Advent 4 2018

What Child is This?

Sunday School Christmas Program

December 23, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

This time of year, our attention is laser-focused toward Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We look forward to that joyous night of celebration of Christmas.  In our minds we travel back to O Little Town of Bethlehem where Gentle Mary Laid Her Child, tucked Away in a Manger, truly A Great and Mighty Wonder to behold. Once, in Royal David’s City, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear as Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. Candles are lit, the lights are turned down and with one voice we remember the Silent Night. As the final “Amen” echoes through the church, there is a sense that – if only for a moment – there truly is peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Helpless romantics that we are, we view the characters in the Nativity drama through the Biblical lens. First, our attention is naturally drawn to Mary and Joseph. After all they’ve been through, and all that this child means for them and the whole world. Mary delivered the Bread of Life in the town called House of Bread, Bethlehem. Joseph as step-father to God’s own Son, yet – we speculate – burdened with the shame he might have felt as people whispered about his wife “hooking up” with someone before they were properly married. There’s the shepherds and the angelic choir singing gloria in excelsis deo. Often times we think of the wise men, the magi, but they probably didn’t arrive for quite some time yet. And there’s the bad guys too, the one who has to tell Joseph and Mary there is no room at the inn, and evil Herod who murdered infants and children trying to kill Jesus. And then there’s Jesus Himself, a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. He is what the whole drama is about.[1]

Yet, I contend that we often get it all wrong. We often treat all these people and events as part of the Christmas story, and we even do so about Jesus.   It’s hard to avoid this, honestly.  We are surrounded this time of the year with shopping, Christmas parties, church activities, Christmas plays, family, school break, vacations, and the list goes on and on. It is all too easy to think of Jesus as simply one more part of the big story we call Christmas. But Jesus isn’t part of the story of Christmas. Christmas is part of the story of Jesus. When Christians celebrate Christmas, what we are celebrating is the Great Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not the beginning of the incarnation, but a continuation of the story of God become man. The previous feast in this story happened nine months ago on March 25, which by the way, is a main reason we celebrate Christmas on December 25. That was the feast of the Annunciation, when it was announced to Mary that she would bear the Christ, the moment when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. At that moment, the Son of God became man. And He began to grow within His mother’s womb, taking His very flesh from her, taking His humanity from her.

Our Christmas celebration is focused on the moment when the God-man Jesus, Who has been growing for nine months already as man, is now revealed to the world through His birth. What was hidden in the womb of the virgin is now openly presented. Angels sing the announcement. Shepherds tell of this moment. His mother treasures up all these things in her heart.

At His incarnation He becomes part of a human family, part of our human family, our human race. And He is also part of the family of the people of Israel. And because of this identity, He is named and circumcised as all Jewish boys were. That’s another part of this story and another feast, celebrated January 1. The magi come and visit, that is celebrating on Jan 6. And He is brought to the Temple in Jerusalem by His mother and Joseph, presented as all the Jewish firstborn were. And that’s another part of the story and another feast, celebrated February 2.

He grows, He is baptized. That’s another feast, celebrated on January 13 this year. He teaches and heals. He is transfigured in glory, which we celebrate just before Lent. He is crucified, dies and is buried, which we celebrate during Holy Week. He rises on the third day and ascends into Heaven. And He sends to us the Holy Spirit to fill the Church with power from on high, which we celebrate on Pentecost.

This is the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Mary, and the Savior of the world.  Our God and Savior is born into human history, a history that is centered around Him, His incarnation, His life, His death, and His resurrection.

Whenever we come to church, when we are brought here by the prompting of God’s Spirit, gathered around the Word of God and the Sacraments, we are joined into the story of Christ. We become part of His story. His birth enables our birth again. His life is ours by virtue of our baptism into Him. His death atones for our sin. Our Sunday School children didn’t just recount part of Jesus’ story, it is now theirs, just as it is all of ours by faith.

Christmas Eve 2018

Luke 2:1-14

The Child Who is the Lord

December 24, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

When a child is born, there are questions we typically ask. Parents ask, “Is he healthy?” “How much does he weigh?” Grandparents ask, “What did you name her?” “Who does she look like?” Nurses and doctors closely examine the child and want to know, “Is he alert?” “Are her lungs clear?” We expect these kinds of questions.

But there are other questions we never expect to hear at the birth of a healthy child. Who would ever ask, “Who will handle his funeral arrangements someday?” Or, “What cemetery do you think she’ll be buried in?” Or, “What will cause his death?” “For everything there is a season,” the Scriptures say. And the season for asking about a person’s death is usually not at his or her birth.

One of our hymns asks a similarly unusual question about a child born in Bethlehem: What Child Is This? However, it is a fitting question because this Child is born in a most unusual way. His mother is a virgin. His birth is announced by heavenly hosts praising God. So, What Child Is This? The wonderful answer is proclaimed by an angel: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This Child is no less than the Lord Himself, the Lord of heaven and earth. The same Lord who walked in the Garden of Eden calling to Adam and Eve, now lays in a manger. The same Lord who blessed Abraham, now is the blessing the world has been waiting for.  

That certainly is good news. But what makes God’s appearance in human flesh good news of great joy is that He came in order to redeem us. The Lord of creation became part of His creation in order to recreate what man had broken. The Immortal One was born in a specific time and place to unite Himself forever with His mortal creatures.

What if the Lord had taken on flesh in order to confront mankind and demand payback for the sins committed against Him? What if He had appeared among us with a human face in order to scowl at us for our selfishness? Thanks be to God that His incarnation is instead “good news of great joy” for us, as the herald angel declared.

The reason why it is good news of great joy is that at this Child’s birth we do ask the normally unthinkable question, “How will this Child die?” For this Child was born to die. This was God’s plan even before the Child was born. This is what the heavenly angels are talking about when they say His birth will bring peace on earth. This Child will die because of us, and He will die for us.

The prophet Isaiah said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” The angel said, “Unto you is born this day... a Savior.” Unto us, whose worldly passions conceive and give birth to worldly thoughts and ungodly living. Unto us, whose sinful hearts give birth to cruel and hurtful words, even against those who love us most. Unto us, whose sinful natures drive us to live as though God does not matter and we matter most. Unto us—sinners—this Child is born.

So repent, and rejoice greatly for this holy night! But don’t forget to rejoice also for His holy death. For already at His birth, His cross, death, and burial are foreshadowed.

What Child Is This? The One who had a Mary at His birth and multiple Marys present at His death. What Child Is This? The One who had a righteous Joseph at His birth and a righteous Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea, at His death. What Child Is This? The One who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger at His birth and was wrapped in a shroud and laid in a tomb at His death. What Child Is This? The One whose birth was honored by magi bearing myrrh and whose death was honored by faithful women bearing myrrh to His tomb. What Child Is This? This Child is the great light that has shown on us who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on us who walk in darkness. What Child Is This? This is a real human child who has a real human body. His body suffered, was pierced for our transgression, bled, and died. But on the third day, His real human body came back to life again, the firstfruits of the resurrection of our human bodies too.  So let’s do something that is normal at the birth of a child: let’s look at this child, closely, carefully, and consider who He is.

The prophet Isaiah said all authority would be upon those little shoulders. This Child used His authority to free you from hell and destruction.  He has the lips of the Wonderful Counselor. He comforts your troubled conscience with the most wonderful counsel you could ever hear: “I forgive you all your sins.” He has the hands of the Mighty God. He set aside that might to have His hands nailed to a cross and extend mercy to you through His Holy Meal. He has the arms of the Everlasting Father, arms that spread out on a cross to draw you to Himself, to wrap His arms around you in Holy Baptism, and to welcome you home as prodigal sons and daughters. He has the royal head of the Prince of Peace. But His head was crowned with thorns in order to place on your heads crowns of glory.

What Child Is This? This is the Lord who has saved you. So, “Haste, haste to bring Him laud,” “Hail, hail the Word made flesh,” “Joy, joy, for Christ is born, The babe, the son of Mary.” Born for you. Blessed Christmas. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Midweek Advent 3

The Child Who Is John’s Joy

2 Samuel 6:12–23; Luke 1:39–45

December 19, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Modified from material provided by CPH “What Child is This?”

Advent 3 2018

Matthew 11:2-11

December 16, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near! That’s the message of John the Baptist, which landed him in jail.  He called for Herod to repent over his illicit affair with his sister in law and Herod didn’t take it very well.  John the Baptist gets in trouble, can you imagine, for speaking to the truth about marriage. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. And if you're a friend of Christ, you may very well lose your head.

That's the lesson from John the Baptist. John intrudes upon us this Advent Season, willing to lose his head that we might get our heads on straight, that we might know Christ as the head, our source, and only source of life.  While in prison, John sends some of his disciples to Jesus asking him if He is the one they have been waiting for. Jesus answers John’s question with a strong “Yes, I am the One.” The deeds that Jesus has been performing are the long-expected signs of the Messiah, of the restoration of God’s people, of the keeping of God’s promises. God is at work, the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers and cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

John is a fiery prophet of the Lord, and he knows it. But he was taken aback by what he has been hearing about Jesus while in prison for speaking the truth. Just as John was astonished when Jesus came to him at the Jordan to be baptized by him, now he is astonished that he has heard all these things about Jesus’ deeds, he has preaching the message of the coming Messiah, but it doesn’t seem to match what he is experiencing as he sits in prison. He is one of the poor, needing that good news preached to him.

How often is this the experience of those who follow Christ? How many times in your life have you looked around at your situation and wondering how you ended up there? You know Christ, you have heard what He has done upon the cross. Your sins have been forgiven. Yet, still you struggle. You struggle with the same temptations, the same doubts, the same fears.  And more, you know that you have victory in Christ, you know and believe that Jesus has come to save His people from their sins, yet He also teaches His followers to expect opposition and hatred.  And you face it. Go ahead and openly, publicly speak God’s truth about marriage, that sex outside of marriage is sinful and calls for repentance, and while you may be not be thrown in jail and beheaded, you certainly will cause some offense.

Jesus is offensive. The proclamation of the Gospel is foolishness to the Gentiles and offensive to the Jews. It is offensive to hear the voice of one crying out from the wilderness that you need to repent of your sins, and your sins are many. It is offensive that Christ calls His people to be holy, to be set apart from the world. It is offensive to think that God would lower Himself to become man, and die on the cross.  That’s not a very Godly thing to do in the eyes of the world, but coming of Christ is exactly what this time of the year is about.  John the Baptist prepares us for Christ's coming at Christmas, and prepares us for our Lord's next coming, which draws ever closer. (Peter Scaer) Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me, says the Lord. 

That Christmas is about Jesus is offensive to the secular Christmas celebration. I’m not talking about being offended at songs written generations ago and taken out of context.  What I am talking about is that Christmas is actually about the Mass of Christ, it is literally the meaning of the name. Keep Christ in Christmas is offensive to many non-Christians. The secular world has its own Christmas season that shares little to nothing with the Christian holiday and wants little to nothing to do with Christ.   

Unfortunately, the idea that we ought to keep the Mass in Christmas is offensive to many Christians. Parents, grandparents, this is to you specifically, but it applies it every single person here, and those who aren’t here. If you stay at home on Christmas, and unwrap presents rather than come to church when you are able, you send the strongest possible message to your children, to your neighbor, and to the world that Christmas is about gifts more than it is about Jesus.  What kind of defense could we have, what kind of excuse, when he came down from heaven for our sake while we can’t even leave the house to go to him? Or when the Magi, who were barbarians and foreigners, hurried from Persia to see him lying in the manger? But you, a Christian, can’t be bothered to travel even a short distance in order to enjoy this blessed sight? (Chrysostom, On the Incarnation)

Repent.  John the Baptist’s cry of “prepare the way for the Lord” is a charge to discern the Lord’s voice calling out to us in the midst of the noise that fills our daily lives and to persevere in the way of faith, and to focus our lives on the things that are good, right, and salutary. Repent, and rejoice.  Rejoice that the Lord is at hand.  He knows your excuses, He knows what offends you. And He still comes anyway. Jesus comes and offends your sense of self pride, your self-righteousness. He does so in order that all we are left with is Jesus, with His righteousness, with His holiness, with His presence.  He comes with mercy, and forgiveness and love. He gives double portion for all your sins. He ends your warfare against Him. He pardons the guiltiness of your sin. Rejoice for the Lord speaks peace and comfort to His people, to His saints. Do not turn back to folly. (Introit) Jesus has come for you. Jesus will come for you again.  

Advent 2 2018

Luke 21:25-36

Your Redemption is Drawing Near

December 12, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

It’s getting closer. Christmas is almost here. It has been fun to have a child, as many parents experience, relive and remember some of the excitement of childhood. The anticipation of Christmas is one of those. Putting Christmas presents under the Christmas tree is almost torturous to a child. They can see it, but they can’t open it yet.  It teaches them patience, and it teaches parents patience as they have to keep telling their child “not yet.”

Advent season also teaches patience.  About ¾ of all Christian churches around the world observe the yearly pattern of the church year, and it’s for good reason. We take the time to prepare for our yearly celebration of the incarnation, of God who became a man, that we might wait with faith for the Lord’s coming.  It teaches us to slow down and wait for Christmas to arrive. The day is coming and there is still some preparation to do.  There are signs all around us that it is on the way.  The colder days, the longer nights, the Christmas plays, and the festive lights.

But there’s more to this time of the year than this. In our Gospel reading for today from Luke 21, Jesus tells us to stay awake, to be prepared, to look for the coming Christ.  That’s the real purpose of all these preparations to celebrate Christmas, we also prepare to celebrate His final coming.  These preparations are the same.  I’m not talking about the decorating, though for Christians, our decorations ought to serve the purpose of the season itself.  Advent wreaths, nativity scenes, Christmas trees, are all Christian symbols of the Gospel.  The real preparation is the decoration of the Christian heart and life through repentance and faith in Christ, through the eager anticipation of our redemption that is drawing near. We prepare for His coming not through what we do, but in receiving what He has done for us.

We can no longer make ready for the first Advent of Christ. He came in the flesh 2000 years ago. But our Lord’s first advent is also a foreshadowing of His constant coming to His Church even now through His Word and Sacraments. When we get together as we have today, here or anywhere else, where God’s people gather around the eternal Word of God, the time between the Lord’s days on earth and His return in glory are bridged. His Kingdom comes to us. His presence comes to us. His glory comes to us. His forgiveness comes to us. His life comes to us.  And they point us to a certain future.

And so Jesus speaks in Luke 21 of signs that will accompany His coming. When the world sees these disastrous things, they will be devasted. Jesus describes the end of this world, the world full of material and commercialized things, the end of houses and gadgets, of cities and nations, of bank accounts and retirement funds, everything in this world. Those who do not believe in Jesus, who seek entertainment and worldly happiness and stress free lives rather than Christ and life under His cross will be devasted when Jesus comes to remove that cross from His church and the Lord coming with power and great glory.

The days of sin and evil, of time and the world, of heaven and earth, will pass away, and it will end in victory and restoration for the Word of the Lord will not pass away. This word has been delivered to us, written in former days for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of Scripture we might have a sure and certain hope. The Bible is a book of calm confidence. It sees the worst and assures of the best in Christ, looking toward the Kingdom of God that cannot be shaken.

Those who trust in Christ will have a different perspective on the day that is coming, the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ’s return. This is the lesson of the fig tree. The blooming fig tree is a sign that summer is coming, that the sun is going to shine. It is a symbol of joy, of our redemption, of the coming of the Son of Righteousness.

All who receive the King as He comes to His Zion in Word and Sacrament, all who remain faithful until the end shall stand before the Son of Man in glory. Your redemption is drawing near when you will be delivered from your enemies. Your redemption is drawing near when the evils or the world will be no more. Your redemption is drawing near when Christ will come, not in lowliness and humility, but with glory and honor and Hebrews 9:28 speaks of Christ, having been offering once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly awaiting Him.

But let’s be honest. You are easily distracted. It is all too easy to choose the things of this world over Jesus, especially at this time of the year. You get distracted with all the commercial holiday season that’s already been going on for a couple months now. You get caught up in a holiday spirit that has nothing to do with Christ or the Mass in Christmas. You get overwhelmed by the busyness and the stress of the season. In attempts to find some peace, you distract yourselves further, or you go the opposite direction and you shut down and sleep.

Repent. Straighten up. Raise your heads, and look to Jesus. For our Lord doesn’t sleep nor slumber, He doesn’t get worn out or overwhelmed or stressed out. His focus is on you, on your place in His kingdom, on your escape from all these things that are going to happen. He does not get distracted from the purpose for which He comes. Not upon the cross, not in His coming out of the tomb, not in His coming now nor in the future. For He comes. And He does not keep silent. He comes and gathers to Himself His faithful ones. He comes and brings salvation near to you. He is the God of endurance and encouragement. May the Lord wake our hearts to see Him, to be prepared for His coming, and to rejoice in His salvation, to lift up our heads, for our redemption is drawing near.

Midweek Advent 1

The Child Who Is Zechariah’s Hope

Isaiah 40:1–5; Luke 1:5–25

December 5, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Modified from material provided by CPH “What Child is This?”

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Midweek Advent 2

The Child Who Is a Virgin’s Great Son

Judges 13:2–7; Luke 1:26–38

December 12, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Modified from material provided by CPH “What Child is This?”

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