Luke 2:15

Let's Go and See

4^th Sunday in Advent

December 18, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Here we are, one week away from our celebration of Christmas.  This time of the year is filled with fun, but also with the business of planning and travel, Christmas cards being sent out and parties to attend.  Invitations in the mail, email, over the phone to visit with family and friends. 

Some of our children and Sunday School children helped to deliver this invite to us this morning. It was sent out by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed by angels, and now received by us here today. There were no conditions by the angels, simply praise for the One who was coming. This invitation isn’t a request, it isn’t a suggestion, and it isn’t a question.  It is a simple statement.  It’s not required or forced upon someone.  “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  This morning we join in on a journey with the shepherds to go and see the Savior of whom the angels sing.

We can’t go back in time to see the baby Jesus in a manger. But that same Jesus, who remains fully God and fully man, comes to us. He comes and visits us, lowly as we are. He speaks to us in His Word. He gives us His body and His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. As we revisit one of the most important events in history each year.  We are reminded of the great love that God has for a fallen world that He would send His Son to become one of us and to be our Savior from sin, death and the devil.

We’ll hear on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day the promises of God to send HIs Son and the fulfillment of story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel according to Luke, which includes the invitation by angels to the shepherds to come and see the newborn Savior.  We’ll hear how the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.  But more importantly, this Jesus will be here, no longer a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, but the resurrected and ascended Jesus will come and visit His people.

Yet how often do we overlook this invitation and the reality of what God does here.  There’s so much to do this time of the year and we are so easily distracted.  With good intentions, we place the invitation on the countertop and other things get piled up on top of it all.    

Repent for not placing this invite at the top of our list.  Repent of treating Jesus as an accessory to the season rather than the reason. We sometimes complain about not keeping Christ in Christmas, yet so often we fail on this part as well. The most faithful way of keeping Christ in Christmas is keeping the mass in Christmas.  It is responding to the invite to come and worship Him, to go and see where He has promised to be for His people – in His Word and Sacrament. Invited and gathered by His Spirit to His side, we find the good news of great joy for all people, of all places, and all time.  He is no longer in the manger, no longer on the cross, no longer in the tomb. He is here, giving His body and blood for us to eat and drink and speaking His Word to us.

After the shepherds had seen Jesus, they returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.  As the angels departed from the shepherds, and the shepherds didn’t tarry long at the manger’s side, we will shortly leave this place and head back into our lives. We do so forever changed because of our encounter with the promised Savior.  We leave here with the fulfillment of God’s promises, our sins forgiven, our life restored, and our salvation secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Similar to those shepherds and angels, and our own children today, we too get to pass along the invitation to go and see.  We have the chance to invite people to come and see Jesus at Christmas.  We have the chance to invite people to come and hear how Christ is the reason for Christmas.  We have the chance to watch God discard the dirty rags of people’s sin and clothe them with His righteousness.   As God invites us to Him through His Word, we get to pass along this invitation that Jesus extends to all people, regardless of who or where they are.  Regardless of their past.  Regardless of their sin, their lifestyle.  It’s been said that passing along such an invitation is just one beggar showing another beggar where to find food.

So come and feast on the goodness of the Lord and spread the invitation to any and all you can. Come today to receive His body and blood in the Sacrament.  Come this Wednesday to hear again how our salvation is in Christ alone. Come this weekend to sing our praises of joy to the world as we treasure up the mystery of incarnation as the Lord has made known to us – the Savior, who is Christ the Lord has come, still comes, and will come again in all glory.