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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, December 30, 2012

First Sunday of Christmas 12/30/12

First Sunday of Christmas 12/30/12 Text: Luke 2:22-40 Title: WOW! This morning I want to talk to you about one particular verse in our Gospel reading for today. It is the following: "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32 ESV) Sound familiar? It should, for most of the year that verse is the one we sing after taking communion. We join our voices, since we have taken into ourselves the body and blood of Christ with those of Simeon who proclaimed these words, as he held the 40 day old Jesus; Immanuel, God with us. Simeon had received a vision from God that he would see the Messiah, the salvation of Israel before he died. When Mary Jesus’ mother and Joseph her husband, I know our text says his father, but that is not in the most ancient of texts where it says Joseph, clarifying that Joseph was not Jesus biological father and his mother, entered the temple to complete Mary’s purification and to dedicate Jesus to the Lord, as all good Jewish families did, he was led to see in Jesus the Messiah, the glory of Israel. Just imagine what it must have been like for Simeon, for Anna, and Mary and Joseph that day. They all must have gone “Wow!” Bursting out in praise. That is all they could have done, for Jesus is God’s glory. It is not, as you might imply from the verse that I just read Israel’s glory, or our glory, for that matter. Jesus is God’s glory, for he is God in the flesh or as I said in my Christmas Day sermon, “God with skin.” Glory is a word that you might not have a good understanding of. It falls into the same category of church words like holy which we know as a good church word, but really don’t know the meaning of. Most people believe that the word holy means to be without sin even though its true meaning is “to be set apart for God’s use.” In other words to be in his service. We are holy because in his redeeming us from the just punishment of our sins we are set apart from those who have rejected his forgiveness, thus we are to serve God. The definition of glory when it refers to God, whether it is the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit is magnificence, or greatness above all other magnificence or greatness. It can also mean, as it is used in today’s Gospel lesson the greatness or magnificence given to Israel because Jesus came out of Israel. When we are confronted with God’s glory or even just the message of God’s glory our first reaction is “Wow!” because God and his work are so perfect, so marvelous, so beyond our understanding that we stand in awe of his might and power. He is, and thank God he is, so above our understanding. Do you fully understand the depth of God’s love? I don’t. Do you fully understand how his salvation works; one man died so all can live, even those who reject him? I don’t. Do you fully understand how faith is given in the waters of Baptism? I don’t. Do you fully understand that you, when you eat the bread and drink the wine of his Supper that you are eating his body and drinking his blood, for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life? I don’t. Do you fully understand how sinful each one of us is; that we are still, even though we are forgiven, still deserving of God’s wrath? I don’t. I don’t fully understand any of those things, but yet I know in reading God’s love letter to us; his Word, that in Jesus, God is love, that he is both man and God, that is why his death paid the price of sin for all people. I know that in Jesus, who in the beginning of time brought all things into existence is in the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. I know all those things, not because I have logically figured them out, but because Jesus is the revelation of God to the Gentiles, that is us. That is why we give God glory, that is why when it all boils down all we can say is “Wow!” before we burst out in praise whether it be in words, or song. Immanuel; God with us yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. He is our joy in sorrow, our certainty in uncertainty. God created. Wow? God caused a great flood to cover the whole earth. Wow! God made the people of Israel. Wow! God appeared to Moses in a burning bush that was never consumed. Wow! God parted the Red Sea and kept people of Israel fed and clothed for forty years of desert wandering. Wow! God became one of us by a virgin. Double Wow! God died in our place to satisfy his right and just wrath. Triple Wow! God rose from the dead, defeating death for us, ascended to heaven, for us, and has promised that he is coming back for us. Wow! And the biggest “Wow!” of all is that he did all of that for you, even though all of human kind, that includes us, really want nothing to do with him, even as we chase after the gods that promise happiness and security, but never deliver long term on those promises. Who can make us strong enough to name and treat each other as brothers and sisters of the highest God? Only God. Who but God can make me and you a saint even though we both know we are sinners? Only God. He is the only one and he has done it through the saving work of Jesus Christ; Immanuel, God with us. And if he has done the impossible and he has done it. We have his word on it. What other impossible things will he do in us and through us as his Spirit; the Spirit of God shapes our hearts and teaches us to trust him. Please listen and take into your heart the inspired words of Saint John, God with us. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth, for (continuing in verse 16) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:4-16 ESV) What a gift our God has given us in the marvel of his Son, the Word made flesh, who dwells with us day by day until he brings us home. Isn't that, after all, why grace and truth, as found in the wondrous Immanuel; God with us Jesus came into this world? Yes, indeed! Wow! It is a Merry Christmas indeed! Amen.