Advent IV, December 21, 2014

At Christmas what are we celebrating? There are many holidays and celebrations throughout the year. In the church we remember and celebrate the events in he life of Jesus: his birth, his baptism, the last supper, his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension, and his second coming. At Christmas we remember his historical birth, but we are celebrating what that means.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of God. That expression sounds odd because God is eternal, but Jesus Christ is God and he was born on this earth. For people, birth is the start of their life; but for Jesus who existed from eternity, his birth is the start of his life on this earth as a human being. Jesus is God. The Christmas story makes that very clear. The angel announced to Mary that, even though she was a virgin, she would have a child who would be the Son of God. The angel told the same thing to Mary’s fiancé, Joseph. Jesus is god and at the same time human, because he has a human mother. The scripture is very clear about this, too. Jesus is true man.

And so at Christmas, heaven comes down to earth. At Christmas, infinity takes a finite form. At Christmas, eternity steps in to time. That is important because we live on this earth, are finite in form and are limited in time on this earth. By ourselves we cannot get to heaven, we can not live forever. And so God came to this earth in the form of Jesus Christ.

I suppose that Jesus could have come straight from heaven and appeared already as an adult. But then he would not have the full human experience. And also, Jesus came to save not only adults, but also small babies and children. The Christmas Gospel tells us that Jesus loves the whole world and wants to save the whole world because the whole world needs to be saved.

I suppose that Jesus could have come straight from heaven and appeared as an angel. Angels are powerful messengers of God, but Jesus had to come as a human in order do what no angel can do: that is, to take upon himself the sin of the world.

I suppose that Jesus could have come straight from heaven and be a mighty warrior to defeat first the enemies of Israel and then all bad governments and to establish upon earth a new Garden of Eden. But rather he came with love and with the weakness of a little child. He came to show what real love is and what true strength is. He came to bring forgiveness. He came to change people’s hearts.

I suppose, no, I believe that Jesus can come straight from heaven today and be with us in church and in our daily lives. That is why he is called “Emmanuel, God with Us.” And so what we are celebrating at Christmas is not only an historical event 2000 years ago, but an event that happens again today. Christ comes to us in the Bible, in our worship, in the Sacrament, in our prayers, in our songs, and in our love. This is our Christian faith. This is our Christian-Christmas Celebration.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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