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Christmas Eve 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
December 24, 2024
Matthew 1:18-25
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He spreads his quilt on the dirt floor of the little house, then lies down and pulls another quilt over himself to try to get comfortable. It is the end of a very hard day and now it is going to be a long, difficult night. His mind is racing; he cannot quiet his thoughts in order to surrender to sleep.
Joseph’s life has been blown apart. His fiancée Mary is pregnant and it is not his baby. The marriage is off, the wedding is off, his future is off. All his hopes and dreams have been smashed to the ground like a piece of pottery. Joseph tosses and turns and grieves the wreckage of his life. Eventually, in the midst of his suffering, Joseph falls asleep.
Without ever asking his permission, God sends an angel to Joseph in a dream to tell him what is happening, and tell him what he needs to do. Matthew 1:20–21 (ESV) 20 …“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph is blindsided by all of this. God did not check with Joseph first to see if this was okay. He did not ask if Joseph approved. He did not get Joseph’s agreement to the name. God just tells him what is happening and what he needs to do. Without permission, God turns Joseph’s life upside down. Just who does He think He is?
Aaaah. That’s right. He is God. He is the maker of heaven and earth. He sent His son to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. God does not have to ask permission because He is God Almighty. He is in charge. He has authority.
The Christmas story is such a strange story. We have almighty God pulling the strings…making things happen on earth, preparing for Jesus’ ministry; His life, death and resurrection, but doing things in such an unexpected way.
The angel Gabriel announces to the priest Zechariah that his elderly, barren wife Elizabeth will be pregnant and their son John… Luke 1:15–17 (ESV) 15 …will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Through John the Baptist, God will prepare the way for the Messiah. That is why elderly, barren Elizabeth is pregnant with John, for nothing is impossible with God.
God does not ask Mary’s permission. He just sends the Angel Gabriel to announce to Mary that she will be the mother of the Lord and Mary says, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
God is all powerful…and God is a tiny embryo in the womb of a young woman from the small town of Nazareth. God is a tiny little unborn baby whose mother and step-father are humble people. Joseph is a carpenter or stone mason, he works construction. They are not wealthy, they are not powerful. When they come to the temple 40 days after Jesus’ birth for Mary’s purification, a year old lamb is to be offered, or if you cannot afford a lamb, a pair of birds, one a burnt offering and one a sin offering. Mary and Joseph can only afford the birds.
God almighty is the son of poor folks from the nowhere little town of Nazareth. God has power and authority, He is Lord and King of all, and yet He comes to us in humble circumstances as a humble servant.
Tonight we rejoice that God has come to be with us in the person of Jesus. On the night of His birth in Bethlehem, without checking if it was okay to interrupt, an angel of the Lord announces Jesus’ birth. His birth is gloriously proclaimed by an army of angels, but it is not proclaimed to kings or priests or the wealthy. The news of the newborn Christ is given to men guarding sheep at night in a field.
The Christ is come. The promised Messiah is here and the shepherds are given a sign. Luke 2:12 (ESV) 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
How peculiar? The long foretold Messiah has arrived and He does not even have a proper bed. The King has come and is on a bed of straw. Jesus’ first visitors are lowly shepherds with an amazing tale of a heavenly messenger with a choir of an army of angels.
God does not ask permission. Jesus comes to earth to accomplish what He comes to accomplish. Jesus comes to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus takes your sin onto himself. Without asking your permission, He takes your sin and guilt, pays the price on the cross, and rises from the dead to show that sin and death have been defeated. He gives you the gift of His righteousness, purity and holiness. He gives you the gift of eternal life with Him. He does not ask your permission to save you. He just does it. The gift is yours. He gives you the gift in humble ways; in the water of baptism, in His Words of forgiveness, and in His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. He pours out His gifts to you and says, “Follow me.”
This is the greatest gift of all. That humble baby in the manger is the Savior. He will grow to be the sacrificial Lamb of God; the once-for-all sacrifice for the sin of the world. He is the sacrifice for your sin and He gives you the full value of His sacrifice. Jesus is the greatest giver -- and the greatest gift. Tonight we remember the greatest gift of all time swaddled in cloth, lying in a manger. The gift is for you.
The great tragedy of Christmas is so many people are offended by the gift of the Savior. “A Savior? I don’t need a savior. I did not give anyone permission to save me. Who is this that has the audacity to say that I am not good enough on my own? Who is this that rudely calls me a sinner? Who is this that has the nerve to try to tell me what to do? Who is this that never asked my permission to give me anything? For far, far too many, Jesus is offensive. Folks are offered the gift of forgiveness and eternal life and they are offended and refuse the gift. “I don’t want this gift, I don’t need this gift. No one is going to tell me what to do. This gift does not fit my lifestyle. I will live my life my way.”
Some reject Jesus because they don’t understand. They don’t understand how Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. It doesn’t make sense and if they don’t understand they figure it must not be true. They reject that nothing is impossible with God.
And so your gathering together today/tonight is so vitally important. In a world of lies you know the truth. Jesus is God with us. God comes to earth as that humble little baby lying in a manger. God does not ask your permission. He doesn’t check if this will work for you. He doesn’t arrange things so that they will make sense to you. He just saves you through that baby born in Bethlehem.
God does not ask your permission to save you and that is wonderful good news. God does it all…100 percent. When the devil tempts you to believe that you cannot be saved because you have not done enough, you tell that snake, “It is true, I have not done enough, but Jesus has. Jesus has done it all.”
God does not need your permission. He comes to earth as that little baby born in Bethlehem to be Immanuel -- God with us. He comes to save you. We rejoice, because lying in that manger in Bethlehem so many years ago is the greatest gift forever. Luke 2:11 (ESV) 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Amen.