Christmas in August

 10^th Sunday after Pentecost ,August 8, Anno +  Domini 2021           
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

Christmas in August 

 "Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 

    As much as I love the summer, I don’t know if in any of the 17 years I’ve been preaching I’ve ever made it through without throwing in at least one Christmas hymn in July or August.  And, given the question of the grumbling Jews in our Gospel, today is the day.  Because their skeptical question is the driving force behind one of my very favorite Christmas songs.  So let’s have it.  If you want, you can grab a hymnal and turn to #370.  Or maybe you have “What Child Is This” memorized. 

 What child is this, who laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the king, whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring Him laud, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

     Jews who had been among the 5,000 miraculously fed by Jesus are now grumbling about Him, "because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" John 6:41-42 (ESV) 

 

    Christmas had come some 30 years before.  And these Jews are interested in understanding the Man born on Christmas.  But somehow they missed the meaning of Christmas.  Maybe they never heard.  Or maybe they heard, but didn't believe.  Or perhaps they had forgotten.  At any rate, the message of the angels, the story of the shepherds, the worship of the magi, these facts are lost on this crowd. 

      There are two key teachings in Christmas.  These Jews clearly don't understand the first one, that Jesus, son of Mary, is also the Son of God.  Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth, who turned his life upside down caring for Mary and Jesus, faithful Joseph is not Jesus' father.  But the circumstances of Mary's pregnancy, the glory revealed in seeming shame, the mystery of God made flesh, these Gospel facts are unknown to the crowd who came to Jesus after eating the miraculous meal.  Love came down at Christmas time, but nobody seems to know it. 

      Since the Jews don't understand, Jesus explains Christmas to them.  That is, He explains who His Father is.  Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. John 6:43-44

      The first key lesson of Christmas is that Jesus, born of Mary, is God the Father's only begotten Son, true God from eternity, now made also to be a man, who came as an infant, and now stood before the crowds as a teacher and a miracle worker.  Three decades after His birth, Jesus teaches the crowds what the angels taught the shepherds, that He is the heavenly Father's Son, come down from heaven. 

      John chapter 6, with all its mysterious discussion of faith and eating bread from heaven, isn't a story we usually associate with Christmas.  But following the Feeding of the 5,000 with teaching about Christmas actually makes good sense.  You see, Jesus uses the miraculous meal of bread and fish to teach about heavenly bread.  He is trying to make the crowds believe that He is the Father's Son, the Bread of Life come down from heaven. 

 Let’s sing stanza 2.

 Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian fear, for sinners here, the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the Cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

      Christmas is when Jesus first came down and revealed Himself.  The Son of God became a human child, growing in Mary's womb.  He revealed Himself visibly in Bethlehem, a humble village whose name just happens to mean 'house of bread.'    Jesus, the Bread of Life, came down from heaven, and was born in the House of Bread.  Then the Bread from Heaven was placed in a manger, a feed trough, a foreshadowing of His purpose, His goal of giving his flesh for the life of the world. 

      That's the second key teaching of Christmas, so beautifully taught in stanza 2, the frightening truth that Jesus became Mary’s Baby, in order to grow up to be the sacrifice for our sins.  In our Gospel today, as Jesus moves from teaching the crowds who His Father is, and starts teaching them why He has come from the Father, well then the grumbling really begins. 

     Just like Christmas.  Christmas is very popular with the world, when it is presented as a story of God in some hazy sense being one of us, as a story of good being brought out of humble beginnings, or as an undefined story of peace and joy and good will.  Christmas is also just popular as an excuse for a winter festival to raise our spirits before the long dark days of January and February. 

      But as soon as you mention why Baby Jesus came, as soon as you make the connection between the wood of the manger and the wood of the cross, well, soon people start grumbling. Even many religious people who claim a connection to Jesus and the Bible will be put off if you insist on telling the whole story of Baby Jesus.  They may even ask you not to ruin their holiday with all that talk about sin and sacrifice and forgiveness.   

     Just like John chapter six.  Jesus had attracted quite a following with the miraculous feeding.  He was quite popular.  But it seems like He really didn't care about growing His church.  I mean, did you hear how He talked to the crowds?  That’s no way to win friends and influence people.  Why is Jesus so hard on these people who like at least some of what He had to offer.  Strange church growth approach. Or perhaps growing the church doesn't work like we expect it to work. 

      Last week, instead of praising the people for seeking Him out, we heard Jesus rebuke them for coming after Him only for the sake of a full stomach.  Today, again unconcerned for offending potential converts, Jesus confronts their grumbling very harshly.  And He makes claims for Himself that only God can make, claims the people are not yet ready to hear.  Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

      Jesus claims that on the Last Day, the Day of the LORD, He will be the One raising up believers.  That is to say, Jesus is claiming to be the LORD, equal to God the Father, truly God Himself, come in the flesh.  In the Jewish culture, such a claim was punishable by death.  But Jesus doesn't stop there.     After pressing the point about who He is, Jesus then goes on to insult the Jews' history.  I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.   The story of God feeding Israel with manna is one of the Jews' favorite stories, a sign that they are God's special people.  But Jesus points out the inconvenient truth that despite being fed by God, the Jews' ancestors still died. 

      These Jews want the fun stuff that comes with Jesus, the great teaching, the healing miracles, the exorcisms, and of course the endless buffets of bread and fish.  But please don't spoil their fun with talk about some exclusive salvation that only comes through Jesus.  Don't remind them that more than anything else they need a Savior from sin.  Don't bring up death when they are looking for another free dinner.

       God is always ready to give more and better than we desire or deserve.  We see this at Christmas, and we see this in our Gospel.  We want Christmas to be peaceful and joyful in non-disturbing ways.  We want nice decorations, family time with no
fights, the chance to hear a few favorite Christmas carols, and of course we want to get some new toys. 

      At Christmas, and all year long, God wants to give us real, lasting peace, first with Him, and then with our neighbor.  God wants to give us the joy of the angels and the saints in heaven, the joy of being eternally in His presence. 

      In our Gospel, the Jews are hoping Jesus will be a free meal ticket, and a way to avoid pain and suffering in this life.  Jesus wants to give them more.  Their real problem isn't a lack of bread or poor medical care.  These are just symptoms of the real problem, the problem which Jesus came to address.  Jesus wants to give heavenly, eternal bread, like He says:  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

      Forever comes with a price, a price we don't want to hear about at Christmas, or any other time.  A price the Jews didn't want to hear from Jesus 2,000 years ago.  Honest sinners don't want to be reminded of the price.  Because sinners know.  Their sins are the price.  Pain can be avoided temporarily if we all agree not to talk about our sin, not to deal with reality.  People, both Jews 2,000 years ago and Americans today, don't want to hear how God gives His greatest gift.  But Jesus tells them anyway:  The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.  Or, as we sang, Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the Cross be borne for me, for you.  

      In order to give you all that God desires for you to have, Jesus must be more than a cute baby in a lowly manger.  He must be more than a great teacher, more than a miraculous healer, more than the host of the world's most amazing picnic.  These blessings are nice to have, and lovely to consider and enjoy, for now.  But none of these blessings change our situation eternally. 

     In order to give you life eternal, Jesus had to deal with your sin.  Jesus must be the one who gives His own flesh, for the life of the world.  He must be the one who dies, for you, to forgive you.  He must, in order to be the one who rises for you, the one who promises to raise you as well.  He must be the one who continually feeds you with a foretaste of the feast to come, the miraculous Supper of our Lord, where He gives His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins.     

      That's who Jesus is.  That's the right understanding of Christmas, and of our Gospel today.  And the right understanding of the meal that we celebrate at this altar.  To begin to grasp the greatness of the Gospel gifts, we have to begin to wrestle with the depth of our sin.  Every wrong thing you ever thought or said or did, and all the wrong things committed by all the people of all time, these are the crimes which God hates, these are the debts which Jesus died to pay. 

But as big as that mountain of sin and debt is, the Father’s love is greater.  Jesus’ willing self-sacrifice is better.  The Spirit's comforting word of forgiveness is stronger.  And that gift is for you, everywhere Jesus comes to you in His Word, every time He invites you to His Supper, whenever He feeds you heavenly bread for eternal life.  And that is the greatest Christmas present of them all, no matter what month it is. 

Feast on Christ’s forgiving love, and sing the last stanza with me.    

 So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh, come peasant, king, to own Him.
The King of kings of salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high, the virgin sings her lullaby.         
Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary.