READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 7:10-14
Romans 1:1-6
St. Matthew 1:18-21
Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Who speaks to us on this eve of His own nativity, saying,
“Joseph, son of
David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in
her is from the Holy Spirit”
God works in the world, but He does not work with the world.
God is in the world, but He is not of the world. And this is the familiar verse
for us, from Jesus, that is to be in the world not of the world. Well, actually
its “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not
pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them
from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world”,
from John 17:14-16.
God works in the world and we can see it in our Gospel
reading, verse by verse. “The birth of Jesus Christ took place”, that is God
uses human fetal development, human maturing, and human birth, all of which
with we are very familiar, to come into the world. St. Mary was betrothed to
St. Joseph, that is the Father uses marriage, as we know it, to make this
family for Jesus.
The compassion of St. Joseph is not an earthly concept, but
the Lord allows us to find compassion in this life, so we understand it. Sleep
and dreams happen in our own slumber, being encouraged to take a leap of faith
and get married, and having children and a family. All of which even
unbelievers get to take part in. Christians do not corner the market on any of
this.
And this is what we must discern, that God gives this “daily
bread” to everyone, even all evil people, though they hate them. Therefore,
there is no command and no promise to find God in those things. For example,
just because we get married to someone in some way, does not mean that we have
faith in Christ, receive the forgiveness of sins, or have eternal life.
If we believed that, we would be of the world, believing
that the things of the world grant divinity. That simply because we develop as
a human, that is divine. That because we sleep and dream, those are things from
God sent to save us. That, because we take leaps of faith, we know that God
will give us what we leap for.
That is not how Christmass goes. If you notice, God is using
those things which He created, but using them in ways we refuse to, in our sin.
He is birthing our Savior because, in our sin, there is no way for us to bear
sinless children. According to the promise of the virgin birth, God makes it
so.
That is also the only way human development from conception
to the grave, is divine. It is because the holy life of Jesus spent time in
that development, that we can say “all life is holy”. Yet, we do not look for a
divine spark in an embryo, in order to gain God’s eternal compassion.
Just because you are married, or sleep, or have dreams, or
are in a family does not mean God has given you eternal life. God truly works
in the world, but He has not left a trail of bread crumbs in the world for us
to follow, hope to not lose any of it, and earn His love.
The birth of Jesus Christ happened the way it happened
because God willed it. And He willed it in order that we find Him to be a good
and gracious Father, a self-donating Son, and a sanctifying Spirit.
Does that makes sense? I hope it does. You will not find the
forgiveness of sins in birthing children. Children are an heritage, a gift, a
fruit of the Lord Who has suffered and died for you. For being in the world and
not of the world does not simply mean we change our principles. It means we
must be changed, inside and out.
So it is not birth, in and of itself, it is the birth of
Christ and the Promise that He is the Word made flesh, sent to save His people
from their sins. It is not simply being a virgin that allows God entrance into
the world, it is the virgin birth Promised to bring forth Jesus. Not just
marriage, but God’s promises in marriage. Not just being human, but the promise
of rescued humans.
Thus, returning to Jesus’s words to Joseph, “Joseph, son
of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in
her is from the Holy Spirit”, that which is truly God’s work is only from
the Holy Spirit. And how we know its from the Holy Spirit is if it was
promised.
This is because, in this fallen world, nothing is promised. The
birth of a child is not promised. It is perilous business being pregnant, let
alone giving birth. The life of both mother and child are at stake.
Being married is perilous. If you chose the wrong person to
marry, it could be disastrous for both parties and the children. Heartache,
struggle, anger. Marriage is not promised. Being parents, getting proper sleep,
and all this in safety to guarantee survival is not promised. So even in the
real world, faith is necessary.
Faith that things will all work out. Faith that everything
will be ok. Faith that what others have would be promised to us. Indeed, “the
righteous shall live by faith” alone (Rom 1:17)
So we seek the birth of Jesus and He was born, as promised,
in Bethlehem, never to be born again. We seek the saints Mary and Joseph as
promised, and we found them as guardians of Jesus until He matured. We will not
find Jesus with them, in that way, again. We seek the Lord’s strength in
marriage and rest, as promised, not that Jesus will be revealed in dreams
again, but that we hear and believe.
Thus the promise for us today is not to find Jesus in
swaddling clothes, but to find Him as promised, wrapped in Bread and wine at
the Altar of His church. The righteous live by faith, that is the promise of
salvation, given out by God, in the world. This, the word Christmas, teaches
us.
The word Christmas is from two words: Christ and Mass. You
see, Christmass was always a Service in Church. A time offered by God’s Church
to come and give thanks, to offer thanksgiving in this world. A thanksgiving
that must first descend from heaven and a service that must be God’s own.
The Mass, or the Divine Service, is God’s work in the world
which is not of this world. Anything that we accomplish is of the world. It
cannot be helped. We are born of the flesh and that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, sinful flesh. This is the importance of Jesus being made man, that
now, in the world, there is that which is not of the world: forgiveness.
The divine Service offered here is God’s work in the world.
There is nothing special about ink and page in itself, but with the Word of God
it is His life-giving Word, able to give heavenly faith. There is nothing
special about water, but with God’s Promise it is a life-giving water, rich in
grace, and a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Bread and wine can be found on any table and in any store,
without God’s promise, that is. But with God’s Promise, what is in the world
has been raised out of the world in order to accomplish the Will of God. That
Will being for us to hallow His Name and strengthen and keep us in His Word and
faith until we die.
Now, we seek the child of Bethlehem nowhere else besides
these promises. We seek Him in Word, water, bread and wine. Not because they
are otherworldly, but because God has attached His Promises to them, for you. We
will find Him in no other place. Jesus chooses to dwell with us in no other
way.
He has given us His Word, as He said in St. John 17 which I
quoted earlier. He has given us His Word as both promise and sacrament. Promise
that He will be faithful and rescue us from our sins and Sacrament that He will
perform that faithfulness and rescue in front of our eyes today, not just in
the end.
Being in the world and not of the world, means more than
just being kinder, nicer, and merry. It means going to church. It means being
brought out of the world by God’s own Promise and it means living this new life
in Christ, by the very things He has promised to leave in the world, just for
you.
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