2025 Christmas Morning
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!
Our Gospel reading for today starts at the very beginning. Not with the birth of Jesus Christ, but with the birth of creation. Those two births were separated by time, but they are intimately connected. The Word of God was the creative force by which all things came into being. And that very Word of God took on flesh and dwelt among us.
The word John uses in his Gospel for “dwelt”, or “made His dwelling” is εσκηνωσεν. It means to encamp, occupy or reside, coming from the word σκηνος, a tent or temporary dwelling place, a tabernacle. This language should not be lost on those with a familiarity of how God made His presence known among His people in the Old Testament.
The tabernacle raised up by Moses was God’s temporary dwelling place. When He wished to speak with and dwell among His people, the cloud of God’s presence would fill the tabernacle. In the same way, the cloud of God’s presence covered the mountaintop of Sinai when He proclaimed the Ten Commandments to His people.
The people of Israel were terrified and awestruck at that presence, so Moses was appointed to intercede on their behalf, taking faithful Joshua and the elders up onto the mountain, into the cloud of God’s presence, so that they could hear His word and share a meal in His presence.
When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, the tabernacle would be broken down, transported, and raised up again so that God might fill it when He wished to be with His people.
Much later, a permanent tabernacle was built by King Solomon, yet even the temple was a pale imitation of the true residence of God in heaven. In Isaiah’s vision of the Divine council of God, he saw that just the train of God’s robe filled the temple. No earthly palace could hold His full presence.
And yet on this most holy day, we remember when God’s presence filled the new tabernacle, the new temple, made not of mortar and stone, but of flesh and blood. All those Old Testament signs and symbols were pale imitations of the glory that God revealed on Christmas.
The Virgin Mary had been given a hint of the glory to come when the angel Gabriel told her that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).
That word, overshadow, is the same word used to describe the cloud of God’s presence overshadowing Mount Sinai when Moses spoke with God. In a very real sense, the cloud of God’s presence filled Mary and was made manifest in the baby she carried.
What a glorious mystery, that human flesh and blood could contain the Word of God. That the two could be made one, fully man yet fully Divine. And what an even more glorious mystery that God would do this not for the righteous and worthy, but for poor miserable sinners.
The people of Israel turned their backs on God over and over again, no matter how faithful He was to them, no matter how often He blessed them. Again and again, He condescended and descended to dwell with them, overshadowing them and leading them, only for them to turn their hearts to foreign idols.
His good and gracious will revealed in the Ten Commandments was scorned, twisted, and abandoned. God’s people didn’t worry that they had offended God until they were confronted with the consequences of their own sin. And we are no different.
And yet He saved them. And yet He saved you.
God tabernacled among us, not to watch us flail and fail in our own foolishness, not to bring His just and righteous wrath, but to save us.
God tabernacled among us to fulfill His promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden, to provide a Seed who would crush the head of Satan, who would take away the sting of sin, who would destroy death.
God tabernacled among us to fulfill the prophesy of Abraham, to provide for Himself a Lamb for the sacrifice, not sparing even His one and only Son.
God tabernacled among us to share fellowship, as He did with Moses and Elijah on the mountain, as He did in the upper room with His disciples, as He does with you here today through His Word and Sacraments.
The Word of God dwelt among us, understood our troubles and concerns, our worries for the future and regrets about the past. He drank and played and cried and worked. He watched the fisherman cast their nets, watched the farmers sow seeds in their fields and prune their vines. He watched shepherd tend their flocks.
He witnessed simple joys and heartbreaking sorrows. He witnessed marrying and giving in marriage. He witnessed new births and funerals. He cuddled little children and mourned for the dead. He healed people suffering from terrible diseases and He met and talked with the outcast.
The Word of God was not detached and aloof. He was not separated from the cares and experiences of the people among whom He dwelt. He participated in their affairs, and He revealed to them the mysteries and glories of the kingdom of heaven.
He taught men how to pray and for what to pray. He rebuked the sinful, corrected the erring, and castigated the hypocrites. He brought comfort and peace to the faithful.
And for all this the Word of God suffered and died the death of a common criminal, went through hell to redeem the lost from sin and death, and rose again to grant them His blessed presence forever.
The Word made flesh dwells among us too, here in the company of the faithful, sinners and saints all. He tabernacles among us in His body the church, in His Word and in His Sacraments, and through the companionship His brothers and sisters, the adopted children of God.
Jesus Christ dwells among us to bring the sinner to penitence and to bring the penitent to peace in the grace of God, who demonstrated His love for you in this way; He gave His one and only Son to take on flesh and tabernacle with you, to save you, to forgive you, and to love you to the end.
He came into this world as a little baby. The mighty King of the universe, through Whom all things were made, lowered Himself to a rude and smelly manger, among simple people, so that He might bring you up into the highest heights of the glory of His kingdom.
The Word of God is present here with His people, both great and lowly, uniting us all through His love, which spreads and encircles the globe.
He teaches us through His Word and so we call Him Rabbi. He molds and shapes our lives and so we call Him Lord. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death and so we call Him our Good Shepherd. He died in our place so that death might pass over us, and so we call Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
We call Him Immanuel, “God with us!” His name is mighty counselor, prince of peace. He is called Jesus, Joshua, “God saves!” He has saved us, freed us from sin, released us from slavery and death and so we call Him Redeemer. He prepares a place in heaven for us and so we call Him the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
The Word of God became flesh and tabernacled among us so that each Christmastide we can hear again the blessed song of the angels and witness the glory of God made manifest in this Child, who brings the peace of God to all mankind.
And that “peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Amen.