Sermon
for Christmas Day
December 25th, A+D 2025
Our
Redeemer Lutheran Church
Custer, South Dakota
The
True Reason for the Season (Is You!)
Audio of the Sermon is available HERE.
In the Name of + Jesus.
Caesar Augustus was emperor.
Quirinius was governor of Syria. Herod
the Great was
king in Jerusalem. The
body of the last Pharaoh was practically still warm in the ground. Pagan astrologers in Persia were gazing at the
stars. And peace reigned throughout the
world.
But it was an uneasy peace, the kind of peace that exists only at the point of a Roman sword.
The heir of King David eked out a living working as a builder in northern Israel. His fiancée was pregnant, and he wasn’t the father. But, God be praised for sending His angel to intervene, so Joseph didn’t break off the engagement. Instead, he endured the shame. To his neighbors and family, there were only two possibilities: either Joseph and Mary had relations before marriage, contrary to Moses’ law, and the child was his, or Mary had relations with someone else. Who would believe her story about an angel and a promise and a conception without the participation of a man? Almost no one would believe Mary, except Joseph, after the LORD intervened.
And so Joseph let his pride and reputation take a hit. He protected his fiancée, now his wife, and her Child. He guarded her from her accusers, letting everyone think ill of him. Because Joseph believed Mary was innocent. Joseph committed to raising her Son as his own, with or without a good name for himself.
Then, when she was really pregnant, Joseph did something that he would never have chosen. He traveled nearly a hundred miles with his pregnant wife and her unborn son. The blade of the Roman sword demanded it, and Joseph obeyed. The sure threat of the Romans outweighed the possible risks of traveling so late in a pregnancy.
In one sense, Joseph was under no obligation to obey the Roman command. As a faithful Israelite, He was in the LORD’s eyes a free man, even the true but unknown heir of King David. Joseph was, as a descendent of King David, truly a prospective and proper king of Israel. But Joseph had no crown, no power, no throne. He carried no sword, and he fought no battles. He, like his father, and his father’s father, may have scarcely ever contemplated his heritage. He certainly didn’t behave as if he were the rightful heir to the king.
But Joseph was royal, in his character. He acted like a true king, for a true king will always sacrifice himself for the good of his people. And Joseph certainly sacrificed for Mary and her Son, sacrificing his good name, in order to protect his wife and the Son that wasn’t even his. And his sacrifice enabled the greater blessing of Joseph’s people, and of every nation.
Saint Matthew begins Jesus’ genealogy
with Abraham. It continues to David, becoming a royal line. We follow the kings of Judah all the way to
Jeconiah, the second to last king to sit on David’s throne. Even when the southern kingdom ends with the
execution of Zedekiah and his sons, the royal line continues. There is still
Shealtiel and his descendants. There is still a king, even though there isn’t a
throne. And so, for six hundred years
the royal line continues in increasing obscurity, increasing poverty. The hidden kings of Israel are born, raise
families, scratch out a living, and die. The princes of Zion grow up and die
anonymously for centuries. Until Joseph
is born and grows into the man who will adopt the Son of God as his own child.
And so, Joseph goes down to Bethlehem,
to the city of David, for he is of the house and line of David.
Joseph knows that much. He knows his familial hometown. At Caesar’s decree,
Joseph goes there, with pregnant Mary, to be enrolled in the census. So he can pay his taxes to the Roman overlords
of Israel.
The kings of this world, e.g. the bureaucratic power of Rome, made its demands. But the Lord in heaven laughed. God was still in control. The Lord God of Israel is still in control today, despite appearances. And so, something happens, something that had never happened before: the Almighty and eternal God who created the universe enters into His own Creation.
The Eternal King who rules all of creation…
the Creator who
separated the light from the darkness...
the judge who
banished Adam and Eve from the Garden...
the Protector who
shut Noah and his family in the ark,
but destroyed the wicked world by a flood…
the Provider of the
Sacrifice, who spared Isaac’s life on Mount Moriah…
this One entered
into the womb of Mary.
The Word became flesh. He ‘tabernacled,’ or ‘tented’ among us. That is, He veiled His glory in a normal human body, so that He could one day share His glory, with us.
The God who brought
His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm…
the God who
anointed David king of Israel…
the God who spoke to
Job out of the whirlwind…
the God of Abraham,
of Isaac, and of Jacob, that God, the only true God, to whom be
glory forever and ever and unto ages of ages…
that God was born
in Bethlehem.
The Word became flesh, and chooses to reveal His grand entrance… in an animal shelter. God was born to an unwed mother and a royal father who couldn’t do anything with his royal heritage. Joseph, the unknown son of the earthly king, knelt before Mary’s son, the Son of God, made man. Joseph served this newborn king as his Lord, worshiping this Child, whom he would raise as his son.
Ponder with Mary for a moment: God was born in Bethlehem. Is there anything that I could ever say that would be more amazing than that? Is there any story that could top the idea of the Almighty and Eternal God who has no beginning and no end being born and laid in a cattle feed trough in tiny Bethlehem, and then nursing at His mother’s breast? Is there anything that I could say that would be more nonsensical to our human reason than that God was born as the apparently illegitimate child of a poor mother, the first born son of a shamed family?
Why, yes. Yes, there is. Try these on for size: God grew up. He learned to walk, to read and write. God sat on His adoptive father’s knee. He went to church, and rejoiced in the Scriptures. And, sometime after His twelfth birthday, with his mother, God buried Joseph. God buried in the ground the man who had sacrificed everything for His sake.
What kind of God behaves this way? What kind of God humbles Himself to this degree? What kind of God allows the suffering of the world to touch Him in such an intimate way? Well, that’s easy, isn’t it? The same kind of God who is born with the animals in Bethlehem.
And why? It’s all part of a greater plan, laid out in
the Word of Moses and the Prophets. Being
born is but one of the unlikely things Jesus is going to do. Because, dear Christian friends, the God who
was born in Bethlehem was going to do something so amazing that it makes the
idyllic story of Luke 2 seem as boring as the police reports that are buried on
page 7 of the Custer Chronicle.
The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us because we sinners didn’t believe God’s Word,
given through Moses. We would not obey, so
someone had to come and fulfill God’s will, His Word, His promises, for
us. God was born in Bethlehem because we
are sinners. Jesus, as His Name says,
came to save us from our sins. The Word
became flesh and was born in Bethlehem
because, even though in our sinfulness we stand against God and all that He
stands for, nevertheless, He stands for us. In this way He loves us. He stands in the gap between God’s justice
and our fallen state.
Why? He
was born with cattle, laid in a manger, nursed at His mother’s breast, grew up,
buried His father, and took up His cross, because He loves you.
The facts are the facts. The world, or you and I, can deny their
truth. We can say it couldn’t be
so. But our denials do not change
anything for God. Because with God, all
things are possible. And so, God was
born in Bethlehem. and took on your flesh, your blood, and your sin. He carried
them in His holy body. He took them to the cross and washed them away with His
own blood. You are forgiven. You are free.
Believe it.
That’s the whole point, beloved people
of God. Life for you. Salvation for you. Peace for you. Contrary to popular saying, Jesus isn’t the
reason for the season. You
are. Despite your sin, indeed, because God loves you and wants you free from
sin so you can live with Him forever, you are the reason for the
season. You are the reason Jesus did all
those unlikely, unimpressive, humiliating things.
It is as St. Paul wrote to Titus: For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
[4] But
when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5]
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6]
whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7]
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.
Everything that Jesus did, He did for you. The eternal Word of the Father took on flesh, for you. He grew up for you. He carried your sins for you. He suffered for you. He died and He rose, for you. He reigns on high, for you. God became a baby so that with His holy, precious blood, He could buy you back from Satan’s dominion, redeeming you, and giving you eternal life and salvation.
A Merry Christmas indeed.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
adapted from a sermon by Rev. Charles Lehman
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