Christmas 2005 Luke 2 19
Christmas Sermon
Luke 2:19
December 25, 2005
“The Mystery in the Manger”
after H. Senkbeil
Introduction: At first hearing it seems as though Mary must have gotten it all wrong. I mean, isn't Christmas a time for celebration? And here Luke tells us that "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (2:19). Quietly she considered all that God had said and would do. The contrast is striking. Every year the Christmas retail season starts earlier and earlier and the hype gets more and more intense, the first Christmas was not an intense affair at all. If anything, it seems to be quite calm and quiet in comparison to today's festivities.
Now, of course, you can't blame people for trying to make a buck. Christmas has its entertainment side and its retail side, but we have not come here today be entertained. We are here on God's business. And God's business is to call a halt all the busy-ness of our hectic lives and this hectic season so that we might discover anew the good news of great joy that was proclaimed a long time ago to shepherds on Bethlehem's plain: "Today ... a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord" (2:11).
You and I have much to learn from Mary, the mother of our Lord. What exactly did she "ponder" in her heart? Certainly not those things many people have come to expect in this season: an extravagance of gifts and decorations, the sound of carols and the glistening of bright Christmas lights that casts a mystic glow over the new fallen snow. No, Mary's enchantment was not found in any of that. Rather, what she pondered in her heart was that which had been spoken by the angel of the Lord to the rugged shepherds concerning her baby boy, that He was "Christ the Lord."
As she looked down at the tiny baby wrapped tightly in swaddling clothes in his manger bed, she may have thought, “could this baby really be the Lord, the God of hosts, who feeds all creation, who opens up his hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing, that He, the Lord, would come to be so small that he would take flesh within her virgin womb, be born as a helpless infant boy, and be suckled at her breast? These are things that need to be pondered."
Good news of great joy that will be for all the people" (Lk 2: 10), the angel had announced to the shepherds. This was no pipe dream or human speculation; these words were from the very mouth of God. Mary’s firstborn Son was none other than the Messiah, the promised Redeemer, and God in human flesh and bone. So Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. It was a mystery beyond her human comprehension just as it is a mystery to us. How can this be? And yet it is so. God has spoken it and we believe and we ponder.
You and I can do no less on this holy day. For when all is said and done, there is nothing to say or do that could add the smallest luster to this day. The most overpowering music or overwhelming light display could never hold a candle to the simple wonder of a heart captivated by our gracious God, who so loved the world so that he gave his only begotten Son. When we could not go to him, he has come to us wrapped in swaddling clothes. This is the mystery in the manger; God in diapers, here among us. God in a crib-and then some 30 years later, God on a cross, made to be sin for us that He might remove forever the curse of sin and the sting of death, which is the just penalty of God's Law. And He did this for you, and you, and you. "that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). This is what Christmas is all about. That God’s love for you is that great.
Everything else will fade, The glitz and glitter will soon be packed away for another year. The excitement of children and the happy glow of all we've come to expect from this day will be gone. It all comes and it all quickly goes, but not this treasure and gift from God. This gift lasts forever.
In faith, let Mary lead the way this Christmas. Shut down your heads which cannot comprehend the mystery and open up your heart to receive the great glad news that Christ is born a child. "Let ev'ry heart prepare him room (LW 53:1). For he comes to us still. He comes for every soul distressed and lonely and grieving. He comes for every wounded mind and heart. He comes for peace that passes all understanding, for forgiveness, for life and our salvation. He comes for you and you and you this day. And you can be sure of this: "Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in" (LW 59:3). The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. And so Mary took a moment, and we take a moment to be still to ponder again God’s love for us, that God out of His great love would become one of us, even as a small baby born in a manger. Amen