St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2003 Luke 2:10,11

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

I like Christmas trivia. For example—did you know that a very nice little guy—named Francis—invented the little crèche thing? Back in 1226 he was the first guy to have a little stable—with a little manger—a little Mary and Joseph—a little baby Jesus in a manger—shepherds and sheep and a little cow and a little donkey. Did you know in 1580 people started putting angels on the top of their Christmas tree? Did you know that in 1826 people starting hanging up stockings to put little Christmas goodies in? Did you know that this year Americans will spend 31 billion dollars—on Christmas presents for their pets? Do you know who Gumby/Ralph E. Morris is? He was this guy who worked for the telephone company. He was they guy who invented those little electric strings of lights—to put on Christmas trees? Did you know that? You don’t need to know any of that stuff. Trivia is exactly that—trivial. It might get you a little wedge in a game of Trivial Pursuit—but it won’t get you to heaven. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can save you from all your sin and guilt. That’s why we have practiced so long and so carefully. To share once again the precious good news that in a little wooden feed box was born the Savior from sin and death!

“Do not be afraid!” Where my brother teaches God’s Word—in the Amazon Rainforest there are people who are afraid. They are afraid of the piranha—the fish that can smell a drop of blood in the river from a mile away and will come a bite you with their little razor teeth. And they will bring all their friends and relatives to bite you, too. They are afraid of the pythons—the anacondas who will drop from the tree branches above you—quickly wrap around you—and literally squeeze the life breath out of you! They are afraid of the jaguars—pitch black—they make that indescribably cat sound—kind of a snarl—kind of like purring. They have claws to take hold of you—and teeth so sharp—to grab hold of you like a vice! There is no escape. They can run faster than you can. They can climb any tree quicker than you can. People in the rain forest are afraid of sickness and disease. They are afraid of their enemies—living in small villages of 30 or 40 people—holding blood murderous grudges from generations back. These enemies come barefoot—silently in the dark—in the night—with blowguns—darts dipped in poisonous paste—paralyzing—deadly in moments. And what they fear even worse—is that their enemy might take their life—then hide their body—bury it in the ground! So they believe their soul—their spirit would awake to the terror of being buried alive! How frightened they were—until they heard that Christmas and Good Friday and Easter Gospel we are tempted to take for granted. How frightened they were until they realized that the little Christ child grew up and died on the cross and was buried—only to be alive again on Easter morning. Because Jesus lives—no earthly enemy can take away their soul. No earthly grave will hold them. Because baby Jesus was born to save them—they have eternal life. Therefore their chief is not afraid to be buried. Because he knows Jesus is his Savior and Lord.

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Have you ever been squeegee-ed? You know—you stop at an intersection in a big city—and this homeless person runs up to your car—squirts the windshield—smears the bugs and dirt around—then pounds on your window—for you to quick give them a bunch of money! What do you do? Do you roll down your window for this person with about 4 days of whiskers and with grey and green teeth and horrible breath—with black dirt and oily grease under and all around their fingernails? Do you give them money? And if you don’t—will they scratch your car—or slash your tire? Homeless people—beggars and panhandlers! Do they gross you out—or make you afraid? Baby Jesus was born to save them. Jesus was born to save spiritual paupers—beggars and street people. The birth of the Christ child is precious good news for you and for me!

Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! Jesus saves us from all our sins! How is your Christmas tree? Is it this flawless cone of green—branches thick and full from this perfectly straight trunk? Or—if the truth be told—there’s this one place where it’s a little bit thin? If there’s this little less than perfect part what do you do? You put that part in the back—you turn the tree until that part is back in the corner or back against the wall—so nobody will see it! It’s tempting to try and do that with your sins! To drink too much alcohol—but say to our self—I know someone who drinks even more! To take money from work that isn’t ours—but say we will surely pay it back! But you only end up taking more and more—until you can never pay it back. To watch bad movies or read bad stories and say it’s really harmless—because you are only thinking about such things—never ever actually doing them! The fact is—we are all fatally flawed—our ornaments of acts of kindness and goodness and generosity can’t cover up the bent branches and falling needles of our sins. Only Jesus can take away our sins—dying on a splintered blood and sweat stained tree—some 33 years after he was born. Jesus died on an ugly tree—to make us children of God—heirs of forever life in heaven!

A Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! I like those commercials where people give their spouse a new car for Christmas! Where the puppy comes—wearing a car key around their neck—the little toy railroad car dumps out a car key—where the nose of the snowman is a car key! Out in the garage of the driveway is a new car with this huge ribbon around it—a huge bow on the roof. If money were no object you could buy a Hummer—for around 75 thousand dollars—and then you could make it even nicer—with around 60 thousand dollars worth of chrome everywhere—and global satellite positioning equipment and DVD players in the back of each seat and surround sound. Neiman Marcus had luxury cars for hundreds of thousands of dollars—limited editions—and they sold out in seven minutes! Christmas is not about “things and stuff”! Christmas is not about how expensive the presents are under your Christmas tree. The day after Christmas parking lots by malls will be packed again. People everywhere taking back sweaters that are too small and shirts that are too big and neckties that are too loud. People taking back movies they don’t want—very small very expensive high tech gifts they can’t get to work. People will return a thousand things and stuff that once unwrapped were found to be scratched, flawed, busted, broken—some essential part or piece missing. That’s what happens with earthly gifts—no matter how hard we try—how careful we have been. The only Christmas gift that really matters is the Christ child—baby Jesus. A Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! Amen!

To God alone all glory!