12-24-24 Christmas Eve Sermon

Luke 2:1-20 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Christmas Eve Tuesday, December 24, 2024 “An Unexpected Home for Christmas”

In 1943, Bing Crosby first sang, “I’ll be home for Christmas.” Those words struck a chord, so to speak, with so many who had been separated by the World War raging at the time. The song captured powerfully the desires of many to be together, in a familiar place, to celebrate a beloved holiday. But it also captured the reality that for many, home for Christmas might be “only in my dreams.” Even as circumstances have changed, that song remains a beloved Christmas carol. Home is a big part of what makes Christmas such a joy for so many. Home is where we meet with those we love. It is familiar, welcoming, comfortable. Home is where many give and receive gifts. It really is wonderful to be home for Christmas.

Christmas is about much more than our earthly homes. That very Christmas carol reminds us that we can’t always be home when we want to. Times and circumstances and struggles may keep us away. Loved ones may leave, eventually for the final time. Home may have been a special place for us, and we cherish those memories, but sometimes home disappoints. Sometimes home is uncertain.

Christmas is about much more because Christmas is about something that is never uncertain. It is never changing. It never disappoints. Christmas is about the gift that God has given. And this evening it is our pleasure and our joy to revisit that gift.

Mary and Joseph had a home in a small town in the region of Galilee. That’s the northern part of the Promised Land that God had once given to his people. They lived in Nazareth, but the circumstances of the time dictated a journey of about 100 miles. The Caesar wanted a census. Those governing the region would see to its conduct. And here’s how it would happen: everyone would go to the town of their ancestry to be counted, tallied, and recorded for taxation.

Without dwelling on the arduous journey of a pregnant woman and her fiancé, Luke notes that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. This was another small town, though famous for being the home of King David. Mary and Joseph were both descendants of that great king, and the conduct of the census returned them to their ancestral home.

That first Christmas, Mary and Joseph found an unexpected home. In fact, they couldn’t even find lodgings suitable for a family like theirs. They had no crib or cradle. When Mary’s baby was born, he was wrapped in cloths and placed in a feeding trough. Welcome to the world. Welcome to your new home.

Caesar no doubt had a palace. Quirinius no doubt had a mansion. The Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, had a manger in a borrowed space in a lowly town. No king had come out of Bethlehem for centuries, and none of Bethlehem’s many visitors would have even noticed when this baby was born. In that way it was truly a silent night. The greatest gift of all, the gift from God, the Gift of God to the world, came wrapped in lowliness and went almost unnoticed.

But God had bigger plans. His gift would be noticed, but even in the unveiling of the gift, lowliness prevailed. Caesar did not get a baby announcement. Quirinius was not invited to the stable. The shepherds who were out in the fields watching their sheep were the ones to whom that first Christmas gift was announced. And an angel was the glorious messenger of the good news. Here’s what the angel said, “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.”

The humble home of the lowly baby hid an amazing reality. This was the Lord wrapped in swaddling cloths. This was a gift for the whole world. This was a Savior. The sight that was closer to the reality of that holy night was when the sky exploded with angels. A vast army of heavenly beings broke out in praise: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.”

The glory of God had taken a temporary home. Bethlehem. The world. Our world. The glory of the Lord would be found in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths. The first Christmas meant a lowly home for the glorious Savior.

And that first Christmas created an even more unlikely and unexpected home, a heavenly home for an unworthy sinner. The angel’s announcement revealed a truth that no one would have realized or recognized on their own. The Christ had come, the fulfilment of promise and the Savior of the world. He wasn’t there to govern over Syria. He wasn’t there to overthrow the Caesar. He had come to bring great joy. He had come for all people. He had come to save.

The shepherds were blessed to be the first ones to hear. They couldn’t wait to go and see what the angel had described. They rushed off to seek a tiny baby in a manger, swaddling cloths and all. And they found him. They found everything announced. They praised God. They told others. They astonished others with their description of that once silent night. Everything was just as they had been told. Everything was just as God had told his people for centuries.

And those shepherds were emblematic of a world of sinners. They had not earned a Savior through their sheep-raising. They had not been a particularly worthy bunch to receive such a blessing. They knew in their lowliness that this amazing gift was just that, a gift. It had no strings attached. It had not been earned or deserved. That’s what a gift is.

And after all the commotion of coming and going and telling that night, what do you suppose the shepherds did? I have every confidence that they went back to watching sheep the very next night. Their lives did not seem all that different on the outside, but they had been forever changed on the inside. They had a new and heavenly home. That was God’s gift to them. That is God’s gift to every believer.

Mary was astounded by the visit of the shepherds. As she so often did, she held it in her mind. She pondered and she treasured. She knew what the angel had previously told her, which matched completely with what the angel announced to the shepherds. And she had her baby boy. And she had her Savior. She had God’s gift to her. And that meant she had her heavenly home.

That’s what Christmas means for you, too. It means that your home for Christmas is not just the place where your family gets together. It’s not just the place where you carry on traditions. It means you have a home for Christmas wherever you visit Bethlehem. You see the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, and you remember the voice of the angel pointing to him as the Christ, the Lord, the Savior. You see in him the answer to all your deepest needs, all your darkest fears, all your haunting questions. You see in him a gift, unasked, unforced, unearned. You see in him the One who left his home in heaven to make a home in your heart and to make you a home in heaven with him.

We are so grateful to have you with us this evening, making this your home for Christmas even if it is for only a brief respite this evening. We are so thankful for the opportunity to share with you the light of the world. We are so thankful for the opportunity to bask in the glow of candlelight and to sing “Silent Night, Holy Night.” We are so thankful that we all can join at this place to peer into our Savior’s unexpected home in the manger so that we can see our home in heaven. And we would be honored to have the opportunity to continue sharing the message of good news and great joy that is for you and for the whole world. We would love to have more and more join us in making this a church home. And then we would love for you to take the message into your home as well. Read this account. Read the rest of the story of the Savior, the rest of the story of salvation. See it as your story. Rejoice like the shepherds.

Treasure like Mary. Be amazed like all who heard that night’s good news.

Just over a decade after Bing Crosby’s hit, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Perry Como made his contribution to our holiday playlists, singing, “There’s no place like home for the holidays.” No, we’re not singing either of these carols tonight. We are singing songs that take us right to Bethlehem on a silent night. We’re singing songs that remind us that our Savior made his home with us in the most humble and unexpected way. Because he did, we lowly sinners have a home with him now, and we have a heavenly home with him forever. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.”

The Text: Luke 2:1–20 (EHV) 2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

2This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3And everyone went to register, each to his own town. 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judea, to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and family line of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was pledged to him in marriage and was expecting a child.

6And so it was that while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth

to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8There were in the same country shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock

at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified! 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: 11Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude from the heavenly army, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.”

15When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Now let’s

go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they told others the message they had been told about this child. 18And all who heard it were amazed by what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.