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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Merry Christmas, dear brothers and sisters. Welcome home. Welcome home to the only place in this time and in this earth where heaven and earth meet, where eternity and time come into unison, in this place where Christ has deigned to dwell among us. Through his word and through his sacrament, does Christ reveal his glory unto us. Marvelous indeed. Wondrous indeed.
But in the midst of his birth, which you heard so clearly, there were many things that happened along the way of this miraculous birth that have fascinating parallels to the very thing that we sing about in the hymns. Not only his birth, but also his miraculous death and resurrection. Amen. Consider this. When the angel made known to the shepherds, he made known to the shepherds about this miraculous birth. The first time, the angel was sitting at the tomb. And did he not say, he is not here, but he is risen indeed, announcing the resurrection. This baby that was born of God and man was wrapped in swaddling clothes. When he died and was brought down from the cross, he too was wrapped in burial cloths.
When we think of a manger because of our European mindset, we think of wood. Archaeologically and era-wise, it was not wood in which he was laid. It was a stone hewn out to hold straw or water. This wrapped God in the flesh was laid in this stone as a manger. Christ’s wrapped body was laid on a stone pavement. When you and I think of a stable, we think in European terms, a wooden structure. The shepherds then didn’t have that luxury or that money. Typically, like in any winding wadi or creek, there would always be places where the water carved into the side of the hill there. And there they would sequester off their sheep to protect them from the wind and the rain and from the heat. That is the kind of cave stable that Jesus was born in, in that manger wrapped in those clothes.
And that lifeless body of the God-man which was wrapped in those burial cloths laid on that stone pavement was also in a cave tomb, wasn’t he? Now the kind of sad part… Immediately following the glorious and magnificent birth of this king, there would be death and martyrdom. For the wicked king Herod would round up all the firstborn males of the vicinity of Bethlehem and put them to the sword. And the first martyrs began. Not long after the great and glorious resurrection of the same God-man did the church begin to shed her blood around the world for the same reason.
These similarities are not coincidence. They are a beautiful tapestry in God’s holy word. The glory of God that was revealed to the shepherds on that night in the plain of Bethlehem. The glory of God is revealed to you this evening. Consider your and my needs. The angels from heaven have no need for a savior to be born for them. The devils do not want any savior born for them. When God became flesh and blood, he came flesh and blood only for you and for me and our need.
Truly, he set us apart from all the creatures that he has created on this planet and beyond that we have no idea. He has laid forth before us the fact that you and I are the one in need. And our need, our need is in spite of the hardness of our heart was he born for you. In spite of the sin that clings so closely to you, was he born. In fact, Paul said that while we were yet sinners, yes, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But while we were yet sinners, was Christ made flesh for us. The glory of God revealed to you.
And when you think of glory, the devil will never share in the glory of being a human being. Angels will never have that glory bestowed on them. They will forever remain angels. But we, we share the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father. He who became flesh and blood for no one else but for us. That we might receive such glory. The glory as of the only begotten Son. The glory of God has been revealed to you.
Consider in your own life. What if your mother or father died? We’re very important and famous, of high esteem within the country or within the community. Would you not revel and rejoice in that that was your dad or that was your mom? What if it was your husband or wife who was well-known and lots of accolades? Would you not rejoice and have great singing upon your heart that you are connected somehow to this person? Even if it was your son or daughter. God became one of you, but without sin. God bore everything that you are and have experienced, yet without sin. We, by His grace, have been made precious. And we have indeed been known by the Father. Truly, truly we rejoice.
But our life, our life is too narrow and our heart is too small to even apprehend such glory. Our life is too narrow and our heart is too small to even comprehend such glory. Truly we pity and have nothing but sorrow for those who do not and cannot believe what you’ve been given to believe. The glory of God is revealed to you.
And God chose to reveal himself of all the ways and manners that he could have revealed himself to this world. He did not become all of a sudden a fully developed human being like Adam was created. He came just as you came into this world, conceived and born, frail, dependent, and utterly in need of everything that mom and dad can provide. That is how God has chosen to reveal himself, and that’s how he’s chosen to be worshipped. When the shepherds bowed their knee, they did not bow their knee to a fully developed man on the cross, but to an infant who was born for nothing else but God. Such a cross.
The glory of God is revealed. Finally, consider that this glory that has been revealed to you was given to you by grace, where you did nothing but receive what God has done for you. This the world looks upon with great and utter disdain. You have had that infant placed in your heart. You have been joined to him. You have become one with him. Such a great and glorious thing indeed. And this infant who has been joined to you is laid before you as table fare to be eaten and drank. The glory of God has been revealed to you here where you feed upon the very one that was wrapped in those clothes and laid in that manger and rose from that same cold stone cave alive.
Redeeming what you are, flesh and blood, because he became flesh and blood. This infant had to be humbled beyond what you would ever have to be humbled. He had to have God’s back turned upon him that you would never have to face that back of God. He would have to be damned that you would never be damned. He was born in utter poverty that you would be rich in the spiritual gifts of forgiveness and mercy. He died and endured hell that you would always live and never face that which only he faced for you. The glory of God has been revealed.
And we together with the angels and the brothers and sisters that have already been celebrating this around the world prior to now and those who will celebrate after we close our eyes and rest. Tonight the church cries out and gives thanks with the angels and sings the praises because the glory of God has been revealed to you as it was to those shepherds in the name of the one who became flesh and bone for you, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
