St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2005

Students of Trinity St. Luke’s Lutheran School

Present the Christmas Gospel 4:30 and 6:30
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz.

God’s Word says, “Unto you is born this day in the city of a David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord!” Luke 2:6

Dear children of our Heavenly Father—precious in his sight for Jesus’ sake:

It’s warm here in Church. The furnace has been running. And there are lots of warm people—sitting close to each other. We have warm thick coats, scarves, hats and mittens. We have sweaters thick and warm. It’s cold outside. It was so cold the other day in Denver—that a homeless man actually froze to death! The police found him—huddled against a chain link fence. How much shelter—what warmth can you find in a chain link fence? They say in a phenomenon called “paradoxical undressing” this man became so cold—so confused—so disoriented—he actually took off his coat—thinking he was too warm! This would not have happened—could not have happened—if just one person had given this man a warm cup of coffee or a warm cup of hot chocolate to drink. This could not have happened—if just one person had said—here is a warm blanket—let me cover you up. Here is a warm hug. Let me hold you tight and make you warm. But who would hug a homeless person? Who would want to give your nice clean quilt to someone who smelled of sweat and worse? And yet spiritually speaking we are that homeless person. It is by God’s amazing grace alone—that the Christ child was born into this sin infected world to take away all our sins. As helpless as that homeless person was—we were more helpless—dead in trespasses and sins. Our heart of sin was frozen to death—and still Jesus came to save us!

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord! It was 8:30 in the morning—when a fire broke out in the kitchen of an apartment in New York. A little baby boy named Eric—just one month old—was in terrible danger. His mother held him out a third story window—from as high as the peak of the roof of our Church! Standing in the snow beneath that window was a man named Felix—a stocky man—the catcher for his baseball team. As little Eric was dropped—Jesus put Felix in just the right place. Angels wrapped their wings around Eric—and Felix caught him. Felix gave little Eric mouth to mouth resuscitation. With just two fingers they pushed on little Eric’s chest. Jesus saved his life. As wondrous as this story is—a little baby saved—it’s what you expect. A baby saving big people? That would be a whole ‘nother thing! It would be the man bites dog concept. And yet that’s exactly what happened tonight. A little baby boy was born 2,000 years ago—to rescue you and me from all our sins! A little baby boy—wrapped in strips of cloth—came to rescue the whole world from sin, death and eternal destruction!

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord! Let there be no mistake. Baby Jesus was born to take away our sins. Baby Jesus was born to die on the cross—to wash away all our guilty stains! Vincent “the chin” Gigante was a mob boss—the boss of organized crime—from little Italy in New York—all the way to Miami Beach. Vincent was guilty of being a hitman—a boss in charge of prostitution and drugs and loan sharking. He was a real life Soprano. And yet—he spent decades—not in prison but wandering the sidewalks of New York—wearing a ratty bathrobe and slippers—mumbling words that didn’t make any sense. His relatives all said he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, dementia and more. The fact is—he was faking. He was pretending—and he finally admitted it. And once he admitted it—he was thrown into prison—for the final years of his life. It is tempting to think that somehow we can get around God’s justice! That if we try to be good most of the time. That if we know lots of people who do lots worse than we do. That if we feel really badly when we do something wrong—if we have done lots of really nice things—that somehow in the end we will get to go to heaven. That’s all horribly wrong. We are wretched sinners—saved by grace alone—for Jesus’ sake!

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord! Jesus came to take all our sins away. About this time each year—it’s announced that the President of the United States has issued Presidential Pardons! In 2002 the President pardoned a man named Olgen, from Indianapolis, IN for stealing $10.90 from a postal employee’s mail. This year he pardoned a man who robbed a bank with a deadly weapon. The President pardoned a man named Carl at his still. It was like Andy Griffith and Barney Fife caught him. Carl said, “I wasn’t trying to cause nobody no harm!” He didn’t sell a drop of moonshine—and got three years probation! The President pardoned people who had great amounts of marijuana or cocaine with intent to distribute—people who stole cars—people who lied on loan applications. Going on 3,000 people have asked for a Presidential pardon. Only 69 have received them. To earn or deserve a pardon—your original crime can’t be too terrible. And you have to live an exemplary life for many years after you are convicted. Jesus was born to forgive all our sins. Sins of eating forbidden fruit—literally and figuratively. Jesus was born to wash away sins so horrible, hurtful and disgusting you dasn’t say them in front of children or your grandma. Jesus died for sins we commit so thoughtlessly and carelessly we don’t even realize we are doing them. The guy in front of me the other day who turned and turned and turned without using his turn signal—then turned into the exit only drive way at Kraemer Cheese! Jesus died for my arrogant thoughts as I rolled along behind him. Jesus endured the hurt of eternal separation from his Father’s love—to save us. Today and every day we celebrate the simple Christmas Gospel—unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz