TITLE: “His Flesh for You”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson from St. John chapter one, particularly verse 4:

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

It is a sad reality that this year has been for many a year of death and destruction. Our country has been at war, there have been terrorist attacks both at home and abroad, natural disasters, and all sorts of things. Even in our own parish this year has seen some of our oldest and long-time members die, including two charter members of our congregation. And just last Friday we had a funeral. There is also something both sad and fitting to have a Christian funeral in the shadow of the manger.

It is a time of life and death. It is a time when we remember the struggle just to eke out a living and to try and make the best of things. It is a time when all we can do some days is simply try and make it through the day and see what will happen in the next string of disasters. I was struck yesterday by seeing that TIME magazine had named NYC mayer Rudy Giuliani as the man of the year. It struck me as both right and terribly sad, that our culture has to look to men like Giuliani as the heroes of our day. For no matter what a great man he is, he is not God. He could not stop the attacks, and he or his successor probably won’t stop the next one, either.

The events of this fall I believe have struck home at a deeper level. They have reminded us that we by nature are not ready to die. I am unprepared. My sins seem to cling to me like a bad penny that won’t go away. It just seems as though death hangs about us and that we cannot escape it. That is the way of sin. That is the way of death.

Yet in the midst of all this, we hear the words of the evangelist, In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Christ, our Lord, shows us the way. No, He Himself is the way. My life is not bound up in me. My life is not found in the things I have, or where I live, what I do or even my family. Not, my life is found in the flesh of Jesus Christ. For when the Word of God, Jesus, came to earth as a little baby, He took on our flesh. The life of the Son of God became your life. This life, though, is not the weak, struggling existence that we try and eke out of our so-called lives. No, this life in the Son of God is rich and full. This life in the Son of God means that your sins are forgiven, your death is but a passing moment that is gone with the sound of the trumpet. In Him is life.

That life which is in Christ Jesus now is your life, and it starts with a little baby. Luther once said in one of his many Christmas sermons: "What can be sweeter than the Babe, what more lovely than the mother! Look at the Child, knowing nothing. Yet all that is belongs to him, that your conscience should not fear but take comfort in him. . . . Watch him springing in the lap of the maiden. Laugh with him. Look upon this Lord of Peace and your spirit will be at peace."

What joy does this life in the Babe of Bethlehem bring! For now in you is life. For you eat His flesh and drink His blood. This day is called Christmas, or Christ-mass. It is the day of days for the Lord’s Supper. This is the day when the One who took on our flesh gives you His flesh for life, for salvation, and for the forgiveness of sins.

In Him was life. In you is life. For Jesus takes on your flesh and gives you His own. He takes on your weakness, your sins, your death. And in exchange for this present of death we give to Him, He gives us the gift of eternity in His Name. Now that is an exchange like no other. As we sing in the hymn:

He is a servant, I, a lord;

How great a mystery!

How strong the tender Christ Child’s love!

No truer friend than he,

No truer friend than he. (LW 44:5)

Yet St. John reminds us again, But the darkness did not comprehend it. In Jesus’ day, many looked at Him and saw nothing. A babe born in a cattle shed. A carpenter who thought He was a preacher. A rabbi who called himself the Son of God. They were in the dark. They had no faith. They didn’t get it.

It is the same today. This day is the feast of feasts for the Christian Church, this and Easter. Yet how many of our own flock would rather spend their Christmas morning watching a parade or football or some other past-time than spend it with the Lord who gives us His flesh? Jesus was despised 2000 years ago, and so it should not surprise us that He is despised even today.

But no matter. Christ our Lord comes to us whether we ask Him or not. For heaven knows we don’t deserve His coming. But He comes in spite of us and our sin. Lowly, meek and mild, He hides Himself in bread and wine, and gives us not food for the body, but food for the soul. To the world it makes no sense. But to God’s children, the Word is still becoming flesh. And His gives us His flesh for now, and for all eternity.

Merry Christmas in Jesus’ name. Amen. We rise and sing the final three verses of the hymn.