The Christmas Gift

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is opened before you a gift of inestimable worth. It is a gift spoken of from in many and various ways, by prophets and patriarchs, by kings and poets. But it is not a new and strange thing. The New Testament contains this great gift. For the New Testament is nothing more than a revelation of the Old Testament. It is as though someone had sealed a letter long ago, and it is just now broken open. So the Old Testament is the testamentary letter of Christ, which He has commanded broken open after His death and proclaimed to the whole world through the preaching of the Gospel.

The fulfillment of the Scriptures is brought forth today, wrapped in swaddling cloths. What was formerly wrapped in shadows and mysteries, known only to seers and prophets, is now revealed to the whole world. The mystery is broken open, the gift is given, the will is read. God is no longer hidden in cloud and smoke; He is present in flesh and blood.

What we celebrate today is a new and glorious work in the sight of God, but it is not a new and novel thing, as though it were completely unexpected. The gift given today is nothing other than God Himself, the eternal Word who was with God in the beginning, who is Himself God, the only-begotten Son of the Father. The same one who comes to you today is the same Word of the Lord who came to the patriarchs and prophets of old. He is the same Word of the Lord who created the heavens and the earth. He is the same Word who created you.

The Word, who was in the beginning with God and who is God, came to His people. He came because in Him is life. He is the life of all the living; without Him there is no life at all. And His life is the light of men. In His light do we see light, as the Psalmist proclaims. This all-illuming, life-giving Light of the World shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it, cannot surround it, cannot comprehend it in mind or body.

This light enlightens all men. All of creation is different on this day. No corner of the universe is left untouched with the Word is made flesh. What had been hidden is revealed. What had been yearned for is received. Groaning is turned to rejoicing. Grief is turned to gladness. The Light shines on all men, warming all hearts with His grace and favor, making provision for the salvation of all mankind, without thought to bloodline, birthright, or balance sheet.

Indeed, this is not news we should keep to ourselves! Let our gladness have no end, as the hymn says. The light that enlightens the world is for all people, as the angel proclaimed it. Go, tell it on the mountain. Tell it in the valley. Tell it in your homes and in your workplaces. Tell it in your cars and on your school busses. Let the glorious Light of the World shine in and through you, that you may bear witness to the light just as John did.

The truth of the Incarnation is something that must be proclaimed. For, as St. John records, the Word of the Lord came into His creation as one of His own creation, and His own people did not know Him. He did not fall from the sky in a flaming comet. He did not land in a massive pyramid-shaped spaceship. He did not emerge from a flaming volcano or slide down a rainbow bridge from the heavens. He came into this world just as you did. He came as a baby boy, born of a young mother who was betrothed to a stable, respectable man. His birth, if a bit inopportune to His parents, was otherwise unimpressive by divine standards. Had the angels not proclaimed it, who would have known?

God has come into the flesh of man. Do you see? God is one of you. The only-begotten Son of the Father, the eternally pre-existent Divine Word, is now a Man. He has all the parts and pieces you do. He shares everything that is human about you. He knows what makes you tick. He knows what tempts you, what gladdens you, what grieves you.

There is a miracle here, in itself. God is man! Even if Christ had not suffered and died, even if He had not healed or cast out demons or any of that, God is Man! God is not a block of wood, or a chunk of iron. God is not a tree or a bush or an elephant or a coyote or a lion or a duck or a pig. God is a man! This alone should cause you to rejoice – that God has so favored the human race to become one of us, and not an angel or something else. God is your brother, fully and completely.

This fact, and this whole text from John, testifies to the fact that creation is valuable and precious to God. God finds value and worth and meaning in human life. Christmas is a celebration of life. This is an occasion to celebrate the gifts that God gives in your flesh. The Word became flesh, took on human body and soul, and dwells with man.

There is a temptation at this time of year to become hyper-spiritual about all this Christmas, Nativity, Incarnation business. Of course, part of it is a reaction to the horrendous fleshly debacle that the world makes of December. This season is not all about gifts and cookies and eggnog. But it is not all about feeling the presence of goodness in your bosom. It is not about divesting yourself of the fleshly trappings of religion and devoting yourself to pure, spiritual worship of some purely spiritual deity. God likes flesh. He likes your flesh. He likes it so much that He took it upon Himself and was born into it. God thinks your flesh is good. And if it is good enough for God, do you not think it might be good enough for you, too? The Word became flesh, so that He might redeem your flesh, because He created your flesh.

We have a latent tendency toward Gnosticism, which leads us to think that the body is somehow bad or inferior or not valuable. This leads to all sorts of abuses. You may think that the body is weak, so you have to mortify it into the desired condition, exercising and dieting and reconfiguring until it suits your desires. Or you may not like the way your body looks, so you make it all sorts of unnatural colors, put holes where they do not belong, or use your own skin as a canvas for someone to draw pictures.

The idea that how your body was built is unimportant even leads to some depraved notions, such as body dysmorphic disorder and gender dysphoria. Basically, you think that someone messed up when you were made a man, and that really you should be a woman, and you are entitled to act and think as one, regardless of what your body looks like.

This depravity even extends into death. The funeral industry is built around discarding the body of the deceased, or mashing it up into something a human body was never designed to be, rather than granting the body of your loved one the dignity it deserves as the visible presence of your grandmother, husband, sister, or son. Death gets a pretty face painted on it, and the body of the deceased is handled with the minimum of care. Cremation is on the rise in many places, so that Grandma can be shoved into the fire, burned up, and flung to the wind. What does that say about the body that God created and gave to His child? Are you disposable?

Against all this, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” He dwells with man in human flesh and blood. That which was pre-existent, pre-eminent from before creation, is now a man, with a body and a soul, eyes, ears, and all the human senses. God has flesh, forever. There is a real live flesh-and-blood man sitting on the throne of heaven, just as the real live flesh-and-blood baby lay in the lap of Mary on Christmas morning. And we have seen Him. God has a face that you can see!

And God did not take on a face and a body and a soul and all that business simply for kicks and giggles. He did it to dwell among you, His people. And He dwells among you, full of grace and truth. This is the same God full of grace and truth of whom Moses was only able to see the backside, but whom nevertheless passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This God has come to show you not His backside, but His face, which shine upon you and gives you peace as He reveals to you the Father's gracious will for you.

For the glory of the Lord that is revealed from the Son is the grace of the Father, grace upon grace flowing from the cross which will bear this little babe in death. Yes, He will die. And you will live. And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. This little child, so weak and helpless in infancy, is the Word of God that pierces the darkness of death and brings light and life to the world. This is the Word of God who will proclaim the completion of the salvation of His people, pouring the grace of His crucifixion and resurrection onto the grace of His blessed Incarnation. And He does all this for you.

Today is the beginning of the new creation. Today is the beginning of new life for all the universe. Today is the day that God has proved His love for you and the inestimable value that He places upon you, even upon your flesh and blood. Today begins the resurrection of the body.

Today, a great and wondrous gift has been opened before you. The One who was eternally begotten and rests at the bosom of the Father, He now is begotten of woman and rests at the bosom of His Mother. Rejoice, Rejoice, this happy morn!

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.