Why Did God Give Us Christmas?

Jesu Juva

Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60                                                    

 December 26, 2021

St. Stephen, Martyr            

 Dear saints of our Savior~

          The church of Jesus Christ is always counter cultural—but never more so than on December 26^th.  While most Americans are waking up today with a Christmas hangover, knee-deep in wrapping paper, the faithful have gathered to observe a holiday homicide—the martyrdom of man named Stephen.  It’s the second day of Christmas; and yet the Scripture readings have no apparent connection to Christmas.  The pure white paraments of yesterday have given way to crimson-colored fabric—teaming up with the poinsettias to make this Sunday a bloody Sunday.

          But this is all by design.  The Christian Church has observed the Martyrdom of St. Stephen for as long as the church has observed Christmas.  Sometime back in the Fourth Century, December 25^th was officially designated as the day on which the birth of Jesus would be celebrated.  And sometime back in that same century, December 26^th was appointed to remember the church’s first martyr.  By binding these two events together on back-to-back days, it helped prevent Christmas from getting romanticized into a cute story about a cute little baby who was born among the cutest creatures in the barnyard.  These two December days are designed to connect the birth of Jesus with the death of those who follow Him in faith.  In some ways, today teaches more about Christmas than yesterday, or the day before.

          Why did God give us Christmas?  Why did the Son of God become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh?  It wasn’t to remove all the problems and difficulties from this earthly life.  In fact, St. Stephen went to work for the church precisely because there were problems and difficulties.  The Ascension of Jesus had happened just a short time earlier.  The Holy Spirit had come at Pentecost and over three thousand were converted to the faith.  Everything was new and fresh in the life of the church.  Every day the believers in Jerusalem were gathering to hear the Apostles’ doctrine, to receive the Lord’s Supper, to share with those in need, and to pray the liturgy of the church.  Something new and big and wonderful was underway.

          But even then there were problems—even in the church.  Every day food was distributed to those who were needy in the church.  But complaints arose.  There was griping and grumbling because some didn’t think they were getting their fair share.  So, a special “voters’ meeting” was called to address the problem.  Seven deacons were chosen, including Stephen, whose main task would be to coordinate the daily distribution of food (so that the apostles could focus on Word and Sacrament ministry).  Stephen was not an apostle.  He was not a pastor.  He was full of faith and the Holy Spirit.  Yet, he went to work for the church because there were problems and conflicts in the church.  And Stephen wanted to be a part of the solution!  God didn’t give us Christmas so that His church on earth could be free of troubles.

          Why did God give us Christmas?  As he stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, Stephen confessed that God gave us Christmas to bless us with His real presence—to be Emmanuel, God with Us.  In his testimony Stephen recounted much of Israel’s history—how God’s presence had always been linked to a certain structure—first to the tabernacle in the wilderness, and eventually to the temple in Jerusalem.  In the Old Testament, those were the structures where God dwelled among His people on earth.  But Stephen also made it clear that all that had changed now—that since Christmas—since the Word became flesh and dwelt among us—God’s presence was no longer confined to a place, but to a person:  Jesus the Christ.  Stephen made it clear that “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48).

          It was this point that got Stephen into trouble—his claim that God’s presence was found in Christ, and no longer in the temple.  Jesus, too, had spoken of His own body as a temple that would be destroyed and raised again in three days.  Stephen was confessing that the real temple was now wherever Jesus gives Himself to us—and for us.  Jesus expressed the same thing in today’s Holy Gospel when He mourned over Jerusalem and laid bare the desire of His heart to gather her people together like a brood beneath the wings of a mother hen.  “But you were not willing,” He said.  “See, your house is left to you desolate.”  And, without Christ, the temple-house of the Jews was indeed desolate.

          Why did God give us Christmas?  To bless you with the real presence of Jesus (God in the flesh) wherever His Word is preached and proclaimed, and wherever His sacraments are administered.  This place—this house—doesn’t matter.  What matters is the person of Christ who has promised to serve you here with the treasures of heaven.  We come here to be served by Jesus Christ Himself every Lord’s Day—including when the Lord’s Day happens to fall on the day after Christmas—even as other churches today are scaling back services or cancelling all together—leaving many houses of worship desolate this morning.

          This beautiful truth about the presence of Jesus was rejected by the Sanhedrin.  They resisted the Holy Spirit and sought to kill Stephen for the truth he spoke.  Our own sinful nature also works against this truth about the presence of Jesus in our lives.  Your Old Adam works overtime against the Holy Spirit, seeking to substitute other things in the place of Jesus:  Human relationships, human pleasures, human pride, human wisdom.  The devil can and does use all of these things to get us to grind our teeth and stiffen our necks to the truth of God’s Word and the gift of His real presence here in His church.

          Why did God give us Christmas?  For Stephen, Christmas meant that, at the moment of His death, he was welcomed into the presence of Jesus for all eternity.  The angry lies were told for only a brief time.  The angry accusations were heard

for an even shorter time.  The bruising stones rained down on him for just a few minutes.  But for Stephen, the presence of Jesus was to be enjoyed forever and ever.

          Why did God give you Christmas?  So that you, too, might enjoy the presence of Jesus forever and ever—so that this very day in this very temple Jesus Himself can absolve you of your sin, place His promises in your ears and heart, and feed you with His very body and blood.  That’s what it meant when Jesus breathed His last on the cross, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  It meant that the dividing wall of your sin was done away with by the death of Jesus in your place.  Now there is no division between you and Him.  No separation.  No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

          Why did God give you Christmas?  So that He might open the gates of heaven for you, just as they were opened for Stephen.  God gives you Christmas so that, as your eyes close for the final time, you will see it.  You will see what Stephen saw—the Son of Man in human flesh standing at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  Even stone-throwing, teeth-gnashing, stiff-necked sinners like us—even we will see what Stephen saw.  Is this not a great and mighty wonder?

          God grant us daily to unstop our ears for this reason.  God grant us to confess our faith for this reason.  God grant us to forgive our enemies for this reason.  God grant us to fall asleep in Jesus with this confidence.  By His manger and by His cross, Jesus Christ has opened heaven for you.

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.