The Sermon Hymn is LSB 358 verses 8-9. Looking this over before you read this will be helpful.
Welcome To Earth O Noble Guest
John 1:14
One of the memorable parts of the Christmas celebration for many people is participating in the Christian’s Christmas Service, like the one the children will present on Sunday. It is exciting for the children to be able to proclaim the wonderful news that Jesus is born. It is exciting for parents to see their children standing in front of the church to sing their songs or say their lines. It is exciting for the teachers and the directors to see all of their plans fall into place and know that through the children that they have touched, the message of salvation is being shared. I can recall the many times that I got to participate in acting out the Christmas story, mostly as a shepherd. The telling of the Christmas story by and for the children has become an important part of the Christmas season. Perhaps the custom came from Martin Luther who enjoyed putting on special Christmas presentations for his family back in Wittenberg
If you were here last week you will remember we looked at the first seven verses of the Christmas hymn, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come.” This hymn was written by Marin Luther as a Christmas pageant for His family in 1534. The first five verses were sung by a young man dressed like an angel. The next two expressed the wonder of the shepherds as they considered the message that the angel proclaimed. The final eight verses form the second part of Luther’s pageant and tell of our response to the Christ Child. As we think about these verses tonight as part of our Advent meditation, may we feel the same joy that Luther must have felt as he thought about the wonderful gift of a Savior and expressed his joy in the words of the hymn.
In the verses we sang before, we are taken back to Bethlehem village of Bethlehem
The coming of Jesus into the world is filled with surprising twists. We have already considered that the Lord of all came as a tiny baby. His coming was announced to lowly shepherds. Verse 8 presents another one of these surprising twists. He came to share my misery, that He might also share the greatest joy with me, the joy of heaven. Verse 9 points out another amazing irony. The Lord who created all things is brought into this world in the humblest of circumstances. He lays his head where lowly cattle lately fed. How could this be? Perhaps the answer can be found in John’s Gospel. In his simple comment on the Christmas miracle, John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word, who was from the beginning, became flesh, a human being. He became one of us so that He could become our substitute. He took our place and lived a perfect life and then took our place on the cross. That is why He became a tiny baby. He had to be like us so that His life and death could be the sufficient price for our rescue from sin, death and the power of the devil.
For more of our response we will sing verses 10-13.
When many people see a little baby, one of the first things that they want to do is pick the baby up and hold it and cuddle it and try to make it feel warm and secure. When you put the baby back down you want it to be comfortable and content. The bed for the baby needs to be just right. Luther’s youngest daughter was only a little over a week old at the time that this Christmas pageant was presented. He had close, personal knowledge of how you would treat a little baby. You can see that feeling coming through in the verses we just sang.
We are brought back again to the reality of the stable. The baby’s bed was filled not with velvet and silk but with hay and straw. The contrast is so striking that we have to stop and consider why this should have to be. The noble guest from heaven come to earth to be a human being, not one with privilege and wealth but one who would know humility and the simple things of life. He would be one who would show us the importance of spiritual blessings. His simple life was itself a parable about seeking first the kingdom of God
If a cradle of gold and jewels, although appropriate for a king, was not the cradle for the child and the manger bed seems too simple, although it was where the child was found, what would be the proper place for the Christ Child? Verse 13 has a surprising answer for that question. The place for the Christ Child is in my heart. It is a place that He prepares for us through the power of the Holy Spirit. My heart is the dwelling place of the Lord when I am made His child through my Baptism. The Lord lives within me and comforts and strengthens me every day. The Lord is with me to assure me of the forgiveness of my sins. He is with me as I seek to give Him my life for His service. He will be with me when all the earthly supports begin to fall away. He will be with me when my heart fails. He will be with me at the end of my life when I will go to live with Him forever in heaven. That is the place for the Savior to be, right here with in me.
Christmas time gives us an opportunity to respond to the great gift of a Savior. Luther concluded his Christmas pageant of 1534 with a fitting response. Let us sing the final two verses, 14 and 15.
Have you ever felt like your heart was ready to leap for joy? That is what Luther described in verse 14. Probably the greatest thing that I can remember that would come close to this feeling is the birth of our son. Once, again, remembering that the Luther family just had welcomed a baby girl into their home about a week before, Dr. Luther probably had that feeling of joy in his heart. But the feeling of joy that he was describing was not about his own baby girl but about the birth of the Christ Child. As much as I love my son and we all love our children, the birth of Jesus has much more significance for us than any other human birth in history. The fact that the Son of God was born to Mary means that God’s plan of salvation for the world has been put into motion. That has eternal significance for us. It means that the sin that separates us from God has been forgiven. We have been given the gift of eternal life. Our hearts should leap for joy when we think about the birth of the Savior.
You can’t keep all that joy to yourself. You have to join with the angel choir to sing the praises of our God who loved you so much that He sent His only Son to earth to be your Savior, to bring peace between God and man and to teach peace to all mankind. Your joy should show in your voice. The translator of the hymn uses the words, “pious mirth” to describe the way in which we sing our praises to God. That is an interesting way to express the kind of joy we have over the birth of Jesus. We certainly recognize with pious hearts that this is the Son of God. A pious heart is one that is worshipful and stands in great awe of this holy child. But at the same time you have the feeling that you are just going to break out in laughter any second because you are so happy. It’s like one of those times in your life when you know you are supposed to be serious but something happens, you hear a strange noise or someone makes a mistake that makes you want to giggle and the more you try to be serious the harder it is to hold the laughter in until it finally explodes. It is with that kind of joy that you can come away from the manger and to out into the world and sing “Glory to God.” You can proclaim God’s great love to all the world. You can proclaim a glad new year to all the earth. It will be a glad new year because you have been reminded once again of God’s great love. You have been reminded that Jesus came to be your Savior. You have been reminded that His life, death and resurrection made your forgiveness and eternal destiny possible. You are also reminded that He is coming again some day. With that good news ringing in your ears and in your heart, you will have a glad new year. The problems and challengers of life will come, but you will have the strength to deal with them and overcome them. You have the promise that nothing can separate you from the love of God that is yours in Christ Jesus your Lord. The joys of life in the new year will be that much better because you know that your Savior is with you always.
Often when we think of Martin Luther, images come to mind of a staunch fighter for the truth of the Gospel, willing to stand up against the Emperor and the Pope and even risk his own life in order to proclaim God’s Word. Some even picture him as a mean-spirited man you wouldn’t want to cross. But it was that same Martin Luther whose tender side is evident in this Christmas pageant that he put together for his family that we now have in our hymnal. We could see his love for the Savior as well as his love for his own children coming through in the verses of this hymn. May you learn from our meditations on this Christmas song that the gift of the Christ Child is very special to you. Your Christmas celebration needs to be focused on that Gift and what it means for you now and for all eternity. Amen.
And the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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