Posted on by pastorkevinjud

Baby Jesus is Not Safe Jesus

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Christmas Eve 2023
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
December 24, 2023

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            The little town is just bursting at the seams with all the visitors from out of town.  Normally families need to plan for a big get together, but this huge family reunion is ordered by Caesar Augustus in Rome.  Everyone must go to the place of their ancestry.  All the descendants of King David are back in Bethlehem to be registered by the Romans. No one thinks registering is a good idea, but it is not wise to go against the Romans.  And it will be nice to have generations of David’s family gathered together for a time. 

            Over the years, traditions have developed that Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn due to an evil innkeeper. Luke 2:7 (ESV) 7 And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

The word for “inn” here, however, more likely means “guest room” and that Jesus was born in the family area at a relative’s house in Bethlehem and was laid in a manger where animals were brought in at night for safekeeping. 

Imagine you are one of the relatives staying in the same house and witnessing all that is taking place.  People keep arriving for the registration.  The upper guest room is full and now the lower family area is packed.  One couple, your cousin Joseph and his wife Mary, arrived from Nazareth 90 miles north. Mary is very pregnant and about to give birth.  There will not be much privacy, but at least there will be plenty of help.

            The time comes for Mary to give birth and everything goes as smoothly as giving birth can go.  The baby is swaddled in strips of cloth and now a bed must be found.  Since the guest room is full, one of the stone mangers is cleaned out and fresh straw is put in and the baby is laid on the straw to sleep. What a joyous event.  Mary gives birth to her first born son and Joseph’s whole family is there to celebrate. 

That evening, as things are winding down and people are starting to get ready for bed, there is a knock at the door.  Who is this?  Are we expecting more family?  There really isn’t any more room, but something will be figured out.  When the door is opened it is not family traveling from out of town, instead local shepherds are standing at the door.  How strange.  What are these guys doing here?

            The shepherd in front says, “We have been all over town searching for the Savior, Christ the Lord.  Is there a baby here wrapped up in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger?”  An unnerving hush falls over everyone in the house.  Whoa…..how did they know that? 

            The father of the house responds, “Yes, indeed, there is a baby here as you describe, but how could you possibly have known?”

            “An angel appeared to us tonight in the field, glowing with the glory of God, scaring us half to death, and the angel said, “Luke 2:10–12 (ESV)  10 … “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  “The angels told us, and it is true.  Here He is, the Savior; Christ the Lord.”

            Mary and Joseph go over to talk to the shepherds by the door. Just then the baby wakes up and starts to fuss.  You go over and pick Him up to comfort Him amidst all the excitement.  You hold the baby Jesus in your arms and gently rock Him and try to quiet Him, “shhhh, shhhh, shhhh,” as Mary brings the shepherds over to see the baby.

            Christmas is a hugely popular holiday for people from many different backgrounds.  It is a fascinating phenomenon because Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of God. We rejoice at God taking on human flesh and being born in Bethlehem.  We celebrate the Son of God becoming Immanuel; God with us. 

Non-Christians celebrate Christmas while rejecting Christ.  A lot of folks who claim to be Christian but reject the teachings of Christianity, still love Christmas.  There are many who get really offended by Jesus’ teachings, but then celebrate His birth. 

            I wonder if maybe folks think that “Christmas Jesus” is “safe Jesus.”  A Jesus you can hold in your arms and shush; a Jesus who is not telling you to love your enemy, not telling you to forgive others, not warning you about lust and anger and greed, not teaching you about sin and forgiveness, not calling you to repent and take up your cross and follow Him, not telling you that He has to die for your sins.  Christmas Jesus is just lying there, helpless, seemingly under your control.  Baby Jesus seems like a safe Jesus.

            For so many, Christmas has been reduced to nothing more than a sentimental holiday all about colored lights and trees and food and family and ugly sweaters and gifts and memories of Christmas’s past.  It is a sentimental Christmas with a safe Jesus lying silently in the nativity scene not making anyone uncomfortable.

            Now, baby Jesus is small, but he is not safe.  His birth is announced by an army of angels and a star appears in the heavens to mark His arrival.  From His infancy He brings division and death as the devil tries to kill Him.  As C.S. Lewis says of Aslan the Lion, in the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jesus is not safe, but He is good. 

Jesus is not safe.  He is the Savior.  The little Lamb of God lying in a manger has come to defeat the devil by being the sacrifice for the sin of the world.  2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) 21 For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  

You cannot shush Jesus because He is God and you are not.  He is Lord and you are His servant. In the battle against the devil, the world and your own sinful nature, Jesus is in charge and yet He comes to serve you and save you and lay down His life for you.  Jesus is the light who takes into Himself the darkness of your sin and pays the price on the cross.  Afterwards, His Body is swaddled in cloth and laid on a stone slab.  A safe Jesus would have stayed dead, but Jesus is not safe. He rises from the dead on the third day to conquer death forever.  And because Jesus rose from the dead, you will rise from the dead.  Thank God, Jesus is not safe.

            The light of Christ comes into the world in the little town of Bethlehem.  The light spreads from the manger in Bethlehem to those in the house and the shepherds and the magi, to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and Galilee and to the surrounding nations and out to the farthest reaches of the world.  The light spreads from one person to another to another, generation after generation.  The light of Christ has been on the move, spreading person to person for 2,000 years.  The saving light of Christ has come to you.

The Advent wreath is all lit up tonight.  The four candles for each of the Sundays of Advent and now the center Christ candle also. The Christ candle represents the light of Christ which comes into the world as the baby in Bethlehem.  As we near the end of the service tonight I will take light from the Christ candle and share it with everyone here.  As you receive the light, remember you are baptized.  At your baptism you received Christ who is the light of the world.  As we share the light from the Christ candle, picture the light of Jesus bringing light in the darkness throughout the centuries as it spreads all around the world.

Tonight you celebrate Christ’s arrival in Bethlehem.  Tonight you rejoice in Jesus coming to be “God with you” to save you from your sins.  Tonight you celebrate the birth of the Savior who is not safe, but is good.  Merry Christmas!  Amen. 

Posted on by pastorkevinjud

Jesus Becomes Immanuel — God with Us

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Advent 4 2023
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
December 24, 2023
2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16, Romans 16:25–27, Luke 1:26–38

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            It is December 24th.  It is the morning of the eve of the celebration of the birth of our Lord. Tomorrow morning we will have a communion service to remember Jesus’ birth, the Christ Mass.  This afternoon and evening and tomorrow morning we will be in Bethlehem for the birth of the Savior.  This morning, for the 4th Sunday in Advent, we are going back 9 months and traveling 90 miles north to Nazareth in Galilee.  Today we go to Nazareth to meet Mary for the first time.

Mary is likely a teenage girl up in the hills in the small town of Nazareth with maybe 400 or so inhabitants.  Everyone knows everyone else and nothing gets past the busybodies in town.  When the angel visits, it seems that Mary is alone, maybe at home, maybe outside working, maybe drawing water at the well, we are not sure.  One tradition has it that Mary was at home and that home is now inside the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.  There have been many churches built and destroyed over Mary’s small house from the time of Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century until the construction of the current church in 1954.  The Bible is unique among religious books because you can actually visit the places you learn about in the Bible because these things really happened.

            Mary is a teenager engaged to be married to Joseph.  From all we can tell, she is a nobody from a nowhere little town until God shows Mary favor and sends the Angel Gabriel to bring Mary amazing news.  Gabriel’s name means, “God is my strength.”  He brings news from the throne of heaven … Luke 1:28 (ESV) 28 …“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 

            Mary is greatly troubled.  What is going on?  What is this heavenly being doing talking to lowly little me and calling me, “O favored one?”  Why is Mary favored?  She has done nothing important.  She is not famous.  She is just a regular young lady from Nazareth.  Why is the Lord favoring the humble estate of Mary?  What does this mean?

            Gabriel continues, Luke 1:30–33 (ESV) 30 …“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

            Conceive? Bear a son?  Call him Jesus?  The throne of David?  Reign forever?  Mary’s head is swimming with all this information.  What can this all possibly mean?  Mary goes back to the first part of what the angel told her.  “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.”  Mary is young, but she knows where babies come from and this is impossible.

            Luke 1:34 (ESV) 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 

            Luke 1:35–37 (ESV) 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 

            Genesis 1:1–3 (ESV) 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

            In the beginning the Spirit hovered over the creation. At the conception of Jesus the Spirit hovers over Mary and Word of God brings about new life in Mary’s womb. The Lord speaks through His messenger Gabriel and Jesus takes on human flesh as a tiny new life inside Mary.  The Lord’s Word is powerful; it makes things happen. 

            In a world that is awash with words it can feel like words are not very valuable; not very powerful, but today we see the power of God’s Word. 

            In the beginning God spoke — and the world was created.  Jesus takes on human flesh through the Word of God.  This morning, the Lord’s Words are still powerful as He declares to you that all your sin is forgiven.  His Word is powerful; bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus because Jesus says, this is my body, this is my blood. 

            God’s Word declares you to be His child in the water and Word of Holy Baptism, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Word of God saves you in the Words of forgiveness, the water and the Word of baptism and the Word with the bread and wine bringing the Body and Blood of Jesus.  God’s Word is powerful.  It makes things happen.

            The angel Gabriel has never come to visit me that I know of, and it seems that I would know if he had.  None of you have said the angel Gabriel has come to you.  But you have encountered many messengers of God bringing to you the Word of God.  Many messengers have told you that you are favored by God and the Lord is with you. 

 In a world that is awash with words it can feel like words are not very valuable; not very powerful, but today we see the power of God’s Word. 

            Because Mary carried the Lord Jesus in her womb and gave birth to the Savior who lived and died and rose from the dead, you now carry Jesus in your heart.  You have the power of the Holy Spirit in your inner being, Ephesians 3:17–19 (ESV) 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

            Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus dwells in your heart.  Jesus died for you and rose from the dead for you.  You are favored by God.  Living in this era after Jesus ascended into heaven and waiting for Jesus to return on the last day, you know more about Jesus and what He has done than Mary herself knew.  Through His Word the Lord has saved you.  You may not have heard from an angel directly, but God speaks to you through His messengers and in the words of the Bible.

            In this life there are a lot of other religious options; lots of various people and ideas to follow.  There seems to be a continuous string of spiritual fads that all promise fulfillment.  There are many options, but you know there is no substitute for Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.  When others are abandoning the truth of God to follow after the lies of the devil, the world and their own sinful flesh, and the Lord looks to see if you are going to follow them, you can say in the words of St. Peter, John 6:68–69 (ESV) 68 …“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”  The Word of God is powerful, it makes things happen.

            Blessed are you, O favored one.  The Lord is with you.  Amen.