Isaiah 7:10-14; 1 John 4:7-16; St Matthew 1:18-25
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Recently a newly elected national leader caused a bit of a media stir when he visited his constituents in Wisconsin and publicly wished them a “Merry Christmas,” instead of the more politically acceptable, “Happy Holidays.” Coming to his defense was a young, fire-brand host of the largest conservative podcast in the nation, himself a modern Orthodox Jew. “It isn’t the holiday season,” he said, “It’s the Christmas season. Hanukkah isn’t a very big holiday for Jews, even Orthodox ones, like me. We’re just trying to cash in on the commercialization of the season, because, well, Christmas is cool, even if you're a Jew.”
I’m not quite sure how to feel about all of that. But I guess it means that at Christmastime any number of Christmas celebrations and stories are possible. We needn’t even concern ourselves, apparently, with whether this is or that is a proper religious Christmas celebration or not. Its just the “spirit of the season.” But at the heart of Christmas is the Incarnation. And the Incarnation means that God absorbs the entire world and humanity into Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
In light of the Incarnation, I’d like to briefly present to you four different Christmas stories. Their ordering says nothing of their intrinsic value or their religious worth or preference.
The first story is “It’s a Wonderful Life;” the 1946 Jimmy Stewart classic directed by Frank Capra. Stewart plays a man named Goerge Bailey who has given up on his dreams in order to help others. His imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. With a nod to Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born. In the end all those whom George had helped return to help him in his time of need. The family and friends celebrate Christmas, singing a rendition of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.
Now I suppose one could argue that there are Christian themes laced throughout the film. George’s selfless acts of charity and compassion can be seen as expressions of faith active in love. Yet aside from the final hymn and a few quick visual references to an unnamed church, the film is utterly devoid of any clear references to the Christ Child, to the Incarnation, to the fact that George’s earthly problems aren’t quite as desperate as he may assume in light of the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ Jesus. And the whole business of the human form angel earning his wings just further lends to false belief in the minds of American Christians. In any event the film is now widely popular and even replaying in theaters around the city this week. For many, it exemplifies the “spirit of Christmas” and the simple joy of being surrounded by a loving community of close friends and family.
The second story is much older and because of its antiquity it has developed into multiple and often conflicting traditions - which can only be touched upon. What started in Asia Minor as St Nicholas who gave gifts to the poor at Christmastime, has evolved into Father Christmas in England, Santa Claus in the West, and some pious figure called das Cristkind in Germany. If Santa Claus is a Christian figure paganized than das Cristkind is a pagan figure Christianized, which might be worse. But one basic moral thread runs through them all. The idea that Santa Claus will punish bad girls and boys has disappeared, but he will reward those who have performed a minimum of good works. The concept of Santa Claus has become so morally socialistic so that not even decent moral behavior is required to obtain his favors. He gives liberally to good and evil alike. He symbolizes the rise of antinomianism and the demise of discipline and law.
The third story and the second oldest in antiquity, at least as far as being written down, is the nativity of our Lord from the Gospel according to St Luke. This is by far the most popular in western churches and has remained the Gospel reading for the historic Midnight Christ-Mass. A service we’ve never adopted, but ought seriously to consider as a proper counterpart to the Vigil of Easter.
The center of this story is the Christ Child whose conception and birth are prefaced by the miraculous stories of angels and a peace that so embraces the world that a new harmony between heaven and earth is established. The Lucan Christmas story prepares us for the birth of the Christ Child with the events surrounding the miraculous birth of St John the Baptist. An angel announces the coming conception of the Forerunner, Zechariah is struck mute for the sin of momentary unbelief, only to be miraculously given back his speech after naming his son and praises God with a loud voice.
The Mother of the Christ Child likewise receives an angelic announcement and runs with haste to greet her relative Elizabeth. The mothers and their pre-born sons meet and all four respectively greet one another with joy and exhilaration at what has happened and is about to happen. The birth of the Christ Child is itself brought about by God’s providential rule through the cooperation of the world ruler, Caesar Augustus. The pax romana is supplanted by the pax domini as angels come to unknown shepherds with the divine message of the birth of God’s Son, the Child of the Virgin. Christ is God’s King on earth and His kingdom will be built with the nameless poor.
St Luke’s Christmas is what our Christmas is all about. Without Luke narrative church art, Christmas cards, creches with the Christ Child, and angels singing in heaven would be impossible. Luke’s story marks the beginning of Christmas carols. All Christians know Luke’s hymns: “Hail, Mary, the Lord is with you,” “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up for us a horn of salvation from the house of His servant David,” “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” “Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word.” And of course, the first Christmas message, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” And St Luke’s hymn, the greater Gloria, remains a central feature of all Divine Services, “Gloria be to God on high and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Only Luke’s Gospel stops all other Christmas stories, even secular ones, from gaining ascendancy and prevents us from being inundated in a fathomless sea of paganism.
But the fourth and oldest Christmas story is recorded by St Matthew. Read for you tonight. Here you find no hymns and its rescuing angels resemble the Angel of Death from Exodus. Luke’s angels spill over the edge of the heavens and fill the night sky with their chorus. Matthew’s, however, remain safely in the dreams of Joseph and the Magi. All parts of this story suffer from such stark realism that it borders nearly on the depressing.
While Luke’s angels bring good news to the priestly father of the Baptist, Matthew’s angel breaks into Joseph’s fretful contemplation with an explanation of how his betrothed wife became pregnant and exhorts him to not be afraid to marry the pregnant girl rather than divorce her. If the Gospel is good news, this is only good news by stretching the imagination.
Under further consideration the whole scene is melancholy. Joseph, a pious and righteous man, which is Matthew’s way of saying, a good man, learns that his beloved bride is pregnant with a child not his own. How he finds out Matthew does not indicate. Perhaps it was when she returned from her stint as Elizabeth’s doula already showing in her second-trimester. In any case Joseph presumes that the love of his life no longer loves him. His piety is shown in his compassion as he resolved to divorce her quietly. He was a decent and honest man. He would not shame St Mary, but was ready to suffer her shame in himself. He loved her and he thought he’d lost her to another man. He was broken hearted, but he would not stand in the way of her happiness. He would quietly end the engagement so that she could move on, even if he was unable to.
He isn’t told he has to take Mary as his wife. Only, do not be afraid to do so. No one would have blamed him for quietly putting her away, not even God. He still would have been a decent and honorable man. The moment the angel said, Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child in her womb is conceived by the Holy Spirit, he was freed. That meant that she had not been unfaithful; she still loved him. And he could still have and hold her. And Joseph loved Jesus also. An adopted son is no less a son, in any way at all, than a biological son.
But it this doesn’t make Matthew’s Christmas story all rosy and bright with the angelic joy of Luke’s. Just because Joseph and Mary knew the truth concerning the Child in her womb, no one else did. Reality really stops gossip. Just because he was freed from guilt and shame in his own conscience, didn’t mean that he didn’t have to bear reproach from others. Even if they did believe, gossips are always liars. In taking responsibility for Mary and her Child, Joseph was bearing their shame in himself. There is no escaping the Cross. Dirty mind and petty men would snicker at him all his days. They called the Son of God a bastard. When he took his family to Bethlehem or the census there was no room for them in the homes of his family and friends who lived there. Is it not a cozy little tale of a moonlight night in the stable, but a story of family squabbles and alienation, rejection and castigation, all on account of the Christ Child.
Matthew’s next episode is how some Gentile aliens show up at the Jewish court of the murderous King Herod, asking about the birth of the king of the Jews. The naïveté of these pious Gentile scholars almost spells the end of God’s plan on earth. Where the angels announce the birth to Luke’s shepherds and even give them directions to the city to find the Child, the wise men who travel perhaps a thousand miles have no map, but only what seems to have been the Torah or some imperfect knowledge of it, and an unusual sign in the zodiac. Had they known the Minor Prophets though would have known about Bethlehem.
So instead of the cooperative caesar of Luke, Matthew gives us the scheming plotting Herod. The angels do not give the Good News of the Gospel, but instructions as how to escape Herod whose hands are stained with the blood of infant boys in Bethlehem. If Herod would kill his own children, why would he not kill God’s Son? What would Christmas be like if we were only left with a Christmas story like this: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way . . . Joseph resolved to divorce Mary quietly . . . And Herod killed all the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside who had not reached their first birthday. Like is or not, that the first Christmas story in writing.
Celebrating Matthew’s kind of Christmas would not be without value. We’d begin to understand, at least, how the earliest Christians in Palestine and the Roman Empire celebrated it. We would know how persecuted Christians throughout the world have always celebrated Christmas. With Matthew’s Christmas story we learn the true theology of Christmas. It is a Christmastime cliche to say that the Christ came to suffer and die, that the wood of the manger would be exchanged for the wood of the Cross. More profound, perhaps, is Matthew’s message, that our Lord’s suffering did not begin at the Cross, but at His birth, yeah, His Incarnation.
Matthew’s Christmas story seems a little closer to the heart of Christianity as it is on earth. Luke’s is closer to how Christmas is celebrated in heaven. But before you starting throwing away your Christmas trees and creches, Charlie Brown DVDs, or Dean Martin records, just remember that Christmas is about the Incarnation. The Son of God not only takes up our human flesh into His divinity, but by doing so, sanctifies all creation. Enjoy your Christmas celebrations. Be thankful to our Lord that we live in a country where we can publicly wish one another a “Merry Christmas.” There are Christians who celebrate Christmas today under a tyrant who is opposed to Christianity as Herod was opposed to Christ. It may happen here some day. I don’t know.
But when Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecute for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, He spoke both of Himself and His identified Himself with all those who are joined to Him in suffering. He invites you to Himself. This invitation is the purest Gospel, with no threat.
Yes, you may have your own personal Herods right now. Many people celebrate Christmas under a cloud of despondency over the loss of a loved one, because of their own health concerns or another’s, left pondering its true meaning and purpose. That’s okay. In a way, Christmas is the big let down of Advent. We keep hoping and praying for Christ’s return. He hasn’t yet. So we’ll celebrate His first coming again, always with a repentant and longing joy.
Some might ask is there is any joy in Matthew’s Christmas story. Not much. Luke’s is one grand round of celebrations. But there is a note of celebration in Matthew. The wise men rejoiced with exceedingly great joy when they say the star. Suddenly, at that moment, everything came together for them. For us, as for the wise men, there are no angels to help us find Jesus. There are only the Scriptures. We will rejoice, not because we have seen Him with our eyes, but because, like the wise men, we have found Him in the Scriptures. Holy Scripture tells you where the Redeemer is found. Persecution and suffering in your life will tell you that the Redeemer has joined you to Himself. Do not fear to have the Child of Mary as your Savior, for Joseph did as he was commanded, he called Mary’s Son’s name, Jesus, and He has saved you from your sins.
Merry Christmas.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Recently a newly elected national leader caused a bit of a media stir when he visited his constituents in Wisconsin and publicly wished them a “Merry Christmas,” instead of the more politically acceptable, “Happy Holidays.” Coming to his defense was a young, fire-brand host of the largest conservative podcast in the nation, himself a modern Orthodox Jew. “It isn’t the holiday season,” he said, “It’s the Christmas season. Hanukkah isn’t a very big holiday for Jews, even Orthodox ones, like me. We’re just trying to cash in on the commercialization of the season, because, well, Christmas is cool, even if you're a Jew.”
I’m not quite sure how to feel about all of that. But I guess it means that at Christmastime any number of Christmas celebrations and stories are possible. We needn’t even concern ourselves, apparently, with whether this is or that is a proper religious Christmas celebration or not. Its just the “spirit of the season.” But at the heart of Christmas is the Incarnation. And the Incarnation means that God absorbs the entire world and humanity into Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
In light of the Incarnation, I’d like to briefly present to you four different Christmas stories. Their ordering says nothing of their intrinsic value or their religious worth or preference.
The first story is “It’s a Wonderful Life;” the 1946 Jimmy Stewart classic directed by Frank Capra. Stewart plays a man named Goerge Bailey who has given up on his dreams in order to help others. His imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. With a nod to Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born. In the end all those whom George had helped return to help him in his time of need. The family and friends celebrate Christmas, singing a rendition of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.
Now I suppose one could argue that there are Christian themes laced throughout the film. George’s selfless acts of charity and compassion can be seen as expressions of faith active in love. Yet aside from the final hymn and a few quick visual references to an unnamed church, the film is utterly devoid of any clear references to the Christ Child, to the Incarnation, to the fact that George’s earthly problems aren’t quite as desperate as he may assume in light of the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ Jesus. And the whole business of the human form angel earning his wings just further lends to false belief in the minds of American Christians. In any event the film is now widely popular and even replaying in theaters around the city this week. For many, it exemplifies the “spirit of Christmas” and the simple joy of being surrounded by a loving community of close friends and family.
The second story is much older and because of its antiquity it has developed into multiple and often conflicting traditions - which can only be touched upon. What started in Asia Minor as St Nicholas who gave gifts to the poor at Christmastime, has evolved into Father Christmas in England, Santa Claus in the West, and some pious figure called das Cristkind in Germany. If Santa Claus is a Christian figure paganized than das Cristkind is a pagan figure Christianized, which might be worse. But one basic moral thread runs through them all. The idea that Santa Claus will punish bad girls and boys has disappeared, but he will reward those who have performed a minimum of good works. The concept of Santa Claus has become so morally socialistic so that not even decent moral behavior is required to obtain his favors. He gives liberally to good and evil alike. He symbolizes the rise of antinomianism and the demise of discipline and law.
The third story and the second oldest in antiquity, at least as far as being written down, is the nativity of our Lord from the Gospel according to St Luke. This is by far the most popular in western churches and has remained the Gospel reading for the historic Midnight Christ-Mass. A service we’ve never adopted, but ought seriously to consider as a proper counterpart to the Vigil of Easter.
The center of this story is the Christ Child whose conception and birth are prefaced by the miraculous stories of angels and a peace that so embraces the world that a new harmony between heaven and earth is established. The Lucan Christmas story prepares us for the birth of the Christ Child with the events surrounding the miraculous birth of St John the Baptist. An angel announces the coming conception of the Forerunner, Zechariah is struck mute for the sin of momentary unbelief, only to be miraculously given back his speech after naming his son and praises God with a loud voice.
The Mother of the Christ Child likewise receives an angelic announcement and runs with haste to greet her relative Elizabeth. The mothers and their pre-born sons meet and all four respectively greet one another with joy and exhilaration at what has happened and is about to happen. The birth of the Christ Child is itself brought about by God’s providential rule through the cooperation of the world ruler, Caesar Augustus. The pax romana is supplanted by the pax domini as angels come to unknown shepherds with the divine message of the birth of God’s Son, the Child of the Virgin. Christ is God’s King on earth and His kingdom will be built with the nameless poor.
St Luke’s Christmas is what our Christmas is all about. Without Luke narrative church art, Christmas cards, creches with the Christ Child, and angels singing in heaven would be impossible. Luke’s story marks the beginning of Christmas carols. All Christians know Luke’s hymns: “Hail, Mary, the Lord is with you,” “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up for us a horn of salvation from the house of His servant David,” “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” “Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word.” And of course, the first Christmas message, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” And St Luke’s hymn, the greater Gloria, remains a central feature of all Divine Services, “Gloria be to God on high and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Only Luke’s Gospel stops all other Christmas stories, even secular ones, from gaining ascendancy and prevents us from being inundated in a fathomless sea of paganism.
But the fourth and oldest Christmas story is recorded by St Matthew. Read for you tonight. Here you find no hymns and its rescuing angels resemble the Angel of Death from Exodus. Luke’s angels spill over the edge of the heavens and fill the night sky with their chorus. Matthew’s, however, remain safely in the dreams of Joseph and the Magi. All parts of this story suffer from such stark realism that it borders nearly on the depressing.
While Luke’s angels bring good news to the priestly father of the Baptist, Matthew’s angel breaks into Joseph’s fretful contemplation with an explanation of how his betrothed wife became pregnant and exhorts him to not be afraid to marry the pregnant girl rather than divorce her. If the Gospel is good news, this is only good news by stretching the imagination.
Under further consideration the whole scene is melancholy. Joseph, a pious and righteous man, which is Matthew’s way of saying, a good man, learns that his beloved bride is pregnant with a child not his own. How he finds out Matthew does not indicate. Perhaps it was when she returned from her stint as Elizabeth’s doula already showing in her second-trimester. In any case Joseph presumes that the love of his life no longer loves him. His piety is shown in his compassion as he resolved to divorce her quietly. He was a decent and honest man. He would not shame St Mary, but was ready to suffer her shame in himself. He loved her and he thought he’d lost her to another man. He was broken hearted, but he would not stand in the way of her happiness. He would quietly end the engagement so that she could move on, even if he was unable to.
He isn’t told he has to take Mary as his wife. Only, do not be afraid to do so. No one would have blamed him for quietly putting her away, not even God. He still would have been a decent and honorable man. The moment the angel said, Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child in her womb is conceived by the Holy Spirit, he was freed. That meant that she had not been unfaithful; she still loved him. And he could still have and hold her. And Joseph loved Jesus also. An adopted son is no less a son, in any way at all, than a biological son.
But it this doesn’t make Matthew’s Christmas story all rosy and bright with the angelic joy of Luke’s. Just because Joseph and Mary knew the truth concerning the Child in her womb, no one else did. Reality really stops gossip. Just because he was freed from guilt and shame in his own conscience, didn’t mean that he didn’t have to bear reproach from others. Even if they did believe, gossips are always liars. In taking responsibility for Mary and her Child, Joseph was bearing their shame in himself. There is no escaping the Cross. Dirty mind and petty men would snicker at him all his days. They called the Son of God a bastard. When he took his family to Bethlehem or the census there was no room for them in the homes of his family and friends who lived there. Is it not a cozy little tale of a moonlight night in the stable, but a story of family squabbles and alienation, rejection and castigation, all on account of the Christ Child.
Matthew’s next episode is how some Gentile aliens show up at the Jewish court of the murderous King Herod, asking about the birth of the king of the Jews. The naïveté of these pious Gentile scholars almost spells the end of God’s plan on earth. Where the angels announce the birth to Luke’s shepherds and even give them directions to the city to find the Child, the wise men who travel perhaps a thousand miles have no map, but only what seems to have been the Torah or some imperfect knowledge of it, and an unusual sign in the zodiac. Had they known the Minor Prophets though would have known about Bethlehem.
So instead of the cooperative caesar of Luke, Matthew gives us the scheming plotting Herod. The angels do not give the Good News of the Gospel, but instructions as how to escape Herod whose hands are stained with the blood of infant boys in Bethlehem. If Herod would kill his own children, why would he not kill God’s Son? What would Christmas be like if we were only left with a Christmas story like this: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way . . . Joseph resolved to divorce Mary quietly . . . And Herod killed all the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside who had not reached their first birthday. Like is or not, that the first Christmas story in writing.
Celebrating Matthew’s kind of Christmas would not be without value. We’d begin to understand, at least, how the earliest Christians in Palestine and the Roman Empire celebrated it. We would know how persecuted Christians throughout the world have always celebrated Christmas. With Matthew’s Christmas story we learn the true theology of Christmas. It is a Christmastime cliche to say that the Christ came to suffer and die, that the wood of the manger would be exchanged for the wood of the Cross. More profound, perhaps, is Matthew’s message, that our Lord’s suffering did not begin at the Cross, but at His birth, yeah, His Incarnation.
Matthew’s Christmas story seems a little closer to the heart of Christianity as it is on earth. Luke’s is closer to how Christmas is celebrated in heaven. But before you starting throwing away your Christmas trees and creches, Charlie Brown DVDs, or Dean Martin records, just remember that Christmas is about the Incarnation. The Son of God not only takes up our human flesh into His divinity, but by doing so, sanctifies all creation. Enjoy your Christmas celebrations. Be thankful to our Lord that we live in a country where we can publicly wish one another a “Merry Christmas.” There are Christians who celebrate Christmas today under a tyrant who is opposed to Christianity as Herod was opposed to Christ. It may happen here some day. I don’t know.
But when Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecute for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, He spoke both of Himself and His identified Himself with all those who are joined to Him in suffering. He invites you to Himself. This invitation is the purest Gospel, with no threat.
Yes, you may have your own personal Herods right now. Many people celebrate Christmas under a cloud of despondency over the loss of a loved one, because of their own health concerns or another’s, left pondering its true meaning and purpose. That’s okay. In a way, Christmas is the big let down of Advent. We keep hoping and praying for Christ’s return. He hasn’t yet. So we’ll celebrate His first coming again, always with a repentant and longing joy.
Some might ask is there is any joy in Matthew’s Christmas story. Not much. Luke’s is one grand round of celebrations. But there is a note of celebration in Matthew. The wise men rejoiced with exceedingly great joy when they say the star. Suddenly, at that moment, everything came together for them. For us, as for the wise men, there are no angels to help us find Jesus. There are only the Scriptures. We will rejoice, not because we have seen Him with our eyes, but because, like the wise men, we have found Him in the Scriptures. Holy Scripture tells you where the Redeemer is found. Persecution and suffering in your life will tell you that the Redeemer has joined you to Himself. Do not fear to have the Child of Mary as your Savior, for Joseph did as he was commanded, he called Mary’s Son’s name, Jesus, and He has saved you from your sins.
Merry Christmas.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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