| December 25, 1999 | The Real Message | Isaiah 62:10-12
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Text: Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the LORD has proclaimed To the end of the world: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.' " And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
What is the real message of Christmas? If often gets lost in our thinking because we are rushing around this time of year, so busy--too busy. We often end up looking at other things. Another pastor reported that he was preparing for a party at his house and in the preparations he moved a stack of paper plates to a particular position. Only later did it strike him that he had set the plates in a position that covered up the nativity scene the family had on display. It struck this pastor as symbolic of how we sometimes cover up the nativity and block out Jesus with other things in our lives. What has taken a position of greater importance in your life than Jesus this Christmas? Today, we will seek to return you to that Real Message through what will seem like a winding journey.
Perhaps our text, the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, would be more appropriate in Advent, that season of preparation. It begins by encouraging us to prepare and build the highway. Then, however, the text goes into the promise: "Surely your salvation is coming." This is the promise of the coming of the salvation brought about through Christmas. So, we have that wonderful fulfillment: Jesus Christ, born as a baby to the Virgin Mary, who is our Savior.
It is so important to see the birth of Christ as the birth of our Savior. He is the savior for today's people, not just those back in history. We allow the light of Christ shine into our present day and be that salvation for us, which, as Isaiah said, should be proclaimed to the end of the world, that is, to all people. Sometimes, this kind of thinking requires changing our perspectives, shifting the way we are seated and looking at things a bit differently.
Perhaps we can help you change your perspective a bit by "escaping," as it were, into the piece of artwork which is on your bulletin cover (click here). Perhaps when you first noticed this you thought it was very strange. I hope so. The point is to get you to look at things differently.
It is an image of a woodcut carved by Albrecht Durer, a German artist who completed this work in the 1500s, just as the Reformation was about to begin. As we need to see the Nativity of Christ in our own day, the artist Durer saw the nativity in his own day. What we have is a picture of Jesus as a baby, with Mary and Joseph. However, the people are dressed in the typical dress of the 1500s, not that of the people 2000 years ago. The buildings and landscape come from the time in which Durer lived.
Do you see the angels flying overhead? There are a number of rabbits at the bottom, running around playfully, with one of them staring right at you and tapping his brother on the shoulder. Durer did not follow the rigid conventions of religious art of his day, which used figures symbolic of specific teachings of the church. Durer shows with the rabbits that things are beginning to change in religious art. The art would mimic what was happening in the world of religion as the Reformation was starting. Things were beginning to change. Durer reflected his day and age in his representation of the birth of Christ.
You will notice that your attention is certainly directed to the Christ child in the center. This must be the goal of each of our views of Christmas-to find Christ at the center. In thinking of Christmas we think of Christ as a baby, of course. However, I would call your attention to a detail that you might be able to pick out in the woodcut. Durer has the baby reading a book. This is quite a feat for a baby to be reading, but this simply witnesses to the divine nature of the child-the baby born was also truly God. The reading of the book makes more sense when it is revealed that it is a Bible, which is a detail we cannot see in this reproduction.
Again, Durer had seen the nativity in his own day, for they did not have such bound books at the time of Christ's birth. However, in Durer's day, only a few years after the invention of the printing press, the Bible had recently been translated into the German language of the people. For the first time, individual Christians had the Scriptures available. Thus the Bible there marks the change happening in Durer's time.
So, as Durer brought the nativity into his age, we bring it into our age. We do that by recognizing how Jesus' coming as a baby fulfills our needs. We must consider our true needs, however, not that which we think we need, our so-called "felt needs."
In Durer's age, the world was a terrifying and dangerous place, full of violence, pestilence and death. It was a world full of fear of supernatural beings. What Durer creates in his artwork, however, is a scene which is very calm and peaceful. The rabbits are playful and birds fly through a clear sky. There is a boat gently gliding across a lake behind Mary, though you cannot see it. Perhaps the plants express this peace also. So, Christ is seen bringing peace to the world. Durer himself said that the peace of Christ is not just a state of mind but is reflected in the natural surroundings of the real world.
Durer brought the nativity into his age. Let us bring it into our age too.
So, what is the message of Christ for today? Frankly it is easy to become confused. We need to take a look again at the one who is the center of Durer's scene. What is this child about? He certainly is many things, but what is the main message? The main message is not any of the following:
These are all part of what Christ brings to us at Christmas, but they are not the main message. We don't deny that Christ serves these roles, but they pale in importance to the essential and primary purpose Christ had to come and be born as a human baby.
To put the real message of Christmas in proper perspective, it is helpful to take a diversion to review some of the history of Christmas. Christmas was not considered important by the early church, which instead emphasized the resurrection of our Lord and His promised return. In the early centuries after Christ's earthly ministry, Epiphany developed on January 6th as a celebration of Jesus' birth and baptism. The year 336 is when the date of December 25th was finaly set by the church in Rome for the celebration of Christmas. Before the calendar was changed, December 25th was the day of the Winter solstice, that is the first day of the season of Winter, when the sun reached its southernmost point in its movement. There was a pagan, that is, non-Christian, celebration as the days began to lengthen. This celebration of Christmas was hidden under the cover of the pagan celebration and this meant that the Christians were safer from persecution. It also helped the Christians avoid the temptation to join the pagan festival. The celebration of Christmas spread slowly, until some controversies developed in the church over Christ and His nature. With some heretics denying His human nature, it was good to have a special celebration of His birth to counter this heresy.
With this history in mind, you can see that Christmas must not be seen on its own, as an isolated celebration. We must see it as a celebration of Christ's work on our behalf. We celebrate His entire completed work, of which Christmas is the simple beginning. Just like the early church, our main celebration ought to be the resurrection and coming return of Christ. Christmas is always taken in the shadow of that more important celebration.
Actually, the Bible reports precious little information about Christ's birth. Perhaps you noticed in today's Gospel, Luke 2:1-20, that only verse 7 reports the actual birth. We end up embelishing many of the details and making more of Christmas than we are given by the Scriptures. Matthew does not mention the birth specifically, but rather that Jesus was so named after His birth. Mark's Gospel starts after the birth. John's Gospel reports the birth only in the very theological terms of the word becoming flesh. By comparison, these four Gospels spend chapters on the crucifixion and resurrection. So, the challenge for us is to see Christmas in terms of the end point. Christ was born, but where did that take Him?
It is an interesting thought-experiment to ponder what it would be like if Christmas hadn't happened. If we still had the crucifixion and resurrection, our faith would be intact. Now, the reverse is not true. If the crucifixion and resurrection were removed, but Christmas remained, what would we be lacking? Everything. Our faith would be in vain and we would still be in our sins, says Paul in 1st Corinthians.
So, Christ's birth took Him to the end point of the crucifixion and resurrection. Now, we come back to our text, to show us the main point of Christmas. "Surely your salvation is coming." The main point of Christmas is that God came to save us. That salvation is exactly what we need. It saves us from our troubles and problems. It saves us from our sins.
Just what is this salvation? We are kept safe from the punishment due for our sins. So the text says, "Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him." There we see that we will be blessed on account of the salvation we are given. We see also that it will come about, not because of our own efforts, but, rather, the work of the Savior.
Finally, the text gives the new name for those who are so blessed by the Lord. "And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD." What a wonderful thing, to be called a holy people, not based on never having sinned, but rather based on the grace of our Lord to forgive all, ALL, our wrongs. We are also identified by the forgiveness or redemption we receive with the title "The Redeemed of the Lord." Notice how that name brings attention to Jesus. As in the cover art, so, here, Jesus is the center, the focus, the main point. We are blessed with redemption because of Him. We are, in fact, His very possession, as we are "of the Lord."
Thus, the real message of Christmas is Isaiah 62:10-12 fulfilled. Behold, your salvation has come. Look, here is your salvation, in Him who started as a baby. His reward was with Him and His work was before Him. Now, we see that work was completed at the cross and empty grave. There our salvation was accomplished. So that message of Christmas is that we are to be given reward and blessing. We will know the full abundance of the gift we have when our Lord returns to bring all things to completion. At that time, we will be clearly identified as the ones who were redeemed of the Lord. Thus the real message of Christmas finds its center and focus in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
