Christmas I Matt. 2:13-23

And they (the wise men), having departed, look, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph according to a dream, saying, "Arise, take along the Child and His mother and flee into Egypt and stand there until whenever I speak to you; for Herod is about to seek for the Child to destroy it. And he arose and took along the Child and His mother at night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the end of Herod; in order that the utterance of the Lord through the prophet be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."... And Herod, having come to his end, look an angel of the Lord appeared according to a dream in Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, take along the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for dead are those having sought the life of the child." And he arose, took along the child and His mother and went into the land of Israel. And having heard that Archeleus reigned in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he feared entering there; and being warned by revelation according to a dream, he left into the region of the Galilee, and he came, resided in a city called Nazareth; that would be fulfilled the utterance through the prophets, that he will be called a Nazarene.

People are vulnerable. They become ill, suffer and eventually die. Life on this earth is testament to this. Mary and Joseph had suffered a long, pregnant journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Now an amazing thing had happened. God has taken human flesh. He is now people like Mary, Joseph or you. God has become vulnerable. He's now kill-able. Jesus is now expendable.

So God the Father must protect His only-begotten Son by Joseph who is nothing but a dreamer. Like his name-sake from the Old Testament, Joseph dreamed. The first Joseph dreamed his eleven brothers would one day bow down to him, so they shipped him off, secretly to Egypt (without his colorful coat). Likewise, this New Testament Joseph was given a dream to likewise escape to Egypt. Coincidence?

The first Joseph's eleven brothers threw him in a pit, wanting to kill him. The second Joseph's life is also in danger, along with his wife Mary and step-son, Jesus. In both cases God rescued the by sending these dreamers into Egypt. The Israelites was led to come out of Egypt by Moses as they crossed the Red Sea. Now God's Own Son, Jesus, was called out of Egypt back to the land of Israel, once again.

But Jesus is God almighty! How can some wimpy king Herod chase the all-powerful God into Egypt? Because Jesus is God-made-vulnerable. As you are afflicted with sin and suffering, so Jesus came into this world to take your place, to be vulnerable, afflicted with your afflictions. Jesus is in the likeness of your flesh, though sinless, He becomes your sin at the cross bearing it's affliction of eternal death for you.

But that would be later on. Not when Jesus was just a young child. He would not die at Calvary until much later. So the devil's plan for Jesus' early death is thwarted by the Father. God delivers His Son from His enemies, to have vengeance upon them later. All those psalms of old that talk about God's deliverance from enemies are all about Jesus and how His heavenly Father would rescue him here.

Dream after dream, step by step, God reveals to Joseph (as head of household) how to protect Jesus until He's grown. Then the time comes for His vulnerability. God sent His Son, born of a woman to live under Law. That means He's able to be tempted, as Satan did his best for forty days in the wilderness, yet Jesus did not sin. He remained a perfect sacrifice on the cross to redeem you, who fails to keep God's law.

This redemption took place for Him on the cross, but for you it happened at your baptism. There the blessed trade took place, your sins washed from you, and the filthy flood from the font takes them to Jesus at Calvary. In exchange, you get Jesus holiness, His goodness, the Lord's Own righteousness credited to your account by faith! So your baptism becomes God's adoption of you into His heavenly family. You have all become sons of God, even you prettier ones, sons receiving God's inheritance.

Jesus humbled Himself to come down to earth to be vulnerable, kill-able, not as a child, but as your redemption price on the tree of Calvary. There He would become the ransom price to redeem you from sin, death and  the devil. You could not save yourself, or make yourself worthy of life eternal. Jesus did that for you at the price of His body given for you, and His blood shed for you for your forgiveness. Jesus makes Himself expendable for your sake, suffering your death that you have His life.
 
For He is a "Nazarene" as the prophets predicted. No, you won't find the word "Nazarene" in any Old Testament prophecy. But Jesus is from "Branch-town" which is what Nazareth means. He is that branch of Jesse's tree, sprouting up from that stump for you. Jesus is the genuine Vine from David's line into Whom you are grafted by His grace. He dies for you under the sign, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." All according to God's plan, in His timing, this Branch from Jesse's tree is vulnerable, for you.

In the name of Christ,
Amen.

Christmas Day John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and God was the Word. This One was in the beginning toward God. All things through Him came to be, and without Him came to be not one thing which came to be; In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind; and the Light in the darkness shines and the darkness did not overtake it.   There came to be a human, sent on a mission from God, whose name--John. This one came for a witness, in order that he might witness concerning the Light, that all might believe through him. That one was not the Light, but that He might witness concerning the Light. The Light, the genuine one, which enlightens all mankind was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world through Him came to be, yet the world did not know Him. To His Own He came, and those who were His Own did not receive Him. But as many as did receive Him, He gave to them authority to become God's children, to those who believe into His Name. Ones, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but out of God were born!  And the Word came to be flesh and tabernacled in us, and we saw his glory, glory as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 
My very first day of confirmation class in 1978, Pastor Ginter wrote these words on the chalkboard. As a good student, I copied them down into my notebook, but I didn't have the foggiest notion what they meant. "In the beginning was the Word..." OK. But what word? Was it a single word or a whole sentence?  It must be a special word, since everything that exists came to be through this amazing word. And how exactly  was the word "light"? Was it on one of those newfangled computer screens? I was clueless.
 
It wasn't until the very end of the class, and hour and a half later that it finally began to click for me. The word became flesh and was with us on the earth. Folks saw this word's glory, begotten from His Father. I started to "get it". This mysterious Word was actually the Son of God–Jesus! Ever since that day, I haven't read the word "word" in the scriptures the same way. Now I see "Word" and always think "Jesus".
 
If you look on the front cover of your bulletin for today, the Greek "O Logos" is printed there. It means "The Word". Jesus is this word made flesh. He is God "incarnate". This incarnation is not about Americans driving down the interstate, but it is about the Word becoming flesh. Like meat-eaters are called "carnivores", Jesus is in-carn-ate, meaning to have meat on His bones–flesh. The Word by Whom God created everything, like when He said "Let there be light", had come down to the earth, in the flesh.
 
Now I know this is a bit of a challenge. Many of us hear "Word of God" and instantly think "The bible". While the bible is the book of God's words plural, the singular Word of God is always Jesus the Christ.  The words of God in scripture can only enlighten you because they are about the Word of God–Jesus. The words of holy writ can only bestow you life eternal because Jesus, the Word is your life!
 
The only reason that you recognize Jesus as the Word of life for you is because He has enlightened you to believe it. Many in the world remain in darkness, by their own choice. The temptations abound to think that you don't need Jesus, because you feel like you are already pretty good on your own. You have earthly parents, so why would you need a heavenly Father too? You've already been born into this world, so why should you want to be born another time to a heavenly life in the world to come?
 
People who think that they are already pretty enlightened folks are deceiving themselves. There is only one true, genuine light that can actually enlighten you. That light is Jesus! No matter how smart you think you are, no matter how high your IQ, no matter how much you have learned, no matter how well read you consider yourself to be, you remain in utter darkness without Jesus. But those who believe, receive Him and come to know Him as He is. The Word of God Who enlightens and gives life to all mankind!
 
You have been reborn, of water and the Word, Who is Jesus! Born anew in your baptism, you are raised up to new life in Jesus' Own resurrection. By this gift of God, He has given you special authority as children of your heavenly Father. Because of the Son of God–Jesus, Who died for you on the cross, you become a son of God. You believe in His name, the name into which you have been baptized!
 
But not only has the Word of God–Jesus, come to you to bring you into His heavenly Father's family through your baptism, but He also comes to you incarnate this day–in the flesh. Yes, the flesh and blood Jesus comes to you this Christmas morn to feed you from His feeding trough manger. He gives you His incarnate body to eat, and His blood to drink in the Lord's Supper. His flesh tabernacles in you today!

Name of Jesus Eve

You see that no one of you be captured through the philosophy and purposeless deception according to what is handed down of mankind, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ; because in Him inhabited all the fullness of deity, bodily, and you are, in Him, made full; Who is the head of all rule and authority. In which also you are circumcised in a handless circumcision in the discarding of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ, having been buried in Him in the Baptism, in which also you were raised up through the faith of the working of God, the One Who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in the sins and in the uncircumcision of your heart, He made you alive together with Him, having graciously forgiven in us all sins.         

  

The world will tell you that you are not good enough. Just like everything advertised is “new & improved”, the philosophy of this age is that you too must strive to be all you can be. But you never get there. You will never be complete. You will never be your full self. You will never be perfect. Yet this world’s mantra is “strive, struggle, and strain” every waking moment of the day until you get there. But you never will. That’s the rub. It’s an empty promise this world gives. It’s just plain deception.

  

But the message of Christ Jesus is that He has been circumcised for you! “Huh?” you might respond. That’s right, Jesus is circumcised for you, so that you may be made full. Without him, you remain unfulfilled, imperfect, incomplete, working so hard to obtain that which you can never achieve. But in the circumcision of the Christ, you are made to be what God desires. Your failures are no more. They are replaced with the successes of your God, Who alone does the mighty works to make you full!

  

Now, we should back-track a bit. Jesus is circumcised on the 8th day of his young life as your Savior. He enters that day into a covenant of works, one in which you fail miserably. This covenant was a simple one. God promised to be Israel’s God, and they promised to be His people. God did His job perfectly. The people of Israel, however, did not. They broke all of God’s commandments, and they acted like anything but God’s Own people. So have you. You have violated God’s laws time and again.

  

But not Jesus. He entered into this covenant-agreement of circumcision with every intention of keeping God’s commandments perfectly. And He did! Jesus was holy, just as God the Father is holy, because Jesus is God too. In Him all the fulness of god-ness dwelt in His body. So He could accomplish what nobody before or since could. Jesus was obedient to all of God’s laws, without fail, earning by His perfect works the prize above all prizes–eternal life in the paradise of heaven above.

  

But Jesus wasn’t selfish. He did not want to keep this prize all to Himself. In fact, He loved you so much that He was willing to give up that gift of everlasting life, and instead, take death, the death you deserved because of your sin, as His very Own. Your body of sinful flesh Jesus took upon Himself at the cross. Your deadly sin, and uncircumcised heart--Jesus took from you. All your sins He took into His body, and then buried them forevermore in the tomb. Your sins are graciously forgiven in Jesus.

  

So now His circumcision into all of this law-keeping yet death-receiving becomes your own circumcision too. You are circumcised into Jesus at your baptism. Just as folks joined God’s people Israel through the sacrament of circumcision, so too have you joined the Church of Christ Jesus by your baptism. God has joined you to Jesus in your baptism, connecting you to His death, burial, and resurrection! You are made alive together with Jesus. Your baptism is into the circumcision of Christ!

  

So when you hear “circumcision” of Jesus, think “that’s my baptism!”. For baptism is a circumcision of sorts, though without the use of human hands. Instead of a person cutting off a small piece of flesh, God makes your baptism a circumcision of your whole sinful flesh! God takes away all the sinfulness of your body of flesh and discards it into the body of Jesus at the cross.  God cuts off of you all of your sinful flesh at your baptism, and nails it to Jesus on the tree, where He dies your death in your place .   

Jesus does all of this for you for your “fullness”. Not some sort of human potential you must work hard to realize someday. No, the fullness God desires for you He Himself works to accomplish in Christ Jesus. Just as the “fullness” of the God-head inhabited Jesus’ human body, so to does Jesus give you the fullness which you really need. This fullness is found in that same body of Jesus, which He gives to you to eat this day for the forgiveness of your sins; the only fullness you’ll ever need.

Amen.