Easter on Christmas

Christmas Day

December 25, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

What a blessed day today is.  Christmas Day on a Sunday.  That doesn’t happen all that often, about every seven years or so, and it is a great thing when it does.  It’s great because we get to celebrate Easter on Christmas. Easter and Christmas together.  A double whammy of a celebration.

What’s the connection?  Well, first of all, Christians have always gathered on Sunday for worship, to hear God’s Word and receive His Sacraments.  We gather on Sunday, not because we think it’s a new Sabbath Day, but because it is the day that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Each Sunday is a little Easter.

The connection to Christmas is a little more complicated, but not as much as many people might think.  We actually celebrate Christmas every year on December 25 because of Good Friday and Easter.  There’s a common misconception that Christians took this day from paganism, but that is plainly not true. The dating of Christmas does not come from pagan origins.  It may or not be the day that Jesus born.  More than likely, the date comes from the Annunciation, or the announcement of the Angel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the Savior. That date is March 25.  The reason for that date is the belief that great prophets died on the date of their conception.  Being that Jesus’ death was tied to the Jewish Passover, the date has been determined to have taken place on March 25.  Hence, the annunciation is dated off of Good Friday, and the birth of Jesus is celebrated 9 months after His conception, on December 25.

So there you have it.  Christmas on a Sunday, Christmas on a little Easter. What this does, if nothing else, is tie together three things: the annunciation, the birth of Jesus, and His death and resurrection.  And really, we cannot talk about any of these without the others.  Of the promise and fulfillment of the Word of God become flesh to dwell among us. 

The incarnation is the most spectacular thing the world had ever seen: God assuming the human nature and becoming man. From the moment of His incarnation, things changed forever.  In the modest and humble birth of the blessed virgin Mary, Jesus begins His journey to the cross and the empty tomb.  Good Friday and Easter is the goal of Christmas.  The Son of God came to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus came to buy us back, not with silver or gold but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. But for God to die, He must first take on human flesh. For God to be with us, Emmanuel, He must become one of us. And in the fullness of time, after much anticipation and prophecy, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to the virgin Mary. This child would grow in wisdom and stature before God and men and travel to the cross and into the grave.  Three days later this Jesus would be raised from the dead to life everlasting.  Easter on Christmas.

We are told by the world that the true “meaning of Christmas” or “spirit of Christmas” is about being kind to other people, about giving to other people. We are told that the purpose of Christmas is to bring families together. That the Christmas spirit is all about being jolly and happy and optimistic. We even see some Christian churches close their doors today precisely so that people can spend time with their families, basically without the distraction of worshiping the Lord Jesus in the House of God.  A recent survey by LifeWay Research found that 89% of churches will hold services even though Christmas falls on a Sunday, with Lutherans actually the most likely of all branches of Christianity to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services.  While good, that also means that more than one in ten Christian churches do not have a church service this morning.  What does that say about Christmas? What does that say about the way that Christians view Christmas and the way the world views Christmas?

The real message of Christmas is not focused on us, nor the world, nor to distract us from sin and death, or even about goodwill among men, earthly peace, and presents.  It is the announcement that the promised Savior who would be born of the virgin, has come to save sinners.  Christmas ultimately points us toward death, and then its defeat in Christ. Death is unavoidable. We pretend like it doesn’t hurt and we pretend like on days as this as if it doesn’t even happen.  Death is overcome not by our pretending it is not there but by God’s going through it. Christ really had to die that all who believe in Him might truly live.

Were death not a reality, Christmas would not be necessary.  Christmas is about death. Christmas is a declaration of war against it. When we celebrate Christmas, we are declaring the Christus Victor, Christ the victorious, who has arrived, and we are enlisting in His army. We, too, shall fight against sin and death in all its forms, all its influence, all its rebellion, all its evil.

Death has dominion over us no longer. We are not bound by the sin in the world because of the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). This is the story that Christmas is part of, the story of Jesus coming to our world and killing death forever. Death is the last enemy that shall be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26), and it is for abolishing death that Christ appeared (2 Tim. 1:10).

If we take Christmas seriously, this is what we mean by it. Because of what began Christmas, death itself is being conquered because in Christ is life, for He is the Life of the world.  Easter on Christmas.  Christ was born.  Christ was crucified for the forgiveness of our sin. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia!