Luke 2:21

December 31 2008 New Years Sermon

At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

What did you hear about in church on New Year's Day?

Let's eaves drop on the conversation of Larry, Joe, and John

"Larry, what did you hear about in church on New Year's Day?" asks John:

Oh, our pastor gave a really good sermon. He talked about the fall of communism and the triumph of democracy. He said that our future looked very, very bright as long as democracy was given a chance to work in the world. He said free people could accomplish whatever they wanted to if they gave liberty a chance and if they believed in themselves. If we keep a positive attitude and have faith in ourselves, we can make this world a better place. Get an education, he said. Work hard, support one another, believe the best about other people, get involved, don't give up, and we can solve the world's problems. We can end hunger. We can wipe out poverty. We can stop the oppression of some of the remaining foreign dictators. We just need to learn to respect one another, understand one another, and help one another. Our New Year is bright because we are Americans who have led the way for democracy and freedom all over the world. I was really inspired! I felt proud! I felt happy! And I felt as though there was really something that I could do to make our world a better place. This is the way God's kingdom comes, the pastor said—by people pulling together in mutual freedom and respect. I really like it that my pastor's sermons are so relevant. They always deal with real-life kind of stuff, and he always makes me feel good about myself and what I can accomplish.

Then John turns to Joe, "What about you, Joe? What did you hear in church on New Year's Day?"

Well, we have a woman pastor. At first I didn't like her very much, but now I'm getting used to her. I liked her sermon today. She talked about equality and being a real person. She said that to think of ourselves as either "men" or "women" was really degrading. She said that the old terms of "mother" and "father"—or "husband" and "wife"—helped to enslave us. The idea that there's such a thing as a "conventional family" is also counterproductive. We should define a family in broad terms as whatever we want it to be for ourselves, even if it doesn't fit the conventional norm. For some people, that might mean a man and a woman and children. But for others, it might mean two men or two women, or some other combination, and it certainly doesn't have to involve children. We should think of ourselves as free individuals who are bound by no constraints. She said that our sexuality is merely a by-product of evolutionary development. It is rather unimportant and quite incidental to who we are. Often, she said, it gets in the way of people achieving true personhood and all their potential. We should keep striving in the New Year to break down the stereotypes that have enslaved people and replace them with the ideal of individual freedom, tolerance of everyone's chosen lifestyle, and respect for whatever anyone else believes is right. People must decide for themselves, without threats or coercion or ridicule from others or from society, what they are and what they will be. This will make our world a better place.

Then Larry and Joe both ask, "What about you, John?" You go to that Lutheran church down the road, don't you? What did you hear about on New Year's Day?

Well, my church was a little different. We heard about the circumcision of Jesus.

You heard what???

We heard about the circumcision of Jesus.

You've got to be kidding.

What Does That Have to Do with Anything?

No, I'm not kidding—the whole service was a celebration of the circumcision and naming of Jesus, eight days after he was born.

I've heard some pretty strange things before, but what good is there in that? It sounds pretty gross—sick!—to me.

Well, there was a lot more going on than I ever thought about before. It all goes back to the very beginning when man was created.

Oh yeah? What did your pastor say?

First, he read from the Bible. Then he explained what it meant. He said that ever since Adam and Eve, man has been trying to achieve a better life, but hasn't been very successful. He said that God created man to be dependent on him, but that man decided he didn't need God and went his own way. Sin was born, he said, from man's self-centered decision to turn away from the God who loved him and created him, to serve himself. Ever since then we've been suffering with the consequences. He said that God's Word tells us that sin has corrupted men and women very deeply, down to their very natures as men and women. Men think that being a man is to be macho and tough and to demand the services of a woman. He said that our work is hard now because of sin and that it will always be hard. There will always be problems and difficulties that we can't overcome, no matter how much we think we can and no matter how hard we try. He said that women also feel the effects of sin, especially in their role as mothers. It's unique, and the giving of birth has become a painful reminder of sin.

Pastor said that, in order to survive, we humans have tried to cover up what we really are. He said we try to ignore those things that make us truly human and those things that show our dependence on others and especially our need for God. He said that we like to hear good things about ourselves and what we can do, because that helps us cover up all the shortcomings of our lives. He said we like to think of ourselves as independent with all kinds of individual rights that no one can take away from us, because that helps us ignore our responsibilities toward others and our promises to love and care for each other. He said that we're all by nature sinful and unclean, even if we don't believe it or choose to ignore it. He said we deserved nothing from God!

But then Pastor said that, in spite of it all, God hadn't turned his back on humanity. He hadn't given up on men and women. Instead, he sent his Son into our world, and even into our very human flesh and blood as a man, to do all those things that we couldn't do for ourselves. Where we're arrogant and proud, he's humble and meek. Where we demand our rights and our freedom, he submits to the will of the Father. Where we daily sin much, he fulfills all of God's Law in our place. Where we deserved death and punishment, he steps in and dies the death that we deserved. Pastor said Jesus did all of this because he loved us and wanted to save us from our sins.

We celebrated the circumcision of Jesus because at his circumcision he was given his name, Jesus, which means "The Lord saves"! It was a sign that God the Son had truly become a man, like us in every way, in order to set us free from our sins and make us his own. He was the Second Adam. Just as the entire human race, men and women, received life from God at creation through Adam, so the entire human race, men and women, must receive salvation from God through the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. His conception, birth, circumcision, death, and resurrection were not accidents. They were God's means to save us. In the First Adam, there was no distinction—all died because of sin. In the Second Adam, all may have life, because Jesus is the perfect Savior of all, just as him name says.

Our pastor said that we shouldn't be ashamed to be a man or a woman. God created us the way we are for a purpose, and in Christ we can live out our lives as he intended. He said that God's design was good—it was only sin that had corrupted and perverted it. He said that on the one hand, we're all different, each of us having unique gifts, and each one of us having a unique place in God's design. But on the other hand, he said we're all equal. He meant that we are all equally sinful and equally in need of God's grace and forgiveness. He said that God doesn't discriminate against us because we're different. God loves us all in Christ, and in Holy Baptism he has wrapped us all in the robe of Christ's righteousness. He read a passage of Scripture that referred to everyone who'd been baptized and believed in Christ. That passage called all baptized Christians "sons of God, through faith" (Gal 3:26), even if they were women or slaves or foreigners. They were called "sons of God" because the inheritance of salvation could only be received by those who were clothed with the Son of God.

I guess our service was a lot different from yours! I guess we didn't talk about the great achievements of humankind. And I guess we didn't always hear what we wanted to hear from our pastor, but I'm glad I went. I heard God's Word! I heard about my own sins! But then I also heard about Jesus, and I know that no matter what happens in the New Year, I belong to him, and my sins are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.