Hodie salvator apparuit. Today, the Savior appears.
Hodie in terra canunt angeli. Today, on earth, the angels sing
Letantur arcangeli. And the Archangels rejoice.
Hodie exultant iusti dicentes: Today, the Just exult, saying:
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Alleluia.
This day, the Lord goes with you. This day, you shall see His Glory. This day, the Lord comes. This day, salvation is yours.
Why? This is not Good Friday and it is certainly not Easter. The reason for celebration is that now the Lord will speak to us, directly. Now God has taken on human flesh, with a human voice, and will speak to us, Himself, instead of through prophets and promises.
Now that the battle for Christmas is over, in the eyes of the world, we can stop saying things like, “Put Christ back in Christmas” or “Jesus is the reason for the season”. Because now we know, that it is the Mass that needs to be put back into Christmass. It is that people need to hear that they are the reason for the season and they need to hear it in church.
For it is only here; only by the lips of Jesus Himself, that the Gospel is preached. You will not find the Gospel in a food pantry, an outdoor hike, or a football game. You will not find the Gospel in your children or your family.
Because the Gospel is not good works of thought, word, and deed. It is not “love your neighbor as yourself” nor is it “something to do”. In the Gospel, we only hear the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We only hear that, in Jesus, God gives forgiveness, faith, life, and the power to please Him with His Good works.
The Lord gives and we receive. It has been so since the beginning. Did Adam and Eve earn all of Creation? No, yet the Lord still gave the entire universe to them. Did Abraham deserve to be called the father of many nations? No. It was a gift; free and complete.
Today, we remember that the Lord also gives to us the entire kingdom of heaven.
“For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
For it is today, that we hear of a Savior being presented as a gift to all of fallen Creation; presented as an offering, an atonement for sin.
This is because it is evident that Creation is fallen. A savior was born for some reason. Someone needed to be saved from something. Indeed, the reason for a Savior being born; the reason for Christmass is you; needing to be saved from your sin; your sin that prevents you from hearing, even desiring this Gospel of God.
For no one is justified before God by the Law, no one is righteous, no one seeks God, so one has eyes that see or ears that hear.
So, with the sounds of a trumpet; with the sound of heaven being torn asunder; with the clamor of mountains melting and valleys being raised up, Jesus comes. As far as this curse of sin is found, Jesus has redeemed us from it, becoming accursed Himself, for cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal.3:12)
There is no other Gospel. You do not make it up. I do not make it up. The pope does not make it up. Some deep, dark church conspiracy did not make it up. Jesus made it up. He who created all things, creates salvation for you, delivered only by His Holy Spirit.
And what He delivers centers on Christ crucified. What St. Mary delivers, on Christmass morning is a baby, but it is salvation for the world. What the Church delivers today, is you, born of water and the Word; baptized into Christ: body and blood; death and resurrection.
Jesus is the end of the Law for righteousness for everyone who believes the words of the pastor Christ has sent to you (Rom.10:3,14-15). For in hearing the Gospel of Christ, true Faith is given to you and you believe.
This free gift from God is offered no where else. God only gives the forgiveness of sins in the Gospel; the good news that we are freed from the guilt, the punishment, and the power of sin. That we are saved eternally because of Christ’s keeping the Law and His suffering and death, for us.
The Law shows us our sin and the Gospel shows us our Savior and the grace of God. That, for our salvation, He has offered up His only begotten Son to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of Light. The Gospel is what Christ has done for us and that’s it.
Thus, that is what is given to you, each Divine Service. The Divine steps down from heaven and serves you forgiveness. To press this point home, we have even placed the Gospel in the very name of this church. “Evangel” is the Greek word for Gospel and we sit in St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church.
We declare, that in this place, we will hear the Gospel. We will receive the Gospel. We will believe the Gospel and our life will come from the Gospel. This happens because Jesus is born Emmanuel, “God with us”. Not just in an almighty, He is everywhere, sense, but in a real and physical sense.
For Christ comes, Himself, body and blood, to distribute His own gifts of the Gospel upon you. The born of a virgin, crucified and risen Savior of the world shows up for Service, each and every time, to serve us with the fruits of His cross. The Law may kill, but the Gospel, risen from death, gives life.
Christ is born that you, a dead sinner, would have life. Christ is come, this day, to bring salvation to you. Jesus draws near to, once again, lay Himself in a cradle. This time, though, the cradle is your mouth and the swaddling clothes, your body.
“For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given.”
Merry Christmass!
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