Christmas Eve, 2007
Luke 2:1-20
Pastor Aaron A. Koch
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
Greenfield, Wisconsin

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

 It used to be bother me a little bit when I would see Nativity scenes from other countries that depicted Jesus as being of the same race as that country–in a Chinese painting Jesus looked oriental, in an African portrayal Jesus was black, or for that matter, in a German or Scandinavian portrait Jesus looked like a blue-eyed European.  It bothered me because the Christmas narrative is a true story, real history, and Jesus is a middle-eastern Jew.  To depict the Nativity in some other way seemed to me to be making it into a bit of a fairy tale that we can mold and shape and change to fit our desires and needs.  But the account of Jesus’ birth is no myth.  It doesn’t belong in the same category as flying reindeer and all the fantasy that has become so much a part of our culture’s Christmas holiday.  What I read to you is for real.  Luke emphasizes that point by even giving you some of the historical details about who the Caesar was and the census and the tax and who the governor of that region was at that time.  The Christmas story is an actual, literal account about the real Jesus and His birth.

 And yet the more I think about it, the more I believe that those may paintings have it right, at least in this sense: The angel came with the message of good news for all people, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  The Savior Jesus is born to you, for you; He is yours.  He’s your kind, humankind.  You see, when the Son of God took on our human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, He did not just became a man.  He became man.  He took all of humanity into Himself in His incarnation.  For He came to bear the sins of all humanity in His body.  That includes every nation and race and people and language.  Though Jesus was indeed a Jew, His birth reveals the truth that there is in fact only one human race, the fallen children of Adam.  And in this newborn baby in the manger, every sinner is redeemed and restored to God.  Jesus is the embodiment of all people from every corner of the globe, and in His body all people are put right with God again.  And so when Jesus is portrayed as African or Oriental or European, theologically speaking that’s true.  By becoming man, Christ becomes one with all people to deliver all people.  The Savior is born to you, for you.  He’s one of you, your very flesh and blood, your true human brother.  There’s no one that’s left out of the new life that comes from His holy birth.  He’s like you in every way, except without sin, that you might become like Him in every way and share in His divine glory.

 This alone is the basis for the peace on earth of which the angels sang.  In Christ, God and sinners are reconciled.  We sinners are no longer under God’s wrath; we are at peace with Him again through His self-giving mercy.  The warfare between heaven and earth is now ended.  The case of God against the human race is set aside, and His love for the world is revealed.  Our flesh has been joined to God.  Heaven and earth are at peace.  God and man are brought back together in Jesus, for Jesus is God and man together in one person.  Baptized into Christ, we are put right with God.  And living in Christ, we are put right with each other, too.  The only peace on earth that lasts is the peace of Christ, forgiven sinners united as one in His holy body.

 Of course, that first Christmas night was probably not very peaceful for Joseph and Mary.  Not only did they have to deal with the stress and anxiety of traveling to Bethlehem for the census, but also of trying to find a place to lodge while she was in labor.  And no one had any place for them, except one who let them stay out with the animals.  Imagine a first time mother trying to give birth under those conditions!  The fact that Jesus was born in these circumstances is prophetic of His whole ministry, how He would be despised and rejected by men.  John 1 says that “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”  People did not understand or grasp who He truly was.  He was an outcast and an outsider.  And yet John goes on, “But to those who did receive Him, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God.”

 We all, of course, would like to think that if we were there that night, that we would have made room for the holy family.  But the truth is that our lives often say otherwise.  We, too, have shut Jesus out.  It’s not only those who stay away from divine service, those who don’t come to church, or at least not very often, who push Jesus away, who don’t have any room for Him in their inn.  No also those of us who are here regularly sometimes keep him closed in to the church and don’t have room for him out there in our day to day lives.  We shut out the Word of Christ in certain situations.  We shut out the people in whom Christ is present for us to love.  We don’t want to have to deal with the inconvenience of letting Jesus in because of all the changes that might mean for us.

 Whatever the case may be, whoever you are, the message of this night is that Christ came for you to rescue you, to forgive you.  He was willing to deal with the indignities of His lowly birth and His humble life and His humiliating death in order that you might be dignified and exalted and lifted up with Him in His resurrection to everlasting life.

 In truth this Christmas narrative foreshadows the reason why Jesus came into this world.  Even as He was born outside of the inn with the animals, so He would be crucified outside the city with common beastly criminals.  Even as He was wrapped in strips of linen and laid in a manger, so later He would be wrapped in cloths and laid in a tomb.  Even as the shepherds came to worship Him, so it is that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  The wood of the manger would later be traded for the wood of the cross.  As one song puts it, “Fragile finger sent to heal us, tender brow prepared for thorn, tiny heart whose blood will save us unto us is born.”  We must never forget on this Christmas night that our Lord took on flesh and blood so that He might sacrifice His flesh and shed His blood to cleanse us and make us holy, His own special people.  He was born to die for us that we might be reborn to live in Him eternally.

 The place of Jesus’ birth was Bethlehem, which means literally, “house of bread.”  Even as He was laid in a feeding trough, so He is given to be holy food for us, the Bread of Life, which one may eat of and live forever.  Let us then come today to the Bethlehem He has prepared for us, to the swaddling clothes and manger in which He now lies, the bread and wine which holds and which is His true body and blood given for the forgiveness of our sins.  Let us feast on the Living Bread from heaven, that our humanity may be restored in Him who became fully human for us.  You need not go to the holy land to feel close to Jesus.  For this is the holy land, where Christ is truly present for you.  You get to kneel with the shepherds right here at this altar.

 To all of you, whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever you’ve done, know this:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  In Him you are forgiven, you are put right with God.  All is well.  “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Merry Christmas!

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit