Christmas Day
Text: Titus 3:4-7
Dear brothers and sisters, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever experienced a Christmas where you just felt weighed down by life, and the usual joys and songs you find upon your lips are absent? Maybe this is you today. Perhaps you are feeling like the Humbug in Bah Humbug?
Maybe you wish some spirits would visit and help you rediscover this season of joy. Well, they won’t, at least not as they did for Ebenezer Scrooge.
Wouldn’t it be something if Jacob Marley did appear to you this day? To warn you of your heart’s condition and your need for redemption.
In Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” there's a fascinating exchange between Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.
Scrooge says to his old friend Marley “You are fettered, tell me why?”
Marley responds, “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
Scrooge replied, “Jacob, old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob!”
Marley says, “I have none to give.”
This exchange fascinates me because Marley confesses his deeds on the earth have made this chain that now shackles him, and in death, he enjoys no comfort nor has comfort to give.
What has shackled you and now keeps you in a state of bondage?
Your heart…
Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks," and again, “How can you speak good when you are evil?” [Matt. 12:34].
Luther says, “Therefore, all the world confesses that no picture represents the heart so certainly as the words of the mouth, as though the heart were in the words.”
What is the picture of your heart this Christmas? Is there a façade within you? Do you say, “Merry Christmas,” while you utter under your breadth those well-known words of curmudgeonly displeasure for Christmas, “Bah Humbug!”
If so, why?
The answer to this question may not be as complicated as you think.
We love money and would rather keep it for ourselves, even unto the grave, than give aid to those in greatest need.
We do not have the concern for others as we should. We do not ask our neighbors enough, “how can I help you?”
Or when it comes to family, we have grown content in the shackles of our strife, and accepting an invitation or visit from the family archenemy seems like we have lost the battle; we have given in.
Yes, it would appear we, too, have no comfort to give and, at the least, have failed to provide the comfort we ought.
What we could use ourselves is a visitation.
And for this reason, Christ Jesus has and continues to visit you, His people, this day.
The Collect of the day provides a lens to why Jesus visits you; as we prayed,
“Almighty God, grant that the birth of Your only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us free from the bondage of sin…."
…He comes to free you from the iron bondage of sin forged link by link and yard by yard as you have acted as if no one matters more than yourself.
But the prayer is not a wish or a dream; it is a reality, as we heard in this morning's epistle:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
The action of our redemption does not reside in us or happen through nights of self-discovery but is solely God’s act, as the epistle states, “He saved us.”
Why did God save us, or what moved Him to save us?
His “loving kindness,” or as the Greek would say, God’s, φιλανθρωπία. You know this better as “philanthropy.”
But, φιλανθρωπία is really two words, the first being φιλος meaning love, and the second, ανθρωπος, meaning man or mankind. Together, these words reveal the kindness and love God has for mankind, for His creation, for you. And so God had an Epiphany; he appeared and showed His love in the flesh of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Now, I love “A Christmas Carol;” it’s a beautiful story of redemption, a stunning classic piece of literature. But, for the Christian, the redemption of man must go beyond the adornments of the season – the turkey and garland, the carols sung by a fire - these are all gifts of the season, gifts of joy that must first have their source in the mercy and forgiveness of the Child born of Mary.
This is the crux for many; we can all adorn ourselves outwardly with cheer and glad tidings, but unless a more profound renewal and regeneration occur within the heart, your corrupt nature will be unchanged. Your current state will be no different from that of your past.
For this, you must run to where renewal and regeneration are present for you; you must go to your Baptism, where Jesus assumes your melancholy and all that weighs you down, and in turn, you receive the comfort and redemption secured for you upon the cross.
This is why Christ Jesus came, appeared, and visited His people that first Christmas, out of loving kindness - to redeem them and you from the sin that binds and haunts the heart. His story has become your story, a true telling of man’s redemption.
So, how do we keep this story of Christmas not only today but throughout the year?
Return to your Baptism and drown the past deeds and sins of life, and through the renewal of the Holy Spirit, arise and awake to new life.
Gather around as we are today to receive the redeeming Word of Christ and His flesh and blood into your ears and mouths – a very present gift of comfort and grace that continually transforms your heart and gives you the words for when another says, “Speak comfort to me, my friend.”
Comfort, it’s what we desire throughout the challenging and trying times of life. And it’s what we receive through Christ the Lord, who has visited us, His people, and made us His heirs, which gives us the hope and confidence of a blessed future – a future of unending peace and joy in His eternal kingdom.
God bless you, and Merry Christmas!
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA
