The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas Eve)

 The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord – December 24, 2024

Psalm 2; Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-15a

St. Luke 2:1-20

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When Caesar Augustus commanded that a census be taken, Joseph journeyed with the young, pregnant virgin, to whom he was engaged, to Bethlehem, the city of David. Joseph was a pious, kindhearted man. He had sought to quietly annul his engagement to the Blessed Virgin when he found her with child but the angel Gabriel revealed to him that the Son in her womb was the very Son of God, the Savior of mankind. Believing the archangel, Joseph set his mind to be a faithful steward and guardian of the Child. Part of his faithful guardianship was to ensure his family was counted in this census.

But arriving in the city of David, among Joseph’s many relatives, no room was found for the Blessed Virgin, great with child. Not a single man was willing to give up his bed for this young girl, that she might rest her head in a bed. Consequently, there was no crib for the Child soon to be born. When it came time for His birth, the Holy Family found themselves among the animals. The Newborn Babe was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for the animals.

From this, we see a picture of the Church. Mary is a picture of the Church, the household of God, and the world has little esteem for her. Even those who are friendly, even those who are related to her are unwilling to step aside to provide for her. She is left alone to bear the child. Joseph, her betrothed, could be seen as pastors, those who are given stewardship, guardianship over the church. The child to be born is not of his blood but is to be born for Joseph as well. He does what he can to provide for Mary and the child. He guards and protects her in this dangerous hour.

The relatives of Joseph have also come to be counted for the census, but they have no mind for the Savior in their midst. The world wants to hear Christmas songs and participate in the mystical quality of the birth of Christ, but they have no mind for the Savior who is to be born. Many might feel compelled to attend a church on Christmas Eve, to hear the words of Luke 2, to watch children sing and imitate the birth of Christ, but they do not ponder these things in their hearts. It is a stage show for many, who can’t be bothered to leave their beds on Christmas morning, leaving the Christ child to be laid in a manger far away.

It is for this reason the Holy Angels announce the birth of the Savior to the shepherds. They are watching their flocks by night, doing the duty given to them by God. They are faithful to the sheep but despised by man. Shepherding was not a noble task. It was dirty and for the lowly. But the Holy Messengers of God reveal to these lowly men that a Savior is born this night, born for them and all people in the city of David. And this birth is the occasion for great joy.

Joy is much more than happiness. Joy is contentment that a promise has been fulfilled. Joy is a relief that what is to come is here. Joy erupts from the bowels of the joyful, leaping forth from the cattle stall of hearts frozen by fear. The joy attending the message of the Holy Angels is that Peace has been born in Bethlehem and God’s good will has come to dwell with man.

Tonight is the beginning of the feast of the Incarnation of our Lord. The Son of God is without beginning and without end. He was with God in the beginning at the very creation of the cosmos. The cattle stall in Bethlehem was not the beginning of His being. It was, however, the beginning of His Incarnation—His being wrapped in human flesh.

He took on flesh that He might fulfill the Law of God. Since the sin of Adam, sin has reigned in the flesh of all men, passed on from father to son. This Original Sin clings to the flesh of all mortals and renders us incapable of keeping the Law of God. We are incapable of keeping the Law because by our sinful nature, we are enemies of God. We deserve nothing but God’s wrath and punishment, both temporal and eternal. If you break even the least of the commandments, you are guilty of breaking the entire Law of God. The Law of God is His eternal will and as such, it demands to be fulfilled. We can’t do it. It required fulfillment and we can’t do it.

Thus, the Son of God was born without the help of man. He was Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin without the seed of man. He was born the Seed of the woman, the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15. Having no human father means that Original Sin was not wrought in the Christ’s flesh. He was without Original Sin and actively fulfilled the will of God. He kept it perfectly such that death had no claim on Him.

The Son of God also took on flesh that He might learn of your suffering. He was born in a manger among the animals. He endured poverty and scorn. As a man, He would endure physical suffering and torture, even death. There is no suffering known to man that the Christ did not endure. He endured these things so that He would take your suffering, pain, and sorrow onto Himself. He bore your sin and suffering so that they would be nailed to the cross with Him.

Above all, the Son of God took on mortal flesh so that one day, He would die on the cross and rise three days later. As God, He is life and cannot die. As a man, it is His fate to die. It is the fate of all men to die, that is the end of all flesh. The Son of God became man for this purpose, that He would die in your flesh, ending the curse of death given to man in the Garden of Eden.

This is the cause of Peace, and God’s goodwill toward men. Without Christ, there is only enmity between God and man. We are God’s enemy outside of Christ. There is no hope; there is no peace; there is no goodwill among men outside of Christ. The Holy Angels give glory to God on behalf of the birth of the Christ, the Savior of mankind. This is our joy this evening. This is our joy tomorrow morning. This is our joy every day of the year. Ponder these things in your heart and let the joy of the Incarnate Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary, erupt from deep within you. This peace, this joy cannot be taken from you. Nothing in heaven or earth can snatch you from the Father’s hand so long as you have Christ.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

In Memoriam + Susan Kay Fields +

In Memoriam + Susan Kay Fields + – November 1, 2022

Psalm 23; Job 19:21-27; Romans 3:19-28

St. Luke 2:25-32

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Although Scripture does not tell us his actual age, it is presumed that Simeon is an old man when he sings the words just read. “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant, depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples.”[1] Presumably many years before, the Lord revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the coming of the Lord’s Christ. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple, Simeon joyfully took up the child and burst forth in song.

What Simeon is praying for is death. He is praying that God would release him from this veil of tears because the Word of God had been fulfilled. The Savior had been born to save the world from sin. Confident that the Christ had come to forgive his sins, Simeon tells God that he is ready to die in peace.

Be very careful not to misunderstand these words of Simeon. When he asks to depart in peace, Simeon is not asking for a quiet death. He is not praying to fall asleep with a pleasant dream and simply not wake up on this side of glory. The peace in which Simeon prays to depart is peace with God. This peace is only possible with the coming of the Savior, the coming of the Son of God in human flesh, the coming of Jesus Christ.

St. Paul writes that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in [God’s] sight…for there is no difference; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[2] To be justified in God’s sight is to be declared, to be made, righteous, and yet there is nothing to be done according to the deeds of the law for man to make himself righteous. All have fallen short. All have sinned. All have sinned first through the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and then through the sins of your own flesh; sins in thought, word, and deed.

What are these sins? They are the works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, wrath, selfishness, dissensions, envy, murder, drunkenness, and the like.[3] Anything that is contrary to the will of God is sin and there is no one who is free from sin. All have fallen short of the glory of God.

Falling short of God’s glory would not present a problem if God was unjust. If God was unfair, unjust, and played by inconsistent rules, then sin would not matter. God would choose those whom He likes, or who please Him, and they would be saved. Those He doesn’t like; they would be damned. But the True and Living God cannot be persuaded. He cannot be bribed. He is not partial and He is not unfair. God is just.

God’s justice means that the only fair punishment for rebelling against His Word is death…eternal death. All sin is worthy of eternal death no matter how slight in your eyes because all sin is a despising of the God who created you. According to God’s justice alone, man does not stand a chance.

The evidence of sin and the consequences thereof lay before us today. Susan died because of sin. Do not misunderstand me, she did not die because God was punishing a specific sin. God is not so petty as to punish a lewd joke with a terrible disease. No; Susan died because she is human and in being human, she has participated in the sins common to all mankind. The wages of sin is death.

Thanks be to God that He is not only just. He is also the justifier of man. What does this mean? It means that God Himself is the one who took on human flesh. It means that God Himself lived a perfect life. He was born without sin because He was born of a virgin, without inheriting the sin of Adam. As Jesus walked through Galilee and Judea, teaching and healing, He was also gathering the sin of man upon His shoulders. When the Pharisees and the mob took Him to Pilate and demanded Jesus be crucified, He humbly submitted to an unjust death.

Where God is perfectly just, man is unjust. Therefore, God submitted Himself to an unjust death. The sins of man that He bore on His shoulders, He carried with Him to the cross. As Jesus Christ breathed out His final breath on the cross, He died the death that every human deserves. He endured the anguish not only of His own torturous death on the cross, but the physical and spiritual torment due to every human at every time and in every place. There is no suffering common to man which our Lord did not endure.

This same Jesus rested in the tomb for three days and then rose again. Christ rose from the dead not only because He is God, but because death had no claim to Him. He had not sinned in any way. The wages of sin is death and He had not earned death. Because of this, Jesus broke the power of death. He broke the chains of death. He ripped the teeth out of the vicious dog.

This is what Jesus means when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”[4] The death and resurrection of Jesus is the opening of the doorway to eternal life. Death no longer has dominion over those who are in Christ Jesus. Thus, when Simeon prays for a peaceful death, he is not rushing to die. He is not trying to hurry along. He is not looking for a death with dignity. He is asking that God would deliver to him the joys of salvation, that which has been promised to him in the death and resurrection of the Christ.

There was not a moment of Susan’s illness that was not torturous. Aggressive cancer is an ugly sight. It is an ugly sight because it is a visual reminder of the ugliness and the terrible effects of sin. It is the body consuming itself through growth against the will of man and the will of God. How can a just and merciful God allow such suffering, especially to one of His dear children?

Susan was a humble woman. A part of her humility was never bothering to question why God brought her such suffering. Susan’s faith, her trust in God, was an example to us all. And yet, not all of us are capable of such humility. We may question. We may worry.

The 17^th century pastor and hymnwriter, Paul Gerhardt, can help us to understand Susan’s humility, and possibly help us to imitate her great faith:

8    Leave all to His direction;

            In wisdom He doth reign,

      And in a way most wondrous

            His course He will maintain.

      Soon He, His promise keeping,

            With wonder-working skill

      Shall put away the sorrows

            That now thy spirit fill.

9    A while His consolation

            He may to thee deny,

      And seem as though in trial

            He far from thee would fly;

      A while distress and anguish

            May compass thee around,

      Nor to thy supplication

            An answering voice be found.

 

10  But if thou perseverest,

            Thou shalt deliverance find.

      Behold, all unexpected

            He will thy soul unbind

      And from the heavy burden

            Thy heart will soon set free;

      And thou wilt see the blessing

            He had in mind for thee.

 

11  O faithful child of heaven,

            How blessed shalt thou be!

      With songs of glad thanksgiving

            A crown awaiteth thee.

      Into thy hand thy Maker

            Will give the victor’s palm,

      And thou to thy Deliverer

                  Shalt sing a joyous psalm.

(Paul Gerhardt, Commit Whatever Grieves Thee, stanzas 8-11, translation as found in The Lutheran Hymnal. Text is in the public domain.)

On this side of glory, the children of God will continue to suffer because there is sin in the world. There is sin in our flesh. Satan and his demons still lurk in the shadows and still seek to destroy our faith that we would join them in their eternal suffering. And yet God never leaves us alone. What is a lifetime of suffering compared to an eternity of bliss in the presence of Christ? What is a year of cancer compared to an eternity of perfected glory? What is the pain of seeing a loved one suffer compared to an eternity of seeing your Savior with your own two eyes?

We are brought together today because of death. We mourn the loss of Susan because we can no longer reach out and hold her. We can no longer spend evenings talking and laughing together. It is just and right to mourn because death is not good. Death is not the friend of anyone. It is not a part of the circle of life.

However, we also gather today to look forward. We look forward to the day when all who have died will be raised. There will come a day when Christ returns to gather His people as a mother hen gathers her flock. On that day, all who have died in Christ, all who believe in Christ alone for their salvation, all who look to Him as the way, the truth, and the life will be reunited for all eternity. We shall open our eyes and see the face of Christ in glory.

However, on that day, all who do not follow the way, the truth, and the life will also be raised, but they will be raised to everlasting destruction. These will look to the face of Christ and see only judgement. These will only receive the justice of God, a just punishment for their sin. This eternal punishment is far worse than any human can imagine.

It is for this reason that we, like Susan, must rely on Christ. We must go to where He has promised to be—in His Word and Sacraments. We must gather with the church so that our bodies and souls will be fed on the Bread from heaven. We must train our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to trust on Jesus with everything that we have, praying that He would forgive our sins and strengthen us against the temptations of evil.

For a while, God may deny His consolations, His comforts to you. Susan certainly endured such a while. It may seem as though God is far off while distress and anguish surround you. And yet, if your faith perseveres, that is, if you trust that every act of God is for the good of those that love Him, then you know that He will find a way to bless you. When you least expect it, God will unbind your soul, releasing you from the burden of your sins, from pain and suffering. In Susan’s case, this meant calling her home to His side.

And then, with songs of glad thanksgiving, there will come the day when all His saints shall arise. With crowns of gold and palm branches of victory held high, the saints of God will sing His praises day and night. What a joyous day that will be. What a beautiful sight to behold. And all those who repent and believe in Christ will be there—with angels and archangels, with all the company of heaven, with Susan; and we will laud and magnify the glorious name of Christ forever and ever.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 2:29-30.

[2] Romans 3:20, 22-23.

[3] Galatians 5:19-21.

[4] St. John 14:6.