December 24, 2021
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Luke 2:1-20
Come to Us, Abide with Us
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
We gather on this wondrous night to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. The meaning of Christmas: it’s both so simple and yet deeply profound. Quite simply, a baby is born. But profoundly, in that ordinary baby, God took on human flesh.
This baby was long foretold by the prophets. Hundreds of years earlier, Isaiah had proclaimed:
“The Lord himself will give you a sign, Look, the virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”
Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Jesus is that little child, born of Mary. Jesus’ birth tells us, loud and clear, that God wants to be actively present in and among us. God intends to be more than a divinity worshiped from afar. God comes to us, abides with us.
Jesus came as a very ordinary baby. He had ten fingers and ten toes. Like all new parents, Joseph and Mary looked over their small bundle from head to toe. They touched every dimple, counted every digit, stroked his silken hair, smelled him, kissed him, held him near.
Jesus came into this world in the way of all babies. He was born. He pooped and peed, he ate and burped, he cried and snuggled and gripped fingers in his tiny newborn hands. In this way, Immanuel, God with us, drew near.
At Jesus’ nativity, we pause to remember and celebrate the significance of this simple birth. God comes to us, to abide with us. And this movement reveals how God yearns to be close with us. God wants to know us intimately.
As Jesus became human, we have a divine friend who fully identifies with us. He knows all our worries and sorrows. He has experienced first-hand all our human struggles and challenges, all our pain and fear, the sickness, the vulnerability, the loneliness and rejection.
On this holy night we ponder this significance. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
• You are never abandoned or alone – Our savior is with you
• You are not forgotten – He calls you by name
• You are not insignificant – He knows the number of hairs on your head
Christmas tells us we are not alone. God is with us. In Jesus, God has taken on human flesh to know us as intimately as our own skin.
But at the same time, Jesus also reflects the full grace and truth of God. In his actions and words, we see and hear the full reach of divine love. Through Jesus, God has come to restore our broken hearts and souls. In Jesus’ life, he came to dwell with us. But in his death, he reached even further. He descended into our grave, into the despair of Hell. And in doing so, he has turned death into life; he has changed abandonment into reunion.
God is with us, Immanuel. In his parting words, Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the close of the age.” The one who came to us, to abide with us on that Christmas night, he is with us always.
All this contained within that tiny baby. That simple birth contained the mystery of eternity. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel.
