+ The Nativity of our
Lord, Christmas Day – December 25th, 2014 +
Redeemer Lutheran, HB
Series B: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-14
In the Name of the Father and of
the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It’s beginning to look a lot
like… Genesis 1.
You thought I was going to say
Christmas didn’t you. Well, for John, Christmas begins in Genesis. After all, the
Gospel writers tells us the Christmas story each in their own way.
Matthew gives us Joseph’s
perspective. There’s the wise men, wicked king Herod, the slaughter of the
innocents, and the flight to Egypt. Matthew teaches us that the cross looms
large over Christmas.
Luke gives us the dramatic,
sublime Christmas pageant. And it came to
pass in those days… Jesus’ birth is the greatest story of all; not only is
it beautifully told, it is true.
John gives us the best of both
worlds: Jesus’s birth and Genesis 1. Christmas and Paradise.
In the beginning…
God is there in the beginning,
just as we confess in the Creed and Catechism: Uncreated. Infinite. Eternal.
Almighty. The One who is, who was, and who is to come. He is without beginning
and without end.
And yet John throws a little
Christmas surprise our way.
In the beginning was the Word.
Who is the Word?
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things were made through him.
If it looks like a duck, quacks
like a duck, and waddles like a duck then it must be a duck. Everything Genesis
1 says about God – that he is uncreated, infinite, eternal, almighty, without
beginning or end - John says this is also true of Jesus. Jesus is the Word…and
the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Like a master workman, Proverbs
says, God spoke creation into being through the Word. Or like Aslan in the Magician’s Nephew singing Narnia into
existence. It all happened through the Word, through Jesus. So, Jesus was there
when the heavens were stretched out like a tent and the sun was fixed as its
lamp; he was there to smell the first noble fir and send the reindeer leaping
across the field; and he was there rejoicing in creation. Behold it was very good.
But John’s Christmas story
doesn’t stop at Genesis 1. Jesus is the Word in Genesis 1 and in John 1. John
has yet another Christmas surprise…
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The Uncreated became a creature.
The Eternal punches a hole right into time and space. The Infinite Word takes
on finite flesh. The Almighty is born of a humble Virgin. All for you.
Jesus, the Word of God in Genesis
1, comes for you in your human flesh in John 1 all because of Genesis 3.
Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem has
opened Paradise for you.
For the words “Very good” spoken
over creation quickly turned to “very bad”. Blessing turned to curse. Death ended
life. Paradise lost. The gates closed, guarded by an angel. Adam and Eve in
exile among the thorns and thistles. And all creation covered in darkness.
With a single word, John
describes our fallen world: darkness. Darkness without. And a heart of darkness
within us. We’ve become lost and disoriented in the dark. We’ve filled the void
and emptiness with the fear, love, and trust of creation, not the Creator. Repent.
Cast off the works of darkness all you children of the day.
Arise. Shine. Your light has come.
In Him was life, and the life was the
light of men.
In Bethlehem, the Light shines in the darkness and the
darkness has not overcome it.
Redemption dawns in the dim lit
room where the Almighty God is born a helpless child. The Uncreated, Eternal, Infinite
Word has organs, bones, and skin. His every heart beat exists to take your
heart of darkness and replace it with a new one. O come, let us adore him…born
the friend of sinners.
Today the ancient bond of
condemnation in Adam is loosed. In Eden the devil deceived the woman, but now
he sees a woman, a new Eve, become the mother of the Creator. And her Seed has come to
crush the serpent’s head forever. Jesus leads you safely past the angel’s
flaming sword. Heaven’s door is open through a stable. Bethlehem has opened
Eden for you.
Your paradise lies in a manger.
Join
the animals who stand watch like the angels before their Maker. Join as heaven
and nature sing the Gloria. While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior who is Christ the Lord. The Word became flesh and dwells
among you. O come, let us adore him.
The Word who formed man from the
dust has come with fingernails and eyebrows and kneecaps to reclaim his
creation. In Jesus the darkness is banished. He has born the curse for you. Your
sin is his. Your sorrows are his. Thorns and thistles adorn his head as he dies
to set you free. O come, let us adore him.
The Word who made the forests and
the mountains has come with arms outstretched on a wooden cross raised up on a
hilltop. There the Creator of heaven and earth suffered and bled and died for
his creation. The one in whom we live and move and have our being was wrapped
in clothes and laid in a tomb. And on the third day he burst forth, the first
bloom of a new creation. O come, let us adore him.
The Word who made the wheat and
vine comes in bread and wine to you. The Word made flesh dwells among us, and
for us. Here is your paradise in bread and wine. Taste and see that the Lord’s
body and blood is good for you and your forgiveness. O come, let us adore him. Receive
him. And rejoice.
Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem has opened
Paradise for you.
A blessed Christmas to each of
you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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