“Let’s Keep the Joyful Christmas Celebration Going!”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
387:2)
Old Testament Reading.....................................................
Isaiah 61:10-62:3 (esp. 61:10)
10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he
has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the
robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a
beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Prologue: Well, another Christmas has come and gone … or so it
would seem as we look around us. The after-Christmas clearance sales have
pretty much eliminated all Christmas-specific stock from store shelves.
Many people have already removed and stored away their outside Christmas
decorations. The garbage trucks have collected much discarded Christmas
wrappings, ribbons, and paper and plastic plates and cups. Radio stations
have stopped (or at least greatly reduced) playing what they consider to be
Christmas music and television stations have stopped showing the sappy
Christmas movies that illustrate and promote the world’s idea of Christmas
peace, hope, and joy. And, family and friends who came or went “over the
rivers and through the woods” to visit loved ones have returned home
“bearing gifts from afar.”
A common problem some people (myself included) now struggle with
might be referred to as “Post-Christmas Emotional Disorder.” That’s the
depressive sad feeling resulting from the extremely massive surge of
Christmas advertisements, sales, parties, radio music, television shows, and
decorations that began around Thanksgiving and abruptly ended this past
Friday, December 26.
You see, the secular world in which we live would have us believe
that the Christmas season began sometime last summer and ended with
Christmas Day. We in the church, however, realize that what precedes
Christmas Day (especially Advent) is in fact preparation for the big
celebration event. That is, the Christmas season actually began on December
25 and now continues in a grand way for “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
leading up to “The Epiphany of Our Lord” … and lingers on throughout the
Epiphany season that concludes with Transfiguration Sunday followed by Ash
Wednesday, Lent, and Easter.
So, what can we do to battle that disorder that a wrong worldview
of things largely causes? Today’s Old Testament Reading offers a simple and
yet meaningful encouragement from the prophet Isaiah, namely, …
“Let’s Keep the Joyful Christmas Celebration Going!”
Do you recall the Third Sunday in Advent two weeks ago (the
so-called “Pink-Candle Sunday”) when we temporarily stepped out of the
mournful penitential preparation for Christmas and looked ahead to the
joyful celebration of Christmas that was then rapidly approaching? Today’s
Old Testament Reading overlaps a portion of the Old Testament Reading for
that Third Sunday in Advent. Two weeks ago we were looking forward with
growing excitement to the Christmas celebration that we’re now experiencing.
What we were alerted to then and are now realizing is that …
I. God’s Gospel Message Dominates. (61:11)
11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is
sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
No matter what problem, predicament, difficulty, or dilemma
confronts you, God always has the last word. Whether it’s physical illness,
injury, or infirmity; emotional burden, distress, or anxiety; relational
difficulties, disruption, or dissolution; or spiritual fear, fright, or
uncertainties; God has the last word. And that last word is what He gave
you in your Baptism: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you
by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with
you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk
through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isa
43:1-3 ESV) He gives you that merciful and gracious last word in the
reading and hearing of His Holy Word, the reflection upon Holy Baptism, the
declaration of Holy Absolution, and the spiritual blessings that come
through the proper partaking of Holy Communion.
Even as you do today, so also the Old Testament Israelites faced
very troublesome times. “For the Jews of Isaiah’s day, Jerusalem would be
destroyed and God’s people led away captive. But in God’s good time, they
would return. Beyond that return, further into the future, the Messiah
would come and proclaim the good news of the gospel.” (John A. Braun in
People’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing
House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 336f.)
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they faced His righteous anger’s
severe reaction that resulted in being expelled from the Garden of Eden and
made to struggle with life’s ugly difficulties. But God reassured them of
His lovingkindness and tender mercy when He declared to Satan: “I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her
offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen
3:15 ESV)
Your daily rebellion against God with your sinful thoughts,
desires, words, and deeds make you deserving of His righteous anger’s severe
reaction that would result in everlasting separation from Him in the
unquenchable fires of hell. However, Jesus Himself, whose birth we continue
to joyfully celebrate, declared about Himself: “For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
(John 3:16-17 ESV)
In his article entitled “You Are the Reason” in the recent
December 2014 edition of The Lutheran Witness, the Reverend Matthew Ruesch
stated: “This December, Christians throughout the world will celebrate
‘Jesus as the reason for the season.’ But Christmas is so much more than a
birthday party for Jesus. The Christ Child is born for you and for me. We
are actually the reason for the season. The true celebration of Christmas
is not the birth of Christ. The true celebration is the birth of Christ for
you. Christmas is Jesus for you. The Child in the manger is the Child who
pours out God the Father’s great love for us with His very blood. We are
the reason for this season. Let us remember the reason for Christmas by
feasting on the meal our Lord has prepared for us.” (Matthew Ruesch in “You
Are the Reason,” The Lutheran Witness, December 2014, Copyright © 2014 The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, St. Louis, MO. Page 17.) The aged Simeon
testified to that truth in today’s Gospel Reading when, holding the infant
Messiah in his arms, he spoke the words that we often use after partaking of
the Lord’s Supper: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the
Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (St Luke 2:29-32 ESV)
Of course, that Gospel domination also results in a new
identification. That is, …
II. God’s Gospel Message Gives You a New Name. (62:1-3)
62:1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will
not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her
salvation as a burning torch. 2The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the
mouth of the Lord will give. 3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of
the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
The fact that God would give the Israelites a new name assured
them of the “distinction which shows the exceeding greatness of God’s love
to lost and condemned mankind.” (Paul E. Kretzmann in Popular Commentary of
the Bible: The Old Testament Volume II, The Poetical and the Prophetical
Books. Copyright © 1924 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page
390.) Such new-naming indicated that “the Lord has not forgotten His
people. The new name must be employed to cover the new situation.” (H. C.
Leupold in Exposition of Isaiah One-Volume Edition. Formerly published in
two volumes: Exposition of Isaiah, Volume I [Chaps. 1-39] and Exposition of
Isaiah, Volume II [Chaps. 40-66]. Copyright © 1968, 1971 by Baker Book
House Company, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 330.) Isaiah recorded at the end of
this chapter what God revealed that new name to be: “… The Holy People, The
Redeemed of the Lord; … .” (Isa 62:12 ESV) The apostle Paul wrote about
this new name in today’s Epistle Reading: “But 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, so that we might receive adoption as sons. So
you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through
God.” (Gal 4:4-5, 7 ESV)
Therein lies the reason to keep the joyful Christmas celebration
going … Jesus came to give you a new name. That new name was placed on you
in your Baptism, which “indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily
contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires,
and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with
Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,
MO. Pages 25 & 214.) Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians regarding that
new man: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Cor 5:17 ESV)
So, that new name is none other than “Christian” … “little Christ.”
As little Christs you possess the wonderful gifts of forgiveness
of sins, salvation, and eternal life that the newborn King of kings and Lord
of lords gained for you with His holy life, innocent suffering, crucifixion
death, and majestic resurrection from the dead. For through such atonement
activity He defeated sin, death, and the devil thereby liberating you from
Satan, the world, and your own sinful flesh. Having done so, you are now
“his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10 ESV)
In conclusion, therefore, …
“Let’s Keep the Joyful Christmas Celebration Going!”
After all, today’s Introit directed us: “Oh sing to the Lord a new
song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he
has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has
remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All
the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful
noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing
praises!” (Ps 98:1-4 ESV) As you do so, remember that …
I. God’s Gospel Message Dominates. (61:11) And that dominating Gospel is
embodied in what today’s Gradual proclaimed and urged: “To us a child is
born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder.
And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done
marvelous things!” (Isa 9:6, Ps 98:1a ESV)
In addition, gain great comfort and strength from the fact that …
II. God’s Gospel Message Gives You a New Name. (62:1-3) As you do so,
make today’s Collect your personal prayer of ongoing joyful Christmas
celebration: “O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and
in the incarnation of Your Son yet more wondrously restored our human
nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like
us … .”
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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