word of the Lord does what it says. It is not nostalgia. Not information. It is living and active. He speaks and it is so.

Its not memories, dear friends, or even mere historical accounts, but reality that here, a multitude of the heavenly host praise God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” The Gloria in Excelsis isn’t sentiment. You are actually joined to the angel choirs, lifting your voice in concert with theirs, as the One born in the City of David, your Savior, Christ the Lord, brings heaven down to earth.

At this great good news the shepherds left their flocks. Their livelihood and safety was no longer their chief concern, but they immediately rushed out to go and see the Little Child, the Lord, the Savior of all.

You too, dear friends, come over to this Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened! For the Lord has made known to you that salvation is not in heaven. It is on earth, where the Savior was not only born for us, but even now, comes to us. Heaven is not some distant place. It is here. It is in this place. Not only tonight, but each and every Lord’s Day. Every time the Word is read and preached. Every time the Body and Blood of the Savior given. Every time the holy liturgy itself brings Christ to you and you to Christ. Come with haste and hear and see and taste this thing which has happened.

And let the nations rage. But fear not. Let the rulers take counsel together. But do not be afraid. For the God who sets the boundaries for the oceans and restricts the planets in their orbits allows Himself to be bound and restricted by tightly wrapped cloths. He who sits in the heavens and laughs at the schemes of men, has, for us men and for our salvation, come down from heaven and joined Himself to us.

He brings peace on earth among those with whom He is pleased. A peace which the world cannot give. A peace that guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. A peace that surpasses all human understanding.

Beloved, such peace is bestowed upon you here in the Pax Domini. The Peace of the Lord which is yours now and always. The Peace that comes from His Body, born of Mary, wrapped in swaddling cloths, nailed to the Cross, wrapped in burial cloths, raised from the dead, ascended and glorified, now come to you here wrapped in Bread. He who was placed into a feed trough for beasts, places Himself into the manger of your hand and on your tongue that we, who have become beastly in our sin, may feed on Him.

This is peace between heaven and earth, between God and Man. In the God-Man Jesus Christ. In His Body and Blood.

No decrees from Caesar can keep you from journeying to this Bethlehem. No governors’ registrations can limit your access. The Lord desires your salvation. He desires you here. To regularly and diligently hear preaching and His Word, which alone creates and sustains saving faith. To hold firmly to all that He has spoken to you. Treasuring it and pondering it in your heart, even as Mary did.

My friends, keep on searching and studying God’s Word, especially in time of turmoil, confusion, fear and anxiety. For the longer you do this, the greater your understanding of His Word will become. And the greater comfort you will find in it. With each passing day, come what may, your faith becomes more sure. So that when the devil and your sinful flesh hound you and don’t let you have a moment’s peace, within or without, your mind is captive to the Word of Christ. And your conscience is at peace.

So that even if the whole world opposes you, rejecting Christ and His Word, you believe and confess that this Child, born of Mary, is indeed the Son of God, the Lord of all mankind, your Savior and Redeemer.

This is not sentiment or nostalgia. This is reality. This is your hope. This is all your life and salvation. Thus do we sing with angelic joy, Glory be to God on high and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

Merry Christmas. In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.