“A Thief in the Night” Luke 2.1-20 Xmas Eve, Dec. ‘19

1.                Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this wonderful Christmas Eve is taken from Luke 2:1-20, and is entitled, “A Thief in the Night,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.           Luke 2:12 says, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  Into the garden where Adam and Eve lived, there came a thief. He was a swindler, flattering with his tongue, smooth with his words, like a con man who cheats the unsuspecting out of thousands of hard-earned dollars. He told Adam and Eve that they were missing out on a great deal that God was keeping to himself. If they would just eat of the forbidden fruit, then they would be divine themselves. Turning them from God’s words to his own deceitful words, this thief, the devil, robbed them blind. Enticing them to try to be like God, he stole away their humanity. He stole their very lives. 

3.           You sons of Adam and daughters of Eve are in the very same shape. Despite all of our knowledge, achievements, and abilities, the fact is that we’re now less than human, a shadow of what we were created to be. We can sometimes feel that in our very souls, that things aren’t right. This inhumanity manifests itself in anger, impatience, and disrespect, in pride and lusts, in greed, grudges, and gossip. To be human is to live as God’s creation, to receive everything from him according to his will, to love and trust in him as one who is good and gracious, and to be dependent on him for all that you need. But by nature, we would rather be independent. We don’t want to be human, creatures who are under a Creator. We want to be like God, in charge, calling our own shots, doing our own thing. The truth is that all of us fell with Adam. We’ve been robbed. We’ve been mugged and left to die.

4.           But in the garden, God promised to send One who would silence the lying tongue of this thief and crush his head and rescue us from his power. God would do this by turning the tables on the devil, using Satan’s own tactics against him. This would be a sting operation. It was through a virgin, Eve, that the tempter worked his thievery, and so it is also through a virgin, Mary, that Christ enters into the world to undo and destroy the devil’s work. It was in a quiet, subtle, and shrewd manner that the serpent attained his plunder. And so, it is in a quiet, subtle, and shrewd manner that the Son of God comes to restore what was taken from you, masking himself within weak flesh and blood, becoming a real baby boy, being laid in a manger. 

5.           The Scriptures say that our Lord comes as a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2; Rev 16:15). That is a reference to Jesus’ return on the Last Day. Like a robber in the darkness, he will come unexpectedly to judge the living and the dead. But that phrase can also be applied to Jesus’ first coming at Christmas. He comes like a thief in the night, that is, quietly, hidden in the shadows, with almost no one noticing his arrival. The Son of God, who upholds all creation, enters into his creation in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. Traveling in Mary’s womb to the Holy City of David, he’s born in a barn, because there’s no room for them in the inn. He arrives on the scene secretly—like a holy burglar—to win back for you what the devil stole away. 

6.           The Son of God begins to do that in the very act of his becoming man. By taking on your body and soul, Jesus has redeemed and cleansed your humanity with his divine holiness. His incarnation fills and makes mankind holy. In the stable with the animals, we see Jesus as the new Adam. He has come to lift you out of your beastly inhumanity and re-create you by his coming in the flesh. “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). God the Son took your humanity into himself so that your humanity might be restored and made new. God has greatly exalted you by becoming not an angel or any other creature but a true man, your blood brother. He partakes fully of your humanity so that in him you might become truly human again.

7.           That’s why already here the heavenly host breaks forth in rejoicing. For the beginning of your salvation has been accomplished. Already now God has begun to break the devil’s hold on you. The baby Jesus is delivered from the blessed Virgin, and in this way you are being delivered from the shadow of death. In Christ, your humanity is recaptured from the tempter and given back to you. You who fell from God into the hands of darkness have been brought back to your Maker. That is the peace on earth of which the angels sing. God and man come together in Jesus, who is himself both God and man. Those who believe and are baptized into the Body of Christ are thereby reunited with God. And so the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest” (v 14). For it is God’s glory to come to your aid, to descend from heaven to help you and rescue you. 

8.           Think of it this way: By uniting your humanity with his divinity, God has made your cause his own. He’s your powerful ally who alone has the power to defeat the enemy. Whatever the devil did to us, he has now done it to God, too, and that simply won’t stand. But again, our Lord engages the battle undercover. Just as the Son of God was born in lowly state, so also his divine power to save us will be hidden beneath meekness, humility, and suffering. The tender brow of this little one is being prepared to be pierced with thorns. His fragile hands and feet will feel the hammer’s blow as spikes are driven through them, attaching him to the cross. The tiny beating heart of this baby will grow to be pierced with a spear, and from it will flow the blood that cleanses us of all sin. 

9.           Jesus was crucified between two robbers (Mt 27:38), as if he were a thief himself. And, in fact, he was. Not only did he come to rob the devil of his victory over you, but he accomplished that by robbing you of your sin. He stole away from you every uncleanness, every failure to love, along with every hurtful and evil thing that has been said or done to you. He robbed you of it all, took it as his own, and demolished it in his death. It was through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Satan conquered man, and so it was also by a tree, the holy cross, that Christ conquered Satan and reconciled man to God again. It was by death that Satan sought to steal away man’s glory. So, it’s by the death of Christ and his resurrection that the glory of man is restored.  What Had Been Stolen from Us the Lord Restores by His Own Holy Thievery.

10.        Listen carefully to what the angels declare and believe it: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (v 11). He comes as a thief in the night to take away your sins and heal your injured flesh and spirit with his own pure flesh and Holy Spirit. He is born to give you second birth to a new and everlasting life with God. 

11.        Luke 2:12 says, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (v 12). On this glorious Christmas Eve let us, then, with his mother, Mary, treasure and ponder these holy mysteries in our hearts. And let us with the shepherds glorify and praise God for all the things we have heard and seen, just as it has been told to us. Amen.  Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.

“Christ is the Light for a Darkened World,” Matthew 2.1–12, Epiphany ‘20

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word on this day we observe the Epiphany of our Lord is taken from Matthew 2:1-12, and is entitled, “Christ is the Light for a Darkened World,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                In the history of the Western world, there was a period known as the Dark Ages, a time of relative dearth in the advancement of civilization. The years AD 476 to 1000 are the usual boundaries.  Wikipedia states, “The concept of a Dark Age was introduced by Petrarch in the 1330s. Writing of those who had come before him, he said, “Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom.” Christian writers had traditional metaphors of “light versus darkness” to describe “good versus evil.” Petrarch was the first to co-opt the metaphor and give it secular meaning by reversing its application. Classical Antiquity, so long considered the “dark” age for its lack of Christianity, was now seen by Petrarch as the age of “light” because of its cultural achievements, while Petrarch’s time, lacking such cultural achievements, was seen as the age of darkness.” Wikipedia contributors, “Dark Ages,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dark_Ages&oldid=224282479 (accessed March 18, 2009).

3.                Whether these assessments are true or not, scholars argue about what represents darkness and what represents light. For some, the Roman Empire and its culture represented the light. No doubt early Christians would have disagreed with that assessment as the culture of the Roman Empire collapsed under its own weight. Corruption and debauchery, violence and disdain for life were everywhere apparent. Not only that, but education as it had been known in the Roman Empire all but disappeared, even in the Church.  Darkness and light are often confused, but Holy Scripture makes clear that only one age can truly be called light, and that’s the age that began when Christ was born in Bethlehem.  Christ Is the Light for a Darkened World.

4.                The star that guided the Wise Men to the infant Jesus was the first light to come from the manger. As Jesus grew and began his ministry, the light has grown brighter and brighter. The light went out first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, to the whole world. The Good News of this Gospel continues to go out into a sin-darkened world.  In a sense, every age can be called dark.  The prophet Isaiah describes the darkness that intrudes into every age: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Is 5:20).

5.                Darkness is a metaphor for spiritual blindness. Blind, dead, and an enemy of God is the way the Bible describes life apart from God, a life set on descending further and further into the darkness of death. In this sense, every age is the Dark Ages because of sin. Sometimes the darkness seems to grow. Darkness represents the age in which all people live where sin rules. It describes our age as well.

6.                Some blame religion for the many divisions in our world, and it’s true that every non-Christian religion bears responsibility for dividing people and keeping them in darkness because they can’t deal effectively with sin. Even misguided Christians share some of the blame because they don’t understand the nature of the Gospel, but when Christ is proclaimed as the Savior of all people, then there’s no division but unity in him. The darkness of separation and hostility continues in many places in the world, even here in the United States. One of our strengths used to be that we are a melting-pot culture, taking the best of many cultures and making them one. Today, people of differing cultures are placed at odds with each other, all in the name of political correctness. They complain, “You’re offending me and my culture!” People simply don’t get along.

7.                No government has the answer to such fracturing of society. No government program can change the reasons why people are at odds with each other. No legislation can break down the barriers. Ironically, legislation often exacerbates a bad situation. No human being can fix it. But Christ can. Because he is the Savior of all people, he breaks down the barriers that exist not only between Jew and Gentile but also between Arab and Jew, Asian and African, white and black. Christ isn’t the divider but the unifier of mankind.

8.                Christ came to bring his riches to all people because all people are in need of what Christ brings. All people, regardless of ethnic, racial, or political stripe, need the forgiveness that Christ brings, because all people lie in the bondage of darkness, sin, and death. Christ is the light that lightens every man, said the evangelist John:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:1–13)

9.                If anything, Christmas is a Jewish celebration. Jesus is born a Jew in a Jewish city of Jewish parents. He’s raised according to the Law of Moses. He fulfills it. What’s more, he’s the fulfillment of God’s promises to have a son of David sitting on the throne forever. Suppose that you are not born a Jew. The promise is not for you because you are not one of God’s chosen people. But Epiphany changes all that! Epiphany shouts that this newborn King isn’t merely King of the Jews but the King of all people. He’s the Savior of the Jews, and he’s the Savior of the Gentiles. The Gospel now goes global with the visit of the Magi! It happened, just as Isaiah had foretold and as Paul wrote in our Epistle, that the mystery hidden for ages is now revealed, “epiphanied,” if you will. “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph 3:6).

10.             Earlier Paul reminded his Gentile readers: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Eph 2:13–16).

11.             This is what Jesus accomplished by his death on the cross. By removing the sin that separated us from God, by bringing us back together with our Creator, he has also drawn us back together with all other people—all of them also sinful but now forgiven, all of them drawn back to the very same God.  “Arise, shine,” Isaiah writes in our Old Testament Reading, “for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you” (Is 60:1).  At Epiphany, Jesus the Light, has come!

12.             Still, darkness often threatens to overwhelm the light. It must seem that way these days as we see, hear, and read the news from all over the world! The shadows often intrude into our lives, too, because human beings continue to sin. Some continue stubbornly in the pitch darkness of sin and death, empowered by the prince of darkness, seeking to drag the sons of light back into the darkness, but the world will not go back to the Dark Ages—and this is because of the Epiphany of our Lord. The darkness cannot put out the light of Christ, because Christ lives. “The light shines in the darkness,” John said, “and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:4). Christ has won the final victory over the darkness of sin, death, and hell by his innocent life, suffering, and death.

13.             We need to have that sober view of this sin-darkened world. The outcome is not in doubt, but there are many battles yet to fight against the forces of darkness. Christ, the true light, continues to be with us. At the baptismal font, he turned on the light in our hearts—as Luther says in his explanation to the Third Article, he has “enlightened me with his gifts,”—turned on the light so that we see and believe that God is loving and forgiving for Christ’s sake. Christ has attached himself to you so that you are called “sons of light” (Jn 12:36). And Paul urges you to live out your Baptism: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)” (Eph 5:8–9).  And again: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

14.             And then the apostle John writes: “At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling” (1 Jn 2:8–10).

15.             What glorious light there is for you in the Supper of our Lord! Here in the Supper is light because Christ himself, who is the true light, is here bodily for you. Here he gives you himself as the tangible proof that he has redeemed you, forgiven you, and brought you out of the darkness of sin and death into the light of his grace.

16.               Christ, the true light, continues to shine in ways that the world in its darkness cannot overcome. But you see the light! You live in the light because of your Baptism! You are children of the light! Christ is the light for a darkened world. May you also be part of those who share this light in the darkness of our world. May you share your bounties here in this congregation so that others here and around the world may also come out of the darkness of sin and death and into the light, which is Christ our Lord!  Amen.  The Peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.