+ Advent Midweek 3 – December 16th,
2015 +
Redeemer
Lutheran, HB
The Creed and Christ’s Incarnation: The Holy
Spirit and the Holy Child
Isaiah
11:1-10; Titus 3:3-7; Luke 1:26-38
In the
Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christmas
and spirit. Two words that fill our imagination with everything from the three
spirits in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas
Carol, to the endless quest for capturing the “Christmas spirit” with
eggnog, that fresh pine tree smell, or Clark Griswold’s exterior illumination
skills.
But what
of Christ’s incarnation and the Holy Spirit? We confess Christ’s incarnation
and the Holy Spirit every week in the Creed.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
In
Advent, the Holy Spirit comes to give us true faith and lasting joy in the
Christ Child born of Mary, born to save you.
Now,
there are plenty of spirits out there: liquid spirits, heavenly spirits, and
evil spirits. So, not any old spirit will do. We must be specific. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The Lord and
giver of life.
The
Creeds teach us to confess the person and work of the Holy Spirit aright,
especially in Advent. The Lord and giver of life conceives God in human flesh
in Mary’s womb – light and life to all he brings. The Holy Spirit, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son, overshadows Mary that the Son of God might proceed
from a woman to make us sons of God. The Holy Spirit, who is worshiped and
glorified with the Father and the Son, also fills Mary – and you, the baptized
- with joy and faith in her Son, that we might worship and glorify Jesus our
Savior. The Holy Spirit, who spoke by the prophets, now comes to Mary to
fulfill the prophets’ words:
There shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his
roots shall bear fruit.
Mary is
from the root of Jesse. Jesus is the shoot, the fruit of Jesse’s tree, born to
save Israel and all nations. And the Holy Spirit gives growth, life, and
faith…for you just as he did for Mary.
For in
Advent, the Holy Spirit comes to give us true faith and lasting joy in the
Christ Child born of Mary, born to save you. Jesus is conceived by the Holy
Spirit that we might be born again through Jesus’ birth, life, death, and
resurrection.
As Gabriel announced to Mary:
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
If the
Father is the Giver and the Son is the Gift, then the Holy Spirit is he who
bears the gift and gives us joy in Christ. And yet, one of the great errors of
our day is to associate the Holy Spirit and his work with our feelings and
emotions. What many take for the Holy Spirit may just as easily be the result
of too much holiday cheer or under-cooked Christmas party appetizers. Whatever
the case, holiday cheer is not found by staring at our navels.
It’s not
that emotions are bad – quite the opposite. But our emotions and feelings don’t
give birth to faith in Christ. Rather, faith in Christ bears the fruit of God-pleasing
emotions and joy. Whenever we place our emotions and feelings at the center of
our quest for holiness and the Holy Spirit, we replace Christ as Lord and look
to ourselves for wisdom, understanding, and faith. And what poor gods we have
made ourselves to worship: fickle and impulsive, always up, down, this way and
that. Repent, for all the times our emotions and feelings have ruled and guided
our reading of Scripture instead of Scripture ruling and guiding our emotions
and feelings. Repent of replacing the joy of the Holy Spirit with our own idols
of happiness. And even this – our repentance and joy - are gifts of the Holy
Spirit.
Therefore,
do not be afraid. Rejoice! The Lord has found favor with you, not because of
your love, but through His. For the same Holy Spirit who creates faith in us,
as he did in Mary, also conceives in Mary’s womb the object of our faith.
The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born
will be called holy—the Son of God.
With
these words Christ comes not only into her heart, but also into her womb, as
she hears, grasps, and believes it. No one can say otherwise, than that the
power comes through the Word.[1]
See how Mary’s
faith rested, not on her emotions, but on God’s Word.
So it is
for us. We cling to Jesus’ Word in the Scriptures, in our Baptism, in the
forgiveness of sins, and his Holy body and blood – all gifts given to us by his
Word.
Finding
faith and assurance in our emotions is about as healthy as eating nothing but
red and green wiggly Jell-O for your Christmas feast. But the Holy Spirit gives
our faith a better foundation than our emotions which flip flop between the
Grinch and Buddy the Elf.
In
Advent, the Holy Spirit comes to give us true faith and lasting joy in the
Christ Child born of Mary, born to save you.
St.
Ambrose likens the HS to an ever-flowing river, whose water streams from the
hands of Christ and leads back to Jesus, our fountain of life. Or, as one of
our young catechumens said, “The Holy Spirit is like Batman only better; He
leads us to God in human flesh, not a man in a mask.”
The Holy
Spirit points us to Christ, keeps us in Christ, and leads us to Christ like the
magi. Gives us joy like the angels. Plants faith in us in God’s word like Mary. So, ponder
these gifts and treasure them.
For without
the Holy Spirit we have no wisdom, understanding, or faith.
Without
the Holy Spirit, we’re left to wrestle with the spirits of this world who seek
to, steal, kill, and destroy. Without the Holy Spirit, we would’ve remained foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions
and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating
one another.
But
when the goodness and
loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of
works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewal
of the Holy Spirit, whom
he poured out on us
richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified
by his grace we might become heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.
And
so…the same Holy Spirit who created faith in Mary creates faith in each of us
as well, by God’s Word. The same Holy
Spirit who overshadowed Mary pours out God’s loving kindness into our hearts in
Holy Baptism. The same
Holy Spirit by whom Jesus was conceived in human flesh within Mary’s womb, conceives
faith in us that we see Jesus’ flesh and blood for us within the bread and wine
of his Supper. By the
Holy Spirit, Mary heard and believed, and so do we.
After
all, the Christ child is born not only for Mary, but for you, for all. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is
given. And the
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him. And through Jesus and from Jesus, the
Holy Spirit rests upon you as well.
The Holy
Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us in the one true faith. And
like Mary, we respond in faith, Let it be
to me according to your Word.
This
Advent, the Holy Spirit comes to give us true faith and lasting joy in the
Christ Child born of Mary, born to save you.
A blessed
Advent to each of you…
In the
Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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