TITLE: “Pious Mirth”

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for the Nativity of our Lord is from Luke 2,

Glory to God in highest heaven, who unto us His Son hath given, while angels sing with pious mirth, a glad new year to all the earth. Thus ends Martin Luther’s famous Christmas Carol, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come. Isn’t that an interesting line, though, pious mirth. I like it. It’s fitting on such a cold and bitter night, that we remember the joy of the angels on this wondrous birth. Of course, Santa Claus gets more credit than the angels for mirth and laugher this season. Ho, ho, ho, goes red-clad Claus this night.

But Santa and His elves have nothing to laugh about in comparison to the birth of our Lord. St. Luke unfolds this story like a tapestry. The mirth and laughter of the angels centers around the fact that It happened. What I love about St. Luke’s story is that it highlights what would be easy to overlook. Our text says that it happened. In this month, we are inundated with stories of Christmas. Think of how many differing “Christmas stories” you have heard this month. You’ve heard the story of Charles’ Dickens A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge and the true meaning of generosity, not that we really get to the reason for generosity in the story. Or of course there is Twas the night before Christmas. Santa Claus gives out gifts to good boys and girls everywhere. But if you’re bad, a lump of coal for you! For shame. Then there’s the story of Rudolph. It’s okay to be different. It doesn’t matter if you have a big glowing nose, different colored skin than everyone else. Everyone is different, but that’s okay, because God will use us all. Of course, there’s the story of It’s a Wonderful Life, which is kind of a reworked version of Scrooge. Don’t forget the gifts that are right in front of you. Be generous, for you never know what great things are right around the corner, or right in front of our very eyes.

In the midst of all of these stories to warm the heart, but that never satisfy, we have the story of St. Luke, now the birth of Jesus Christ happened in this way…it happened. Most of the so-called Christmas stories have morals, not laughter. They tell us about generosity, or love of the family, or hope for the future somehow, or counting your blessings, or the words that you find on every Hallmark card that you’ve sent out. But the message of St. Luke is different. He isn’t trying to give you advice for the future. He isn’t trying to be pithy or cute. He isn’t trying to tell you how to live a better life or how to have a better family. Rather, St. Luke has a greater purpose. His purpose is simple. He comes to you when all is still and it is midnight, to tell you, of all things, what happened.

What happened is this: Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary to come and be your God. It happened, just as St. Luke attested. This isn’t a story to tell your children to get them to behave for a few blissful moments. This isn’t a moral to give you an insight into yourself, or to help you contemplate what’s really important in your life. Nor is this just words that we can extol as one of the great stories of Western Civilization. No, it happened. Just as St. Luke records. Jesus Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is the Son of Mary and the very Son of God. God and man, united in one person, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

This is no story, dear friends. This is, more than anything else in the world, reality. Christ’s birth this night means for you the forgiveness of sins, life, hope, a future, indeed heaven itself. His birth is everything, for in Him you receive everything that He comes to give to you.

Jesus Christ comes to you this night. He comes to you in the very story itself. For when this story of Jesus’ birth is told, Jesus Himself is here. But perhaps even more, Jesus Himself is here in His Holy Sacrament. This night is called Christmas, or Christ-Mass, for it is this night that we remember the One once came into our Flesh who comes to us again in His Body and Blood of the Holy Supper. For the faithful, who hear His Word and trust his promises, receiving Christ’s promises in His own Body and Blood is the very point of this Holy Night.

This is why Christmas for us in not a time of fleeting presents and forgotten laughter. There is joy, real joy this night. God became man. He’s on your side. He is here, now, in His Word and promises for you. If ever there was something to laugh about, that’s it. Satan is undone, your sins are gone, eternal life is your everlasting reward, because God became man. It happened. One theologian has said that no one who knows they are going to heaven can always be serious. He’s right. Laugh and sing! Kneel soon and join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, to sing praises for the One who became One with us, so that we might be One with Him.

We pray:

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child

Make thee a bed soft undefiled

Within my heart that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for thee.

And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith to life everlasting. Amen.