Words of Hope

“Ahh, Christmas Eve, the stuff of perfect memories.” you think to yourself. The family gathered ’round, the fabulous food, the wonderful company, the joy, the cheer, the peace on earth and good-will among men … So where is it? Your sister and brother-in-law are in the living room arguing again. Uncle Larry has had too much eggnog and has started in on his regular set of off-colour jokes. Grandma is in the corner trying to shelter herself from all the noise and the fury of your darling children running around like little whirling dervishes, screaming and fighting over the latest toy. Your husband said that the turkey was too dry. You couldn’t eat the vegetables because they turned to mush as you were getting everything ready. The oven broke down and the pies are still frozen. So much for getting in the spirit and making things just right. Now if only you can get through the gift exchange you can call it a night and cut your losses. Just then you hear a bark and a howl as the cat and dog scare each other under the tree. In a flurry of claw and fur the tree comes down with a crash and the baby starts to cry. Merry Christmas everyone.

“Ho, ho, ho? No, no, not for everyone” Our fictitious story is both an expose of the painfully obvious, and a much needed reminder at this time of year. “The holidays are technically supposed to be this wonderful, joyous, relaxing time. And for most people it doesn’t end up anywhere near that,” Hamilton psychologist Dr. Karen Rowa was quoted. “The stress of preparing for the big day – in fact, the entire holiday season – brings out the worst in many families. The holidays are loaded with expectations (often unrealistic) – of oneself and others – leading to strain within families. Christmas has a way of highlighting every little dysfunctional and difficult relationship.”

But at least we can put that sort of thing aside for an hour or so, and all go to church where family relationships are always better. Right? Ho, Ho, Ho … No!

(18 ) “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” says St. Matthew’s gospel. And then he goes into an account of a good man finding out that his wife is pregnant, but not from him. It is a Christmas tale of family heartache and misunderstanding, good people caught in a bad situation, a tale of expectations shattered. Were you disappointed when you heard it? Did you find yourself thinking “Where are the shepherds?” “What about the angels and the manger?” “Where is the beautiful family Christmas story we all know and love?”

It is still there – this is Christmas after all, and even the most dysfunctional families get a little reprieve somewhere in the press of the holidays. But if you want to get to the serene and holy story of the happy family in the stable you have to get past all the problems of real life first! Christmas is a holiday for families, but real families … families that bicker and argue, families that harbour hurt feelings and disappointments … true-to-life, honest-to-goodness real families – not picture perfect fairy tale families, like you only see on Christmas cards.

(18-20, 22-23) “When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit … All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).

Christmas is the story of how a loving and perfect God became part of our broken and hurting family. It is not really the story of Mary and Joseph, or of shepherds and angels. It is the story of Immanuel – God with us – and how He has come miraculously. For here is a story you won’t find anywhere else. 800 year old prophecies being fulfilled. The creator being himself created. A virgin with child, a pregnancy without the prerequisites, a birth in a stable and a manger for a crib, angel hosts, heavenly choirs, and adoring shepherds, a mystery star in the heavens leading men from the east to come and worship an infant. It is a story which on the surface seems too incredible to be true, but which has rung true in the hearts of billions every time it is retold. This story is a miracle that still brings a small measure of peace on earth, and goodwill among men and women, who otherwise are so often frustrated and frazzled by the pace of life and expectations not met. It is a story that brings broken and hurting families back together.

But Christmas is also the story of how Immanuel has come with a purpose. (21) “She will bear a son,” the angel said, “and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” And this is without a doubt, the most important part of the story for each of our families today. This little child, of miraculous origin is here for an even more important reason than to make this evening warm and fuzzy for our families. He has become one of us to save us from our sin. That’s what his very name means Jesus – Jeshua – Joshua literally means “the Lord saves!” This Immanuel, God himself come among us in infant flesh, is here to save us from our sin.

It is precisely what we just finished singing only a few minutes ago in the second verse of What Child is This. “Even as he lies silent in the manger this child is pleading for sinners.” The process of our healing has begun, already this night. This is a baby on a mission. This is a new-born life with a very specific purpose. And it will not be finished until, as the verse continues, “He will be pierced by nail, and spear, he will bear the cross for me and for you.” (LSB #370 v.2) This is fullness of the gift of Christmas – a Saviour who died for our sins to defeat sin, death, and the devil once and for all. A Saviour who rose to life on the third day to bring life and healing to those who are broken and hurting. A Saviour who is God and man, who has come to restore us all to the heavenly family of our God and Father. Immanuel has come to save his people.

But who are his people? How far does the family extend? Am I really included? For the answer I direct you only a few short verses before our text for tonight. There Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. And it is a family line full of both good and bad, Jew and Gentile, people from all walks of life, all social strata. It is a family tree full of crazy uncles and dysfunctional relationships, full of open sinners and people wholly undeserving the honour of being a part of this Holy Family. These are the people he came from. These are the same kind of people he has come for. These are his people – you and your family (each and every one of them) – are his people.

Remember this dear friends – Christmas is the story of how Immanuel has come for You! (1 John 4:9-10) In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Christmas is not about reliving a perfect memory, it’s not about being something or someone other than what we normally are. It is not about getting in the spirit and making things just right. For God has already done that for us, conceived in the Spirit, to come and make things right between us and God. True Christian joy – true Christmas joy – is both solemn and serious. It runs deep – through manger and cross and empty tomb. It knows suffering and sorrow and fear. It bears up under the stress and strain of family life, because it also knows that Jesus has come to be part of our family. And in him our family will be made whole once again.

So this Christmas let the turkey dry out and the vegetables turn to mush. Let the squabbles run their course and the children run wild. For our family is greater than this, and Christmas is more than these things. It is about Immanuel – God with us – God a central part of each and every one of our families. Therefore let us join together as the family of God in proclaiming: “Glory to the new-born King: Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”

AMEN.

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There are many things we do not know about the apostle Thomas. Things like where was he on that Easter Sunday evening? Why wasn’t he with the rest? What happened to him in later life? Where did he go? What did he see? What did he do? These are questions we will have to wait to ask him directly when we see him in heaven. But there are a few things we can figure out about this fellow Thomas from the few times we see him in the scriptures.

Thomas is the kind of fellow who would have told you that he is a realist. He’s a student of the real world. He sees it like it is and isn’t afraid to tell you why. He’s not negative, just pragmatic. Others might call him pessimistic. That’s not to say that he isn’t devoted to Jesus. He’s the one that suggests that if Jesus must go to Jerusalem then they all aught to go and die along with Him. (Since anyone can see this is what must happen.)

When Jesus tells His disciples that He is going on ahead to prepare a place for them it is Thomas who’s listening closely enough to realize that they haven’t been given any such map yet. No directions written down, how could they know where He might go? And then finally on this Sunday after Easter, when the others tell him they have seen their dead and buried Lord in the living flesh it is Thomas the realist, Thomas the pragmatist who declares that such ranting is purely ridiculous! The dead don’t come back to life … and just because you wish really hard for something to happen doesn’t mean it will.

⁴Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Yet Thomas is not truly being realistic here is he? Not pragmatic either! There is overwhelming evidence in the eye-witness testimony of the 10, the women from the tomb, and the Emmaus disciples who all in different ways and in different circumstances each saw the same thing. There is the word of Christ Himself, and the others whom Thomas had personally witnessed coming back from the dead by His hand. Yet unbelief is and always will be unreasonable. Consider its pride, its arrogance … unbelief will lay down the criterion of its own choosing. Unbelief will have what it demands before it will be swayed. It will hold tenaciously to its secret stubborn determination not to be moved – no matter what.

Thomas had a lot in common with Gideon from our Old Testament reading. Thomas is like so many people you know even today. Good people. Normal people. You and me kind of people. People who demand evidence, but who simultaneously ignore it all around them. People who make demands of God. Do this to prove your love. Do that to show your omnipotence. Answer this if you truly are so great. Unbelief exists not because of a lack of evidence, but because of firmly held, tenaciously held, stubbornly held, doubts that individuals are unwilling to give up easily.

So what then are we to take from the Apostle Thomas so like us in so many ways? Sometimes pessimistic, often stubbornly refusing to give up our secretly held doubts. We take the example and the warning to make our application. Consider the words of the hymn we will sing in just a few minutes:

We walk by faith and not by sight, No gracious words we hear

from Him who spoke as none e’er spoke, but we believe Him near. [LSB #720]

²⁶Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus comes Thomas our worldly realist and does something totally unrealistic. He grants him the evidence he demanded, but didn’t really believe he could receive. And Jesus does it to bring Thomas peace and His blessing, not simply to shut him up or teach him a lesson. The words of Jesus are gracious words for one trapped in the “real world.” And while Jesus may never come to us in that same physical way we firmly believe that He is just as near to us as He was to Thomas … and here for the same gracious reasons – to free us from the unreasonableness of unbelief.

We may not touch His hands and side, Nor follow where He trod;

But in His promise we rejoice And cry “My Lord and God!”

All that Jesus went to Jerusalem to bear (with Thomas pessimistically following behind) … All that He died upon the cross to repay … All that He suffered in crucifixion and dying … all that was yours and mine. And all that His resurrection brought back to life … all that His victory over sin death and the devil claimed … all that preparation that He put in place by going ahead of us … all that yours too! That’s God’s promise. It has been since the very beginning. He is your Lord and your God! The sweetest words of promise and praise you will ever proclaim. My Lord and My God! Words that can be shouted only by faith in Him who did all these things for you.

Help then, O Lord, our unbelief; And may our faith abound

To call on You when You are near And seek where You are found.

Lord I believe, help me in my unbelief! It is the heartfelt cry of Thomas, Gideon, and the faithful of every generation. It is the daily struggle of the old pessimist and the new saint. Devoted, sincere followers who can’t always give up their doubts so easily. Wanting to find God at work when and where the doubts demand, rather than trusting in Him to be where He has promised. As near as He has promised. Believers who want to see first and believe after.

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

For You, O resurrected Lord, Are found in means divine:

Beneath the water and the Word, Beneath the bread and wine.

Through God’s Word we have communion with our Lord; in the Word He comes to us with promises that remove all doubts. In the water we are washed by the Word and the Spirit, in the bread and wine we taste the Word in flesh and blood. Thus we have His full blessing. “He that wishes to know what we should believe, let him hear what Thomas believes, namely, that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord of life, who will help us out of sins and death unto life and righteousness. Such trust and hope, in the face of all doubting, is the true faith. And where there is such faith and trust, there is salvation, and not even our sins will not hinder us; for by faith they are forgiven.”

In the end, God did a mighty thing through reluctant and fearful Gideon. In the end there was blessing and acceptance for stubbornly doubting Thomas. Today, He will do the same for you and me, teaching us to walk by faith and not by sight. Teaching us to pray Lord I believe, help my unbelief. Helping us in faith to proclaim with the joy of Thomas “My Lord and My God!”

Lord, when our life of faith is done, In realms of clearer light

We may behold You as You are, With full and endless sight.

AMEN.