[Hear the historic Christmas Martyrology for the Nativity of
our Lord:
The twenty-fifth day of December.
In the five thousand one hundred and
ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world
from the time when God in
the beginning created the heavens and the earth;
the two thousand nine
hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;
the two thousand and
fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;
the one thousand five
hundred and tenth year from Moses
and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt
the one thousand and
thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;
in the sixty-fifth week
according to the prophecy of Daniel;
in the one hundred and
ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred and
fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome
the forty second year of
the reign of Octavian Augustus;
the whole world being at peace,
in the sixth age of the world,
Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of
the eternal Father,
desiring to sanctify the world by His most
merciful coming,
being conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and nine months having passed since His
conception,
was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin
Mary,
being made flesh.
The Nativity of our Lord
Jesus Christ according to the flesh.]
To the Church of God that is in Accident, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmass.
For your joy and edification this morning, I offer a
meditation by Johann Gerhard. Gerhard is revered as the greatest theologian of
the seventeenth century Lutheran Church. This meditation is from his landmark
devotional, Sacred Meditations, widely recognized as one of the finest
devotional works ever written in Western Christendom.
Let us listen to what so succinctly and so completely plumbs
the depths of God becoming flesh for you and me.
From MEDITATION XIV. THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION.
Christ’s Cradle glows with a Heavenly Light.
Let us for a little while withdraw our minds from
temporal things, and contemplate the mystery of our Lord’s birth.
The Son of God came
down from heaven, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. iv. 5).
God became man, that
man might become a partaker of divine grace and of the divine nature (2 Pet. i. 4).
Christ chose to be
born into the world in the evening of the world’s life, to signify that the
benefits of His incarnation pertain not to this present life, but to eternal
life.
He chose to be born
in the time of the peaceful Augustus, because He was the blessed peacemaker
between man and God.
He chose to be born
in the time of Israel’s servitude, because He is the true liberator and
defender of His people.
He chose to be born
under the reign of a foreign prince, seeing that His kingdom is not of this
world (John xviii. 36).
He is born of a
virgin to signify that He is born in the hearts of spiritual virgins only (2 Cor. xi. 2), that is, in those who are not joined to the
world or to the devil, but to God by one Spirit.
He is born pure and
holy, that He might sanctify our impure and defiled birth.
He is born of a
virgin espoused to a man, that He might set forth the honor of marriage as a divine
institution.
He was born in the
darkness of the night, who came as the true light to illumine the darkness of
the world.
He who is the true
food of our souls is laid in a manger.
He is born among the
beasts of the stall, that He might restore to their former dignity and honor
sinful men, who through their sins had made themselves little better than the
beasts.
He is born in
Bethlehem, the house of bread, who brought with Himself from heaven the bread
of life for our souls.
He is the first and
only-begotten of His mother here on
earth, who according to His
divine nature is the first and only-begotten of His Father in heaven.
He is born poor and
needy (2 Cor. viii. 9), that He might prepare the
riches of heaven for us.
He is born in a mean
stable, that He might lead us back to the royal palace of His Father in heaven.
He is sent from
heaven as the messenger of redemptive grace, because no one
on earth knew its exceeding greatness. It is with good reason that He, a
heavenly messenger, should bring us the tidings of those heavenly blessings
that are reserved for us at His right hand above.
The angelic hosts
rejoice at the birth of Christ because, through the incarnation of the Son of
God, they can have us poor mortals as the companions of their blessedness.
This great wonder is
first announced to shepherds, because as the true Shepherd of souls He had come
at that time to bring back His lost sheep into His fold. The glad tidings of
great joy are proclaimed to the despised and lowly, because no one can become a
sharer of that joy who is not lightly esteemed in his own eyes. The nativity is
announced to those watching their flocks by night, because only those can
become partakers of this great gift to man whose hearts are watchful toward God,
and not those who are fast asleep in sin.
And now the
multitude of the heavenly host, who had so sorely grieved over the sin of our
first parent, shout aloud for joy. The splendor of our Lord and King appears in
the heavens, whose lowliness upon the earth looked so mean in the eyes of men.
The angel bids the
shepherds “Fear not,” because of the birth of Him who should remove from us
every cause of fear.
Good tidings of
great joy are announced, because the author and giver of all joy was born into
the world. They are bidden rejoice, because the enmity between God and man, the
real cause of all our sorrow, was removed.
“Glory to God in the
highest,” they sang, because by the willful transgression of His command our
first parent sought to rob God
of His glory.
The birth of Christ
brought true peace to men, who before this were the enemies of God, were at war
with their own consciences, and at variance among themselves. True peace was
thus restored to earth, because he was overcome who had led us captive at his
will.
Let us now go with the shepherds to the manger of Christ,
that is, His church, and as He lay in that manger in swaddling clothes, so in
the sacred scriptures, we shall find our Savior.
Let us also with a lively recollection of the words of this
mystery, like Mary, the blessed mother of our Lord, keep pondering them
continually in our hearts (Luke ii. 19). Let us with glad voices join in the
angels’ song, and render unto the Lord the thanks due unto His name for His
marvelous benefits to us.
Let us rejoice and shout for joy with the whole multitude of
the heavenly host. For if the angels rejoiced so greatly on our account, how much
more ought we rejoice, to whom this Child is born, to whom this Son is given
(Is. ix. 6). If the Israelites lifted up their voices in jubilant shouts when
the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to them (2 Sam. vi. 16), which was a
type and a shadow of the incarnation of our dear Lord, how much more ought we
rejoice, since our Lord Himself hath come down to us, in the assumption of our
human nature.
If Abraham rejoiced to see the day of the Lord (John viii. 56),
when the Lord assuming at that time bodily shape, appeared to him, what ought
we to do, seeing that our Lord hath taken our nature into a perpetual and
indissoluble union with Himself?
O let us admire the marvelous goodness of our God, who, when
we could not ascend to Him, hesitated not to descend to us. Let us stand in
wonder at the marvelous power of our God, who was able to unite in one two
natures so diverse as the divine and human, so that one and the same Person is
now both God and man. Let us admire the marvelous wisdom of our God, who could
devise a scheme for our redemption, which neither angels nor men could have
devised.
Infinite good was offended; an infinite satisfaction was
required. Man had offended God, from man the satisfaction for sin must be
required. But finite man could not possibly render an infinite satisfaction,
nor could divine justice be satisfied but on the payment of an infinite ransom.
For this reason God became man that, for man who had sinned,
He might render a perfect satisfaction for sin, and as God who was infinite He
might pay an infinite price for our redemption. Well may we wonder at this
stupendous reconciliation of divine justice and mercy, which no one, before God
was manifest in the flesh, could have devised, nor after He was so manifested,
could fully comprehend. Let us stand in wonder at this mystery, but let us not
too curiously pry into it. Let us desire reverently to study it, although we
cannot fully understand it. Rather let us confess our ignorance than deny the
power of God.
from Sacred Meditations
by Johann Gerhard
translated by The Rev. C.W. Heisler
originally published by Lutheran Publication
Society, Phil. PA 1896
reprinted by Repristination Press, Malone
Texas, 1998 & 2000
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