Sermon Index
December 2, 2018, Advent 1C, Joint Service
| Luke 2:7-16 |
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Luke 2: 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. |
This year’s Advent and Christmas and Epiphany season sermon theme is “At the Manger.” We will look at the people and the actions that happen at the manger where Jesus was born. We will go to the manger and see Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the Angels, the Wisemen and ourselves. But today we will see the Baby who is lying in that manger. He is Jesus Christ. To understand the significance of that manger, we must know who and what the Baby is.
The Baby will go by many names: Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Son of Mary, Son of David, Son of God, Emmanuel, and others. But the most important name is God Almighty, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The God of the Universe is in that manger. That is hard for us humans to grasp. It is a miracle. It is the true miracle of Christmas.
For people who do not believe in Jesus as their Savior, the manger might as well be empty. Or the manger is filled with something other than Jesus. If you take Jesus Christ who is God Almighty out of the manger, what do you have? If you take “Christ” out of “Christmas,” what do you have?
“Christmas” becomes → “mass” which is just a lump, or becomes a “mess” of confusion, which it often seems to be. Or “Christ” is often replaced by “Santa” to become → “Santamas.” Now, the “mas” in “Christmas” really means “worship,” as when Roman Catholics call worship “Mass.” So “Christmas” really means the church service that remembers Christ. So if Christ is replaced by Santa, then it seems that Santa is being worshiped. Now if you put St. Nicholas for Santa, then his church holiday is December 6th, and St. Nicholas was a wonderful man known for his love and charity. But many people might replace “Christ” with “presents” or “party” or “me” or “money.” Businesses want to cash in at “Cashmas.” But for many poor people or lonely people without faith, this time of the year is just “emptymas” – “emptiness.”
It can be a struggle to keep Christ in Christmas. When we are tired or lonely or confused or busy, we wonder why God Almighty went to all the trouble to be born in a manger. He was born as a human so that he could die as a human. He was born so he could take our sins upon himself and die on the cross to forgive that sin. This was the perfect sacrifice. We will find salvation at the cross and at the empty tomb. But first we find the promise of salvation at the manger in Bethlehem. Like the Shepherds, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church