Bloghardt's Reflector

For.. Once in Royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for His bed; Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ was her little child.” (376, 1)

The Gospel is in the Word - the Word made flesh placed in your ears this evening. That’s what you are given to hear on Christmas. Set aside the joy you get from presents and reindeer, and hear again the Gospel:

So, Caesar Augustus wanted money, so he had a tax - that’s why you have a census in the ancient world. Quirinus was the Governor. St. Luke tells us that so you’ll know when Jesus came! Look it up, “When Quirinius was governor in Syria,” that’s around the time when Jesus came.

Then the Gospel takes our eyes off Rome and the big wigs there, and puts them on a nowhere place called Bethlehem, to a man named Joseph taking his betrothed pregnant wife to be registered.

She was pregnant with child by the Holy Spirit. She, a Virgin, conceived by the Word of God of an angel.

Did she walk beside Joseph all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem? I hope not. What we know for sure is that there was no parade, no chariot. The Church has always hoped that she rode into town - even if only on a donkey. But, the Gospel doesn’t say!

Place to place they go. Sorry, we have no room for you. Nope, all booked up. Not a single room for God. No room in Bethlehem as the silent stars go by...

“Yet, in thy dark street shineth the everlasting Light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” (361, 1)

If we had known, would we have built a temple? Maybe cameras and a press conference. Or helicopters overhead and Geraldo at the manger giving a blow by blow, push by push account. Paparazzi under the hay getting close-ups.

But, that’s not God's way. That’s the way we do things. He comes and finds no place in our world.

A stable or cave. That’s what Joseph and the Blessed Virgin found. And she brought forth her firstborn Son.... “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of heaven.”

The Virgin has no attendees. She has no doctor, no epidural, no anesthetic. Not even a midwife. She gives birth with only her husband there. God comes the way you came – He is born.

She wrapped Him in whatever she could find, swaddling cloths, and laid him in a food trough. Not purple fit for a king, not a crown.

No, God’s Son gets none of that. No, He gets swaddling clothes and a trough where animals eat. I hope she put some straw in there. The Gospels don’t say. There’s no doubt that she prepared it as best she could for her Son.

God in a manger. God in the Flesh. Not on a throne. Not attended by angels. But, cold...lying where animals eat.

“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down where He lay, the Little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.” (364, 1)

Jesus was laid in a wooden manger. He was born and placed in a wooden trough and He will die on a wooden cross.

This is what God does to save you. He doesn’t condemn you. He doesn’t pick you up with fingers pinching His nose like we would pick up a dirty diaper.

No, He takes on your flesh and comes right into this world where you are at with all your dirty diapers to save you from your sins. To fill your songs with joy. To lift you up out of your sins and your death. To show you His mercy in Christ.

Come out of your sins. Come out of your sadness. Leave your gloom, your scheming, your lust, and your impatience behind. Turn from the evil and hatred you have for others.

Repent of your sins – your despising of God and His gifts. Make God not just a part of your life today. No, receives His gifts every day – in the Word and especially His sacrament on Sunday.

Turn not because of the threat of hell. No, turn because the goodness of God sending His Son into your flesh to save you!

Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear: for sinners here the silent Word is pleading: Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the Cross be born for me, for you. Hail Hail the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.” (370, 2)

He has come. Leave behind your sadness, your pain, your grudges, your blaming others for what you have done.

Stop thinking that I'm talking to someone you know. No, this Christmas I'm talking to you. Repent and join the shepherds beholding the Baby Jesus...

Shepherds. Those guys. Can’t forget about them. Can’t get any lower than the shepherds watching their flocks by night. To them goes the proclamation from an angel standing on the earth.

Don’t fear any more. I’ve got good news. I’ve got Gospel for you. Unto you is born in the city of David, in Bethlehem, a Savior, Christ the Lord. You’ll see this strange sight of a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Hark the herald angels sing, “Glory to new born king. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; with the angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. (380)

Those shepherds found that Baby just like those angels said and then they made that Gospel known widely to all around the area.

They leave the Virgin Mary, quietly rocking her Son treasuring all that God had done for her, and for you through her Son.

No more sadness. No more guilt. No more pain. Christ has come. Even to you – not in a manger or on the Cross, but in the Word delivered to you tonight, in the songs you sing, and in the Supper tomorrow where He gives you His Body to eat and His blood to drink for the remissions of all your sins.

Christ is born. Sing it with the angels, say it, proclaim it on the roof tops of your homes and lives. He has come. God and sinners are tight again. No more separating God from you and His creation. Not because we did something. No, God has taken our flesh. He’s come to save us.

Gloria. Gloria. in excelsis Deo. Glory ... Glory to God in the highest! Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Chrstmas! In the name of Jesus. Amen.