Preached on January 3, 2016
St. Matthew 2:13–23
In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit –
The post-Christmas Let-Down: The presents
are all unwrapped, maybe already spent or exchanged. Some of them were probably
disappointing. The hopeful “All I want for Christmas” is warped into a
regretful “All I wanted for Christmas” and I didn't get it, or it didn’t turn
out to be what I thought. We work so hard to make it magical and so often our
efforts fall flat.
But these doldrums are nothing
compared to the dark days after that first Christmas. A ruthless king is after
the Christ Child. The poor family is forced to flee into a foreign country. And
in the meantime, little boys are massacred and their mothers are inconsolable. Where
are the angels now? One angel shows up in a dream with a last-minute warning, but
where’s the army to defend the Holy Family? Where’s the glory of God that was once
sung over Bethlehem’s fields? The only song now heard in the little town is the
song of weeping and loud lamentation.
Where’s the angelic promise of peace on earth?
Yet, we are Christians, and we
know the dark road to the cross that this Baby will walk. It was for this
reason He was born. And we need not be surprised to see evil so riled up
against the Gospel. The news of a Savior had surely spread from the shepherds. The
arrival of the Wise Men didn’t help much either, but greatly troubled Herod and all Jerusalem with him. They could
not bear the coming of another King, one who threatened to topple their power
with His truth and justice. A tyrant is always insecure and always fearful of a
stronger man coming to take his place. So it no surprise really that after a
multitude of angels bursting in and a divinely appointed star beaming down, after
shepherds glorifying and praising God and wise men worshiping a little baby,
declaring Him to be God and the true King, it’s no wonder that the cosmic powers over this present
darkness, the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12), the Devil, this world’s
tyrant, and all his subjects would rise up and attack. Do not be surprised
at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something
strange were happening to you. With His birth, the Lord declared war
on Satan and sin. Bethlehem was only the first battlefield. Our God is a man,
the true King on earth, and He came to defeat His enemies and ours, to win us
back, to deliver us from the domain of darkness and to transfer us to the
kingdom of God.
But look at the Christ Child. He
is the Creator and Master of all, yet He acts like any ordinary baby –
helpless, defenseless, completely dependent on His parents. Why didn’t He make
use of His divine omnipotence? Or why not call upon the protection and
assistance of the angels, who could easily have disposed of Herod? Surely He
could have raised His infant hand and repulsed Herod’s soldiers, just as He had
once drowned Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea. But our God is a man. As a real,
ordinary man the Lord did not always or completely use His divine power. This
is what we call the humiliation of Christ, which He suffered willingly, by His
own choice, for He was determined to be like us in all things, except without
sin.
Christ allowed Himself to be
treated like any other child. He did not want something more extraordinary than
others, but because He was determined to be an ordinary human, he lived and
behaved like a human, allowing Himself to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and
nursed at his mother’s breast. He learned to pull himself up on chairs and
benches. He grew and learned His Aleph, Bet, Gimel’s – that’s the Hebrew ABC’s.
In short, this central doctrine of the Christian faith is that the Son of the
Father is by nature true man, born of a virgin, and He experienced life on
earth as any other man – including suffering. Especially including suffering. For
this sinless man, our Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world to suffer and die
for us. Though He came to defeat sin, death, and Satan, He did not come to
destroy the world or to defend Himself with the sword. Instead, He innocently suffered
wrong in order to bring about our good. He died so that we might live.
The Devil’s raging and Herod’s
violence accomplish nothing in the face of such a Christ. The evil they inflict
is all taken into the cross of Christ and God our faithful and loving Father works
it for good. Even as Herod killed the boys of Bethlehem, they were taken out of
this world and his kingdom, and brought into heaven. If Caesar Augustus himself
had wanted to give these boys his whole empire, he would not have served them
so well as Herod did by his butchery. Herod wanted to do evil but he sent them
to heaven, making them nothing less than martyrs, whose blood is precious in
the sight of God! For the parents it was a terribly painful thing, but the Lord
worked it for the good of the children. They felt no anguish in their souls. And
we should note with joy, that while those Bethlehem mothers lost maybe 40 or 50
years of life with their boys on earth, they have now enjoyed 2000 years with
them in the perfect bliss of heaven.
Whether it’s in contrast to the
tinsel and lights, or a it’s realization of a deeper truth about sin, our
suffering seems to strike deep at Christmas. The pain of loss is felt more
keenly. No wonder Charles Dickens used ghosts in his Christmas story. We all have
ghosts visiting us, whether it's the memory of loved ones no longer with us, or
the ongoing struggle with alcoholism, the family member who won’t talk to us,
or the ones we can’t stand. Christmas has a way of highlighting the sins and
sorrows we try to sweep under the rug for the rest of the year. And rather than
ignore it, we must confess it.
Now, in a sense, we can say some
of our suffering is innocent of any wrong committed by us, like the mothers of
Bethlehem. But much more often our suffering comes from the temporal
consequences of our sinful thoughts, words, and actions. Where is the glory and
where is the peace on earth? Not in our efforts or desires. Look at the Christ
Child clutched in His mother’s arms as Joseph leads them into the night. Repent
of your anger and fears, your self-pity and grudges. Take comfort in the cross of
Christ. He suffered for you, for your good. His promise of glory and peace for
you is found in the forgiveness of your sins. And rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also
rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed… If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, nor
despairing, nor without hope, but let him
glorify God in that name – the name Christian.
This is the mystery of
Christmas: the mystery and the reality of suffering in the Christian life. It
is the mystery that our Lord does not save us without suffering or from suffering,
but He saves us through suffering. Through Christ’s suffering we are made whole
and delivered. It is a mystery that by faith you share in Christ’s suffering, and
in this lowly, humble, and often painful way, sin is put to death in you, and
the goodness of God is given to you. So often we want a miraculous rescue and a
magical Christmas. We want something out of the ordinary and something without
a cross. There are many who do not go to church or make use of the means of grace
which God has given, because they think they can find something better. But God
gave you worldly rulers and parents to protect you and teach you. He gave you
pastors, the Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper to nurture and sustain you by
His grace. He gives you everything that belongs to physical and spiritual life.
If you insist on some special innovation, some divine intervention that not
even the Christ Child took for Himself, then you act contrary to God’s will and
command. But by ordering your life according to God’s ways, His instituted
offices in church, family, and government, His commanded sacraments and preaching,
then you will not go wrong. In these ways God works His good. It’s a rather
earthy answer, but the God of Christmas and Good Friday is a rather earthy God.
Therefore let those who suffer according to
God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to
us. (Rom. 8:18) And then
we will share in the full peace and glory once sung by angels.
Merry 10th Day of Christmas!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus –
A few paragraphs were drawn from Martin
Luther’s sermon, “The Day of the Holy Innocents,” The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 7, pp.260–4.
