God Enfleshed – 25 December 2017 – Nativity of the Lord/ Christmas Day

Christian Christmas is different from secular Christmas. Christian Christmas begins, rather than concludes, on the evening of December 24. It lasts twelve days, rather than twelve hours. It celebrates the light of Christ in a world that remains in most ways exceedingly shadowy. It seeks to discover the gift that is God made flesh, rather than being disappointed that nobody came through with the perfect gift we dropped so many hints about. Christian Christmas is the beginning of joy, not the end of it.

. . . Every year Christmas Eve is about shepherds and angels and the stable. Christmas Day is about the enfleshment, the incarnation, of the Word. –– Paul Bieber

John 1:1-14

On the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. . . John's beginning of the story of Jesus does not begin with his birth in Bethlehem, but begins before the creation of the earth. Jesus existed with God and as God before the world was called into being, and nothing was created without him. Therefore, verse 14 reveals the scandal of the story of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us [literally tented or tabernacled with us], and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” What transcendent, eternal, creator God would become flesh and live among the creation? But it is clear that in this confession, the later church's doctrine that Christ is fully human and fully divine is already implicit here in John's writing. –– Carrie Lewis

Isaiah 52:7-10

This Old Testament reading. . . links together joy and salvation. . . with the imagery of a king returning with triumph over his enemies. The feet of the messenger represent not only the messenger and the. . . good news that the messenger brings. . . but they also represent the long, hard journey that the messenger and the king have taken over the mountain. . .  

In the final verse. . . is the promise that not only will this return of God be felt among God's people, but God's holy arm will be seen by all nations and the ends of the earth will know the salvation of God. Although this has a feeling of universality to it (“all the nations” and “all the ends of the earth”), the prophet is probably not extending God's salvation in a universal fashion here, but is letting God's people know that all of the world will see the salvation of God's people. It is not until Third Isaiah (60) that the light is for all nations. –– Carrie Lewis

Hebrews 1:1-4 [5-12]

The poetic opening is used in many traditions as the response to the word within the service of Morning Prayer (Matins). “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son. . .” These words link the revelation of God through Jesus to the revelation of God through the prophets of the Old Testament—it places Christ into the history of Israel. –– Carrie Lewis

Carrie L. Lewis La Plante is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Indianola, Iowa.

Paul Bieber is pastor of All Saints Lutheran Church, San Diego, California.  

Homily Service 39, no. 1 (2005): 61-71.

With-us (is) God – 18 December 2016 – Fourth Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1:18-25

Having established Jesus' ancestry as a glimpse into the mysterious and hidden working of God through the generations, Matthew turns his attention to the circumstances of Jesus' birth.

The Old Testament resonances just pictured in the genealogy almost jump from the page. Like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, Jesus' mother, Mary, gave birth under circumstances that would have generated gossip and scandal among those unable to imagine or acknowledge the hidden hand of God. Even Joseph himself required an angelic visitor in a dream to assure him. . .  

As the church reflects together on Matthew's witness to Jesus' life and work, the people of God are invited to recognize that all that Jesus was and did could only come from beyond us. Matthew's witness to Jesus' virgin birth is in no way a rejection of human sexuality. It is instead the proclamation that salvation does not come “from within” or from human potential, but as a gift from God. – Aaron J. Couch

Joseph's refusal to abandon Mary and listen to the angel [might inspire us to] ask ourselves, “To whom can I be Joseph this Christmas? How am I going to show God's love and compassion to someone else? . . .  Can God can love me just as I am?” – Mary Katharine Deeley 

Isaiah 7:10-16

Matthew indicates that Jesus' birth in this way—by direct intervention from God and without a human father—was the fulfillment of scripture, quoting Isaiah 7:14. Although the Hebrew text says nothing about the young woman's virginity, Matthew sees in the Greek translation a convergence of themes that points directly to Jesus. The prophet Isaiah had not only promised the birth of a child named Emmanuel (God is with us), but the Septuagint translators had made the prophet to say that the child would be born of a virgin. . .  Immanu-El was a sign of God's judgment and mercy.

The word of mercy promised relief from the threat to Jerusalem and the Davidic monarchy from Samaria and Damascus. The word of judgment declared that the Assyrians would bring an even greater crisis.

Jesus, however, came to be the bearer of . . . mercy for sinners and gentiles, and for the whole world, but judgment for all who reject the peaceful reign of God present in Jesus. Remembering that Emmanuel means “God (is) with us,” Matthew saw that Jesus truly “filled full” the prophecy of Isaiah. – Aaron J. Couch

Romans 1:1-7

Deeley (above) asks whether God can love us just as we are. She finds the answer –  Yes – in Romans.

Paul talks about his mission to the gentiles and says: “among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Christ Jesus.” Belonging to Jesus is at the heart of Christian identity. Belonging to Jesus means that we live each day with the reality of the incarnation. . . in the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection. When we belong to Jesus, we have no need to fear loneliness or suffering because Jesus himself walks with us. . .  Christmas reminds us that we belong and are loved beyond measure. That reality heals all wounds, eases all suffering, and brings us to peace. – Mary Katharine Deeley

Aaron J. Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Mary Katharine Deeley is the director of Christ the Teacher Institute of the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, the author of many books, a frequent speaker on diverse topics, and a pastoral advisor.

Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 43-52.