In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This night, we celebrate the visitation of an angel, that
heralds the arrival of the Christ. An angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds
in the field and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were afraid.[2]
And the angel said to them, “Fear not.” An angel, likely the same angel,
appeared to Zachariah, to Joseph, and to Mary herself, announcing the coming of
the Lord and each time saying, “Do not be afraid.” These angels came not to bar
the gates to eternity, but to announce their being flung open. The Christ child
is born in the city of David to bring peace to man.
This peace is brought about through reconciliation. The
birth of the Christ brings reconciliation between man and the holy angels. To
be reconciled does not mean “to let bygones be bygones.” Reconciliation
requires acknowledgment of the harm done, restitution or atonement for that
harm, and forgiveness by the one harmed.
The presence of angels almost always strikes fear into the
heart of man because angels are the messengers of God and man’s heart is sinful
from birth. Our wickedness, our sinfulness, even the inclination to sin is an
abuse of the life God has created within us. We have taken His good creation
and corrupted it. We have stolen what is rightly His. We have blasphemed His
holy name by acting in wickedness. By our actions and our inactions, by our
thoughts and lack of prayers, by our own faults, by our own most grievous
faults, we have broken the relationship between God and man because we have
placed ourselves before Him.
Yet this night, the presence of the angels no longer sparks
fear, but joy. The words “Fear not,” are an absolution, words which restore the
relationship between two people. The angels have come to announce the coming of
the Reconciler, God’s Anointed. “When all was still and it was midnight, [the]
Almighty Word…descended from the royal throne.”[3]
The cattle, donkeys, and sheep even take notice. These beasts lift their heads
in recognition that the Creator has entered creation for the sake of bringing
reconciliation to the cosmos.
The reconciliation celebrated by the holy angels is achieved
in the flesh of Jesus Christ. The very Son of God, Second Person of the
Trinity, unites Himself to us by becoming one of us. His flesh is no different
than your flesh or mine. Yet within His flesh dwells the fulness of divinity.
He is truly the God-Man. Christ’s divinity and humanity are the significance of
the bright shining “glory of God” which shone around the angels when the
shepherds saw them.
By taking on our flesh, He not only makes us his brothers and sisters, but He gives us the right to become children of the Father. This right is given to those who receive Christ through faith. No longer are they born of the sinful flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[4] Your heavenly inheritance is eternal life with Christ.
Already in the manger, the Christ child lays wrapped in
swaddling clothes. These clothes point forward to the burial shroud which will
again envelop his body. The flesh which Christ has assumed within the Virgin
Mother will lay in a virgin tomb for three days. The death of Christ is the
necessary condition for reconciliation with the Father. Christ declares He
makes a new covenant in His blood and a covenant takes effect only by the
shedding of blood. After the three days’ rest, that same flesh rose again, to
restore you and all creation to a holy relationship with the Father, and one
another.
“If we had not inherited sin, the fellowship of nature would
move us so much that everyone would love his neighbor as much as he loved
himself, because we would all be of one essence, of one blood and of one
relationship. A few sparks of that kind of natural attachment still remain in
the love between parents and their children [and] between married couples –
whose light of love would be far brighter, had not the darkness of sin
overshadowed it. Now Christ’s flesh is a holy flesh, which has not been
poisoned by sin in the least; that’s why this fire of love burns in it brightly
and undarkened so that Christ heartily and passionately loves us because we are
His flesh and blood.”[5]
Thus the glory of the Lord shone around the holy angels as
they visited the shepherds. The angels gather this night, with all the saints
of God as we joined them in song, “Glory be to God on High, and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men!”[6]
Soon, we will again join them, the angels and archangels, and all the company
of heaven, singing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Sabbaoth. Heaven and earth
are full of your glory! Hosanna in the Highest!”[7]
You see, the songs of the angels rejoice at the Incarnation.
They rejoice when God comes near to His people, when there is peace is the
world. The Son of God becomes the Son of Man that you would have peace with
God. We rejoice in the presence of our Lord this very night. He is not locked
in heaven as some would imagine. He is here, present for you in Body and Blood.
The very flesh by which Jesus won your reconciliation with God is now present
for you to be eaten. He has partaken of you in His Incarnation that you might
partake of Him in his Exultation.
Bethlehem is not just the site of Jesus’ birth and the city
of David. The very name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.” The Bread come down
from heaven was born in a manger, that you would find your home with him.[8]
He who eats Christ’s flesh and drinks Christ’s blood abides in Him.[9]
The Advent fast has come to an end. With full joy and splendor, we celebrate Christ’s presence among us now and every day until the visible return of Christ in the flesh. We look to the shining light of Christ’s glory found in a chalice and on a paten. Christ is with you. This is the time when Christ was born, when a Savior appeared. This is the time when angels and archangels sing and the righteous exult and proclaim, “Glory to God in the Highest! Alleluia!”
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
[1]
The propers used are appointed for the Christmas Midnight Mass.
[2]
St. Luke 2:9-10.
[3]
Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15.
[4]
St. John 1:12-13.
[5]
Johann Gerhard, “On Holy Christmas Day II,” Postilla, Vol 1 (Malone, TX:
The Center for Lutheran Orthodoxy, 2003), 60.
[6]
St. Luke 2:14.
[7]
Isaiah 6:3 (the Sanctus).
[8]
St. John 6:32-33.
[9]
St. John 6:56.
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