“The Glorious Gracious and True Jesus Appeared in Human Flesh”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow Christmas celebrants, grace, mercy, and peace from God
the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [Amen.]
“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.
“O ye heights of heav’n adore Him; Angel hosts, his praises sing.
Pow’rs, dominions, bow before Him And extol our God and King.
Let no tongue on earth be silent, Ev’ry voice in concert ring
Evermore and evermore.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
384:2 & 4)
Gospel
Reading................................................................................................
St. John 1:14
And 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.
Prologue: The well-known literary author and defender of the
Christian faith C. S. Lewis once said: “The Eternal Being, who knows
everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but
before that a baby and before that a fetus inside a woman’s body. If you
want to get the hang of it, think how you’d like to become a slug or a
crab.” (Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations compiled by David F. Burgess.
Copyright © 1988 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 118.)
Well, here we are at the destination of the longest possible
Advent season. For the past 28 days since its beginning on November 27 we’ve
been on a journey of what I described on that Sunday as “a time of imposed
waiting for and anticipating Christmas.” You see, “Advent afford[ed] us the
opportunity to learn or relearn the fine art of waiting for … and
anticipating … and appreciating Christmas more fully when it FINALLY [has]
arrive[d].” But perhaps of even greater significance is that “Advent is a
miniature of what we experience waiting for Jesus to return to take us to
Himself in eternal glory … and what the Israelites experienced in their
4,000+ years of waiting for the promised Messiah to arrive.” (My sermon on
Sunday, November 27, 2016, based on St. Matthew 21:9 entitled “Advent’s
Shout Is ‘Hosanna!’, Not ‘Alleluia!’”) So, today as we do every annual
formal celebration of The Nativity of Our Lord on Christmas Day, we ponder
the marvelous mystery of the fact that …
“The Glorious Gracious and True Jesus Appeared in Human Flesh.”
For that most astounding reality to even begin to sink in, let’s
realize, as Gary P. Baumler so precisely stated in his commentary on the
Gospel of St. John, that “Everything important in our spiritual lives
becomes ours in connection with the Word (Christ). … he didn’t stop being
what he was, namely true God. But he also became true man, a real human
being. He became incarnate, in the ‘flesh.’ The Word took on human nature
and received the name Jesus. He was born in the flesh like every human
being, complete with human emotions, human frailties, human needs.
Nevertheless, the Word made flesh was free of one thing every other human
being has had—sin. The flesh of all other humans since Adam and Eve is
inherently corrupted by sin. Through his miraculous virgin birth, Jesus
‘became flesh’ untainted by sin. He came to live free from sin in our
place.” (Gary P. Baumler in People’s Bible Commentary: John. Copyright ©
1997 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 17.)
In addition, Donald Guthrie in his classic volume, Jesus the
Messiah, wrote: “John’s towering concept of Jesus is evident from his
experience of having seen His glory, which he further described as being the
glory of the only begotten Son of the Father. Moreover, he saw Him as the
source of all grace and truth.” (Donald Guthrie in Jesus the Messiah.
Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 2.)
In fact, today’s Epistle Reading as well declared that glorious
message: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior
appeared, he saved us, … so that being justified by his grace we might
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-5a, 7 ESV)
The ultimate most wonderful message is that the Word, Jesus Christ
Himself, came to dwell (literally “tabernacle”) among us even as He did with
the Old Testament people who longingly looked forward to Messiah’s arrival.
That’s what today’s Old Testament Reading revealed, namely: “Then the cloud
covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord [Yahweh] filled the
tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the
cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord [Yahweh] filled the
tabernacle. For the cloud of the Lord [Yahweh] 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.” (Ex 40:34-35, 38 ESV)
In view of all that, the all-important question for us today as we
formally and joyfully celebrate the incarnate birth of mankind’s Savior is:
“Just who was that newborn Babe in Bethlehem’s manger, whose birth was
heralded by an angelic choir to humble shepherds ‘keeping watch over their
flock by night’ (St Luke 2:8 ESV)?” Saint John provides two all-important
Spirit-inspired answers, the first of which is …
I. He Is the Divine Eternal Living Word. (1-5)
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and
the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.
This is none other than the formerly preincarnate Messiah, who
appeared numerous times in the Old Testament era with the divine tagline
“the angel of the Lord (Yahweh)” that was used 57 times. He is the One to
whom the Nicene Creed refers as “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of
His Father before all worlds.” He is the One who preceded all creation and
even participated in the creation of the heavens and the earth “and of all
things visible and invisible.” In fact, His divine names, divine
attributes, divine works, and divine honor and glory all testify to the
truth that He is true God now clothed in sinful mankind’s flesh and blood
that He participated in creating. He is the eternal Son of the eternal God,
about whom we confess in the Athanasian Creed that He was “neither made nor
created, but begotten of the Father alone.”
Again from Gary P. Baumler’s commentary: “‘The Word’ tells us that
Jesus is God. Even before John says: ‘The Word was God,’ we know Jesus was
because he was ‘in the beginning’ when only God existed. That Word was God,
says John, placing extra emphasis on the word God in the original language.
Not only was the Word God, he was with God. He was face-to-face with God.
He existed in a mutual relationship with the Father, distinct, yet one with
the Father. Here we have two divine persons interacting. The Word was
altogether with God, yet the Word was God. What the Word was, God was also,
and what God was, the Word was: the same essence.” (People’s Bible
Commentary: John. Page 7.)
And that first answer to the identity question about Jesus leads
to the second answer, namely, …
II. He Is the Divine Creator and Light of the World. (6-13)
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness,
to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He
was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9The true
light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in
the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know
him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But
to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the
flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Here we turn once again to what Donald Guthrie wrote about this
lowly infant’s unique identity: “In the introduction to his gospel, John
includes the pre-existence and deity of Christ. He affirms that Jesus,
whose teachings and acts he was going to describe, is God, the Creator, and
Light and Life of the world. One might think such comments should have been
left to the end, to be drawn as conclusions from what Jesus actually did and
said. Most writers would have arranged it that way. But [by the Holy
Spirit’s inspiration] John made it clear at the beginning that the person he
was introducing was no ordinary man. He was introducing the perfect link
between God and man.
“[John] well knew that many would not accept his starting point for the
story of Jesus. He himself had no doubt that the Light had shone, but he
equally recognized the dense darkness [of sin-laced rejection] around him.
He considered that any light a man has may be traced to Jesus, who for John
is the true Light that has come into the world.” (Jesus the Messiah. Page
2.)
Today’s Gradual prophesied what the apostle John saw and
proclaimed: “Blessèd is he who comes in the name of the Lord [Yahweh]! The
Lord [Yahweh] is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.” (Ps
118:26a, 27a ESV)
In his Christmas Eve devotion entitled “A Night to Remember”
Rudoph F. Norden wrote: “The Collect for Christmas Night is one of the great
gems of our devotional and liturgical literature. It sparkles in its open
simplicity, even as it reserves some of its splendor under a symbol of
mystery.
“Picture a midnight service in a candlelit church. The Christmas tree
lights shine, but they do not totally dispel the darkness. There is an air
of mystery, sustained by music and message proclaiming Christ’s birth.
“The events of that most holy night are rightly narrated, but they
cannot tell the whole story of God’s love nor show us all the brilliance of
the Light Christ came to be in our darkening world. So we simply but
reverently rehearse the great deeds of God.
“The night of sin and despair is no longer as dark as it was … because
the ‘brightness of the true Light’ has pierced it. There is still mystery
in the incarnation of God’s Son, but we have enough light to see the road to
heaven.” (Rudolph F. Norden in Each Day with Jesus: Daily Devotions through
the Year. Copyright © 1994 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page
367.) And that, my dear friends … fellow reflectors of the true Light, is
none other than where we started, namely, that …
“The Glorious Gracious and True Jesus Appeared in Human Flesh.”
That Jesus, who appeared in human flesh some 2,000+ years ago
continues to appear to us today in the Holy Scriptures, Holy Baptism, Holy
Absolution, and Holy Communion. He does so reminding and reassuring us that
our sins are forgiven, our sin-infected souls are healed, and we possess
eternal life with Himself in heaven. All of that … and more … is most
certainly true because …
I. He Is the Divine Eternal Living Word. (1-5) and …
II. He Is the Divine Creator and Light of the World. (6-13)
So let today’s Introit lead us to “sing to the Lord [Yahweh] a new
song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him. The Lord [Yahweh] 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 [Yahweh], all the earth; break forth into joyous
song and sing praises!” (Ps 98:1-4 ESV)
At the same time, let today’s Collect tabernacle in our hearts and
on our minds: “Grant that the birth of Your only-begotten Son in the flesh
may set us free from the bondage of sin.”
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.]
And a very Merry CHRISTmas to all of you!
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