Dec. 24, 2015 – Christmas Eve                                             Text:  Galatians 4:4-5

Dear Friends in Christ,

There is something timeless about Christmas.  We get very nostalgic at this time of year as we think of happy memories that surround family and church traditions.  We see nativity scenes and Christmas cards and sing carols of the baby Jesus “sleeping in heavenly peace” surrounded by angels.  It is right and meet so to do to celebrate our Lord’s incarnation in every time and place and from generation to generation.

And yet, we don’t want to forget that Jesus became flesh in a specific moment in history.  “When the fullness of time had come,” says St. Paul, “God sent forth His Son.” (Gal. 4:4a).  Do you know about that “fullness of time” when the prophecies had been fulfilled and all was ready?  It was a time of social turmoil, religious confusion and moral decay.  Then and now.  Today and yesterday.  The past and the present.  They all lead to the fact that . . .

“CHRISTMAS IS TIMELESS”

We go back to the years before Christ was born.  Pompey the Great captured Judea in 63 B.C.  He became a bitter rival to another brilliant general by the name of Julius Caesar.  They fought a civil war on a global scale.  It ended with Pompey’s murder and Caesar’s victory.  Caesar himself was then assassinated by Roman senators and another power struggle ensued.  Marc Antony fell in love with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and he abandoned Rome.  Caesar’s adopted son Octavian then took over the city, made himself ruler and took the name Caesar Augustus.  Now there is another familiar name!

By the time of Christ’s birth, Augustus reigned supreme not only over Rome, but also over Judea, all of Asia Minor, northern Africa, and much of Europe.  His power and wealth and influence seemed to fit the bill for a son of God more than the homeless Child laid in a manger.

History has shown that Rome was a great civilization with a system of laws that continue to shape our legal code.  They have a legacy of literature, education, and technology and still influence the world.  But, by the time the Christ child was born this civilization morally was going down the toilet.  Prostitution was everywhere and had been accepted by society.  Homosexuality was widespread throughout this Greco-Roman world.  Abortion and the killing of children were not uncommon.  The masses were entertained with blood sports in the arenas that could involve anything from the torture of criminals by burning to those being devoured by wild animals.

That first Christmas was a time of social upheaval, political conflict, moral decay, recreational sex and violence, religious disunity and general hopelessness.  Sound familiar?  How many of you are beaten down and feeling hopeless this night?  Most of us live in a state where political fighting or non-activity is a regular occurrence.  Aren’t you concerned about what the leaders of the “Land of Lincoln” will smack us with in the New Year?  On the national scene, how many debates do we need?  Can’t there be a better system than wasting all this money two years out from the election?

Who saw marijuana not being a crime and then being sanctioned by the government?  Can legal prostitution be far behind?  Abortion is still a challenge and life is seen as worthless for those with terminal cancer or even a disability?  The gays and lesbians continue to push their agenda and now we have the transgender screaming about their rights in our local school districts?  How much longer before we all share the same bathroom?  Our entertainment is provided by the Kardashians and reality television where people make a train wreck of their lives.  Sports have become a god in our country and people are purposely breaking their arms just to make it on the Internet.  Yes, we are tired and worn down and fed up to here.

Enter a Savior.  Interestingly enough, the events that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem were put in motion by government.  A census was being taken.  Every person was to be counted.  During their time away, a baby, the one who would be counted the greatest of all time, would make His way into our world.  John says that he came into the darkness and boy did He ever.  The world at this point was groaning and God knew it was time.

Our world is groaning.  We use words like “tired”, “worn down”, “I’ve had enough,” or the all-time favorite, “the world is going to hell in a hand basket.”  But that is the nature of the world and the world does not recognize it.  We think we always have to have an explanation for things when the explanation has been there since the Garden of Eden – human sin.  This folks is not going away.

So how then do we “sleep in heavenly peace”?  Led by the Holy Spirit we in faith believe in this Savior who came into the darkness.  He comes to you and me through His Word and His Sacraments.  That Word is a reminder that He is Christ the Lord.  He has come with joy to this world to tell us that He has overcome our doubts, our weakness, our sin.  He breaks into our sin-ravaged lives and declares that we have been redeemed from our sin.  Our Baptisms cleansed us from the muck and mire of society and the body and blood of Christ continue to strengthen us against the evil that surrounds us.  This world can provide the body blows but the knockout came by one born King of kings.  His victory over sin, death, and the devil is your victory over sin, death, and the devil.  In every age and throughout the course of a person’s lifetime, He brings to us the redemption won by His incarnation, death, and resurrection.  His peace and favor rests upon us forever.  In that sense, Christmas really is timeless.

Amen.

December 27, 2015                                                               Text:  Matthew 2:13-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

Christmas in the U.S. wears two faces.  How many Christmas letters that you received talked about the family’s sin or heartache that was experienced.  We sing “Joy to the World” yet read of murder, violence and rape online or in the paper.  We proclaim peace on earth while world leaders try to implement it in hot spots around the world.  Merchants are figuring out how “good” a Christmas it was as they figure out their sales.

Perhaps those of us who know the “Reason for the Season” are partly guilty for the fake Christmas around us.  We present neighbors and friends with holiday joy on our faces without first proclaiming why baby Jesus was born.  We know the good news sung by the angels, but how many sermons have you heard on weeping Rachel?  Rachel is an important person in Matthew’s Christmas story.  Listen to this – it is the rest of the Christmas story.

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’  And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.  This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”

“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.  Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:  ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’”

Who is Rachel?  Why is she weeping?  And why do we usually ignore her?

“WHY ARE YOU WEEPING, RACHEL?”

Perhaps you remember Rachel’s story from Sunday School.  She met Jacob who wanted to marry her, but first Laban, Rachel’s father, tricked him.  He was to work seven years to “earn” Rachel, but on the wedding day he found out he had married her sister, Leah.  He then had to work seven more years for Rachel.  Rachel must have wept over that.

Rachel must have wept when she could not have children and the she had to watch as Leah and Jacob’s “second wives” gave Jacob 10 sons and a daughter.  Finally Rachel’s womb opened and she gave birth to Joseph.  She then died weeping giving birth to Benjamin.  Jacob buried her near Bethlehem.

Matthew does a remarkable thing in our text, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  He takes a historical event from 600 years before Jesus’ birth and applies it to the children of Rachel who died soon after Jesus was born.  The Holy Innocents – the two year old boys and younger died.  Rachel wept.

This is the rest of the Christmas story.  Jesus came into a world of sin.  Satan tries to kill baby Jesus before he would grow up and defeat him at the cross.  The devil still seeks those he can devour.  Innocent babies still die at the hands of medical professionals.  Listen!  Do you hear Rachel weeping?  I do.

Matthew’s Gospel story is how God came to conquer sin – your sin and mine.  Jesus came into a world that threatened his life just as it threatens yours.  Matthew tells of Herod’s bloody swords so he can also tell us how God the Father sent an angel to protect, Jesus, Joseph, and Mary so that Jesus could carry out his mission of dying for the sins of the world.

The world does not want to hear about sin and maybe we don’t either on this Sunday after Christmas, but there is no Christmas without Good Friday.  We perpetuate people’s walk to hell when we permit them to have a pretend Christmas.  A Christmas without Rachel weeping may as well be built on rooty-toot toots and rummy-tum-tums.

Our world is one that needs Jesus in the manger and on the cross and at the empty tomb.  Our world needs Jesus raised from the dead.  Our world needs Jesus because Rachel still weeps.  Rachel weeps and so do you, don’t you?  I know I do and I just experienced it recently with an incident.   Spouse abuse is real.  Cancer is real.  Abuse of drugs and alcohol is real.  Adultery is real.  Lack of thankfulness to our Lord is real.  Slander and theft and greed are real.  Death is real.

Jesus was born to deal with our real world.  Jesus was born to dry Rachel’s tears.  Jesus lived and died and rose again to dry your tears.  On our Christmas tree we have a spike hanging on there.  It reminds us that Christmas is real at our house because Good Friday and Easter are real.

Christmas can be a sham to make people feel good without reminding them of their basic problem – sin.  This morning you and I are at Rachel’s tomb.  We hear her weeping.  We remember our weeping.  So today we ask the Lord to “wipe away every tear from eye.”  We rejoice with the hymn writer, “Then when You will come again As the glorious king to reign, I with joy will see your face, Freely ransomed by your grace.”  Amen.