“FOR UNTO YOU”
Saint Luke 2: 1-14
The Eve of The Nativity of our Lord: 24 December Anno Domini 2019
Father Jay Watson SSP
“And it came to pass” in those days, those dark, broken, and sinful days, that there went out a decree from the ultimate King: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” [Gen 2.17]. That should remind every one of you that these days of 2019 are also spoiled, rotting, and very dark. There is sin even on December 24th and 25th, even in your lives! Caesar Augustus should have been mindful of The Great King and His Decree, had the Roman been repentant and believing. What about your own “little Caesar?”
“All the world should be taxed.” And what is taxing then, or at the time of Cyrenius and Herod, or even now in the age of the Supreme, panopticon, Super-State? It’s more than theft by others; more than taking your money and you taking other people’s possessions. It’s all the domineering devil-inspired self-interest which leads to self-spoilage.
Saint Joseph, and The pure Virgin, had to leave Nazareth, their home, and travel to Bethlehem. You likewise have had to leave behind the memories, traditions, and loved ones of childhood and young-adult life; you’ve left good jobs, schools, towns, and friends behind, in your own trek to the house of bread. Even so, your first parents were forced by Decree to leave paradise for a land of sweat and thorns.
Your lineage? You are + Baptized. Joseph’s house and lineage? He was a branch of the vine of David. Your first father? He had been made in “imago Dei,” in the very Image and Likeness of God. What did Adam actually look like? I surmise he could have been a dead-ringer for the brother of the Nazarene, The One, being carried in “ha Parthenon” The Virgin’s womb!
And so, it was, that, while The Man (a-dam) and his pregnant wife were there, out in the wilderness, maybe in an animal enclosure, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. In pain and blood and shouts (no doubt) Eve brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in some kind of animal skin. Animals, hitherto safe from suffering, death, and skinning, were now used for clothing, God’s sad concession to the impermanence of fig leaves covering traitorous rebels.
“She conceived…and said…I have gotten a man from the Lord” [Gen. 4.1]. The first mother thought this was “The Seed” that would “bruise” the head of the “serpent.” Not quite. Rather this was the one who would, like your own “sinful selves,” continue the murderous rampage by killing the proto-Shepherd, Saint Abel. But later our ancient mother would bear Seth the father of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all the other fathers leading up to tonight’s celebration. The details of Saint Mary’s delivery are not included in Sacred Writ, but many have written and shared their opinions, including The Reformer. Our Confessions do state, however: “Christ’s incomprehensible, spiritual mode, according to which He neither occupies nor vacates space, but penetrates all creatures wherever He pleases…This mode He used when He rose from the closed [and sealed] sepulcher, and passed through the closed door [to His Disciples], and in the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, and, AS IT IS BELIEVED (my emphasis), when He was born of His mother [the most Holy Virgin Mary].” [FC, SD., VII, 100 Triglot]. The delivery may well have been peaceful, painless, and supernal. Immanuel! God with us.
You too like Cain, Abel, and Seth…and the others in the chain of darkness and cold winter nights, were birthed from The Mother of all—God’s Holy Church. Delivered from the wet birth canal of the Blessed 8-sided Holy + Font. You no doubt squealed in some sinful discomfort when the waters of rebirth hit your fallen head. You have continued to cry for the remainder of your uphill Judean trek in this world, groaning for deliverance.
But this night is special. Every day is special too in the same way, but you don’t think of the events of a day in the middle of January with the same focus as you probably do tonight and tomorrow. It’s why you can be compelled to come to a service on 12/24 easier than on 8/24 or any other 24th.
You will sing, loudly (hopefully—with Grace’s gusto and joy) the Gloria in Excelsis tomorrow morning. That is still the song tonight in Vespers as we hear with the ears of faith the Angels Gospel to the shepherds— “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born…in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ The Lord.” Glory be to God on High! Hallelujah! Happy Christmas Eve, indeed.
The pure ever-Virgin, the Theotokos (God bearer) and Gottesmutter of our German Book of Concord, brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger. All that this faithful handmaid of God did was to showcase The Redeemer of the world. Later, she was with Nicodemus and the Arimathean as The First-fruits, from before creation, was brought forth, and down from the Crucifix, and wrapped in a swaddling death shroud, and laid in a virgin sepulcher.
He was born to die. He died for your sins, and Adam’s, and Augustus,’ and Cain’s, and everyone else’s. He rose from the dead to die no more so that you, though suffering now, will die no more.
You will find This Babe, This Child, This God/Man, This Messiah, tomorrow morning on this manger top wrapped in the swaddling clothes of Holy Bread and Holy Wine. And there will be present with you, most definitely, Saints Joseph, Mary, Luke, John, and a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
And even now on this most Holy Eve, that same Gospel is placed into your ears: “your Forgiveness and Peace is here, in the Flesh, The Incarnate Son: “For unto you…a Savior, which is Christ The Lord.”
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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