Holy Christmas Day Infinite in Mercy, Finite in Form Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth we rejoice this day! Amen. In today’s Gospel, “the shepherds went with haste and found… the baby lying in a manger.” Dear Christian friends, The Scriptures make it clear that our God is infinite in every way. Every individual part of God—every single attribute of God—is infinite, that is, without limitation, beyond all quantification, equally possessing no beginning and no end. Thus it is written, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33). And again, “His tender mercies extend over all His works” (Psalm 145:9) and yet again, “from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2). Here in today’s Gospel we have a group of shepherds encircling a manger and staring at a baby. This is Mary’s firstborn son, but that is not all! This is the one of whom the angel said, “The Son of Most High” (Luke 1:32) and again, “of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33). This is God eternal, God limitless, God unbound and uncontainable—now contained, bound, limited by the confines of your human body, tightly wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. He who regards a day to be like a thousand years and a thousand years to be like a day (2 Peter 3:8) now takes a definite beginning so that He might labor and journey toward a blood-filled end (John 19:34). “The shepherds went with haste and found… the baby lying in a manger.” Stated another way, the shepherds found the infinite God now packaged in a finite form. With one eyeful, the shepherds could see in His entirety everything that God is, now that God has “made Himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7). “The exact imprint of the divine nature” now suckles helplessly at His mother’s breast. “The radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrew 1:3) now ingloriously fills a diaper while an umbilical cord dies and dries upon His belly. Yet our God is not satisfied with ancient history, as if His presence among us ended with the birth and death, the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. God teaches us in His Scriptures to look upon the Word and the Holy Baptism and the Holy Communion with the same eyes by which the shepherds beheld the manger of our Lord. Water and Words, bread and wine, these gifts bring us no less of our Christ than what the shepherds could see with their eyes and hold in their own arms. As the manger held salvation forth to the shepherds, God’s Word and Baptism and Communion likewise hold salvation forth for us. It would be impossible for us to arrive at a good understand of preaching and of sacrament without this holy Christmas feast, and without shepherds finding “the baby lying in a manger.” But here we are: infinite God in a finite form. · Where the Word is, there the Christ speaks, not a mere portion of His mercy, but the full scope of God’s mercy, unlimited and overflowing for you. · Where Baptism pours forth, there Christ our Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4) stands immovable, thus making you, not partial participants, but full participants and members and citizens of His heavenly Kingdom. · Where the body and blood of Christ is served from the altar, there the risen, the limitless, and the infinite Christ comes to us, inhabiting a form that we can see and touch and place upon the lip. If this not cause for wonder and great joy, there is none! “The shepherds went with haste and found… the baby lying in a manger.” For as many years as we have repeatedly heard this blessed Gospel of Christmas, should we not continue to feel astounded by what our God has done, and even continues to do in our midst? Merry Christmas, Christians! The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
