The War of Christmas

In the Name of the One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Merry Christmas! Today, Christ is born. Today, salvation has appeared. Today, the just exult and say “Glory to God in the Highest!” While it may feel like Christmas is over—after all, even the radio stations which have been blasting Christmas tunes since October have switched back to classic-ish rock or whatever else it is that they play—for Holy Church, the celebration has just begun! We’re only on day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas! So keep celebrating our Lord’s Incarnation! Keep the feast and bask in the glory of the God-Made-Flesh. Keep the tree up, keep the lights on, and linger in the warmth of the Light of the World, Who came into the world to save us. This is, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year!

But our celebrations of Christmas aren’t always easy. Family issues. Work issues. Life… these things sometimes cloud our sight and turn what should be an overabundance of joy in celebrating the Lord’s Nativity into a colossal downer. The most wonderful time of the year can become the most dreaded. It can be hard to see that Light of the World, shining brightly as He does, when our eyes are dim with sin, sorrow, sickness, and all the other various and sundry troubles of this earthly life.

And yet, here we are today, still celebrating the Lord’s Incarnation. Here we are, celebrating the most epic war story ever told. Now, we don’t typically think about war when we think of Christmas—although, perhaps, we may think of that so-called war on Christmas against which we’re apparently supposed to fight. After all, how dare those godless pagans say “Happy Holidays?” Well, whether there is or is not an actual war on Christmas, that’s not the warfare I’m talking about. The war of Christmas is not a cultural battle over the soul of a nation, if such a thing exists. It’s not about taking our country back from the pagans. No, the War of Christmas is a much larger-scale war. It takes both world wars, the Napoleonic wars, and every battle humanity has ever fought and makes them seem like mere 3rd grade recess squabbles. This is a war of cosmic proportions. One of my favorite contemporary theologians, Chad Bird, writes about the Incarnation being the Holy Trinity’s invasion into a world in bondage to sin, death, and the devil. Now, of course, one doesn’t typically look upon a bouncing baby born in some Galilean backwater to a poor Virgin as an especially intimidating invasion. But in God’s gracious plan, this is how He chose to enter the fray, into the world which He created. The Creator of the Universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the One True God Who spoke the cosmos into being, located Himself in the world that night, in order to do battle against the forces that had enslaved His creation.

All the events surrounding the Nativity: the Star, the Angelic Host (Heaven’s armies, which adds to the warfare element)—and that’s not to mention St. Gabriel’s annunciation to St. Mary—they all pointed to there being something different about this Baby. Of course, we know Who that Baby truly is: Immanuel, God With Us. Jesus Christ, true God and true man. But after the birth narrative, we don’t hear much from Jesus until our Gospel today. Jesus is now 12-years-old, and as a family of good Jews, Sts. Mary and Joseph made the journey up to Jerusalem for the Passover every year. They would have traveled caravan-style, likely with friends and neighbors, and lots of them. Travel in those days could be treacherous, so it was safest to travel in large groups. But you didn’t come here to learn about 1st century Palestinian travel customs, so I’ll spare you further study notes. But this does give us some insight as to how, when they were leaving Jerusalem, they lost Jesus. They simply assumed He was with another family in the caravan. Not so. Parents, I imagine you know the fear of not being able to find your child. As a camp director, nothing struck fear in my heart more than hearing the words “We can’t find little Timmy.” So Sts. Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem, in what I can only imagine was quite the panic, to find Jesus.

And after three days—note the timing, St. Ambrose, in one of his expositions on this Gospel, saw a connection between the three days Jesus was thought missing, and His three days in the tomb—they found Him in the Temple, conversing with the teachers—the seminary professors of the Temple, if you will—and asking them questions. Now, another fun historical tidbit that really helps us understand the significance of what’s going on here, it’s worth noting that good Rabbis taught with questions. We do something similar in catechism class; we teach by asking questions. So I don’t think it’s reading too much into things to say that, in asking questions and astonishing the learned elite with His wisdom, the Jesus was, indeed, teaching them. And needless to say, the teachers were amazed. Here’s a 12-year-old Nazarene kid, from an obscure family, speaking with wisdom that astonished even the most educated Temple scholars. They were right to be amazed: whether they knew it or not, they were in conversation with the Author of language.

Well, when St. Mary saw Jesus, I’m sure she was filled with similar emotions to those my dear mother described when I sort of misplaced myself at Carowinds as a kid. She always says she didn’t know whether to hug me or choke me, and I imagine that’s a pretty common response. St. Mary says to Jesus: Your father and I have been worried sick! Note that St. Mary calls St. Joseph Jesus’ father; we know, as she did, who His Father truly is, and, as we will see in a moment, so did Jesus. Perhaps she called St. Joseph his father to avoid scandal, as St. Ephrem the Syrian, an early church father notes. Whatever the reasoning, she was in no way denying that Jesus is the Son of God, so don’t let that trip you up.

In response, we read the first recorded words of Jesus Christ. And these words set the stage for the rest of His ministry, or if I may, His warfare. “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Jesus knew His Father. Now about the second half of verse 49, I quite like the King James’ translation: “I must be about my Father’s business.” The Greek is a little ambiguous and can be understood either way, both translations are faithful and point that Jesus is involved in the things of His Father. And what are those things? Well, I would say, it’s His war against sin, death, and the devil. The Most Holy Trinity came to vanquish the power of Satan, wipe out our sins, and burst open the bars of death that held us captive for millennia.

He came to fight the battle we could never hope to win. Left to our own devices, we will forever turn inward on ourselves, like snakes eating their own tails. If God had not become Incarnate, we would be stuck in our slavery to sin. If our Lord Christ had not been about His Father’s business, we would be hopeless. But, we are not hopeless. The battle has been won; our victorious King won the war on His Cross. Your bouncing baby Jesus was born for you, to restore your very nature. Your thorn-crowned, nail-scarred Savior Jesus died for you, to win for you the forgiveness of your sins. In Jesus Christ, God dealt with all your family issues, all your work issues, all your failures, all your regrets, and all your pain. You are free from those things, free from looking at earthly things to focus your eyes on Jesus Christ, born, died, and risen for you.

Of course, we will still have family issues. We will still fall into our favorite sins, and it will still feel like those sins have us in a vice grip. We will still lay awake at night with our regrets, our trauma, our pain, our sickness, our anxiety, and everything else. But, my dear friends, here you are. You are in your Father’s house. Here He has fed you with His Word, comforting you, challenging you, calling you to repentance—to turn away from your sins—and return to Him. You have heard ARE ABOUT TO HEAR) the words of Absolution: that, no matter how badly your sins grieve you, you are forgiven because of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work, giving you the faith needed to receive that promise of forgiveness. And, as a sign and seal of your salvation, Jesus Christ will feed you with His very Body and Blood at this altar in a few minutes.

My dear friends, it is as we sing in the hymn: “And you beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way, with painful steps and slow; look now, for glad and golden hours, come swiftly on the wing. Oh, rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.” You are in Your Father’s house. Rest, knowing that your sins are forgiven, the war has been won, sin, death, and the devil have been roundly defeated. You have life forever with God.

Merry Christmas, dear people of God. Amen.