Nativity of Our Lord
Text: John 1:1-14
THE WORD BECAME FLESH
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
In many and various ways God spoke to His people of old by the prophets, but now in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Dear hearers of the Word made flesh:
The Word who was in the beginning; through whom all things were made; in whom was life; who was the light of men; became flesh! You have two hands and ten fingers; Since Christmas, God has two hands and ten fingers. Your have two feet, two eyes, two ears; God has two feet, two eyes, two ears. The Word became flesh! He was knit together in the womb of His virgin mother and born amid the smell of hay and animals. God is now with us in the flesh, skin and hair and sweat and all. And that can seem pretty unspiritual. By nature man has always sought to fashion his own spiritual idols.
New age mysticism invents a god who is at a distance, floating about in nature or in the universe, leaving the natural things of our body alone. This is nothing new, but a revival of ancient Gnosticism which held that the body (flesh) and the physical world is unimportant at best and evil at worst (something to be separated from the truly spiritual).. This heresy of second century intellectuals taught people to seek an inner spiritual glow unhindered by sin or guilt before God. The way of salvation was seen as superior wisdom or knowledge. Being on a sophisticated spiritual wave length supposedly gave one freedom to do with your body what you pleased. This heresy interpreted the virgin birth as a purely symbolic event – something that never really happened. This heresy is what Newsweek and other weekly magazines falsely promote when they describe the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas as Christian gospels. Written a century after the apostles died, these works were never recognized by the Christian Church. They were known to be heretical right from the start and were never received as Scripture given by apostolic authority through the Holy Spirit. Christian gospels are exactly what they never were.
Modern-day America doesn’t care about that truth, however and therefore our culture has a strong case of the Gnostic bug. There are hosts of spiritual voices and celebrity voices and educational voices saying that you must discover who you really are as opposed to being saved by God’s grace through Christ. But dear Christians, you are not the spark of light. You are part of the problem. If you follow what’s deep in your heart like the Gnostic elitists did, you will actually mislead yourself and those you drag down with you (all very spiritual and wise and mature, of course). You see, if the Gnostics and new age mystics are right, then gathering together today and each Lord’s Day is a serious waste of your fleeting time. If they are right than there is nothing more meaningless than The Word made flesh and His gifts for you!
But they are wrong – dead wrong! The fact that they don’t receive The Word made flesh is not surprising. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. It is part and parcel of the sinful nature of us creatures to say to our creator, “get lost – we’ll find our way”. We are prone to worship nature or ourselves or imaginary idols of mind and spirit. Beloved, please know that such is our natural drift, our default setting. What feels right by nature is to spiritualize God in ways that we choose. We are not prone to worship The Word made flesh. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
How bad is this leaning away from Christ? He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. The ignorance of turning from the one true God is nothing new. It is always dressed up as spiritual or human wisdom of one kind or another. It is most often viewed as reaching higher, becoming uninhibited, finding oneself, being really spiritual. God in the flesh with hair and skin and sweat, tempted as we are, suffering as we do, can seem pretty unspiritual.
But beware of those who want Jesus to rise above the body. Beware of those who want spirituality to be primarily a mind thing or a heart thing or an emotions thing. Where your body is and what it does, is not just a physical detail. Where our body is and what it does helps identify whether our spiritual life is real or bogus! Sin of the soul gets fleshed out in the body. Faith also gets fleshed out in natural life. If we want to be left alone to do with our bodies whatever we choose, then we don’t want the Word made flesh. Beware of those who want Jesus to rise above the body and leave it alone. Beware of those who are a bit put off by the skin and hair and sweat of the Son of Man. Beware also of your own desires to keep God at a distance like some nebulous spirit. We are all tempted to do that!
He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Beloved, you who are born of God, this is the beating heart of our faith. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Born of the Virgin Mary, God is our brother – knowing the bodily mess that we are in..
You have hunger, Jesus knows hunger. You have turmoil, Jesus knows turmoil. You have physical weariness. Jesus knows physical weariness. You have temptation, God the Son had temptation – just like you – in every way like yours yet without sin. He can sympathize with your bodily struggles.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. That’s God’s gift! That’s Christmas and nothing can ruin Christmas! You have a flesh and blood Savior! He gives Himself to you that you might be whole again body and soul. He loves you body and soul! He redeems you body and soul!
Isaiah the prophet foretold it this way, The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” But who would have understood the wonder of how God bared his holy arm? That bare arm was so small and so weak, bound in swaddling clothes.
You have an arm. Since Christmas God has a flesh and blood arm. You have a mouth. Since Christmas, God the Son has a mouth just like you. His infant mouth which nursed at Mary’s breast would later rebuke the sea and rebuke Satan’s accusations and speak peace to you. In His body, on the way to the cross, His mouth got slapped for what comes out of yours and the prayer and praise that doesn’t come out as it should.
Dear Christians, see how God bares His holy arm to bring salvation. As He does so, the tender brow of the little one in Mary’s arms is being prepared to be pierced with thorns. The amazing wonder and beauty of infant hands and infant feet will in adulthood, feel the flesh-ripping pain of driven spikes. It’s the only reason this sacrificial Lamb took on our human skin. His hands got nailed for what my hands have done and failed to do. Your hands too! See what God does for us when He bares His holy arm?
The Word through whom all things were made became flesh and used that flesh for our forgiveness. The Word in whom was life, faced death willingly to defeat death for us. By His death on the cross He redeemed our race. That’s why a crucifix is never pretty, but ever so beautiful! Foolish talk if He’s just a man! But if He is God and Man, if God in the flesh died there in your stead, than it is good news of eternal happiness – happy, happy, happy!. His bodily resurrection trumpets how eternally good the news is! How beautiful are the feet of the risen Christ as He stands bodily in the midst of his disciples and says, “Peace be with you”. The Word became flesh and now flesh endures. The heavens and earth will wear out like a garment, but not you. There is now a place for you at God’s right hand.
He is still a man! He is still the Word made flesh! After making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. On this day He still upholds the universe by the word of His power. On this day He also upholds you by the word of His promise! Christmas is about being given to! He was born to give you second birth! So He did in your baptism! There He washed your precious human skin and hair to make you a new creation. By His Word of promise He also gives His flesh to you today in the Sacrament, His very body into your mouth! God is not at a distance. See how close the Word made flesh comes to you now. Merry Christmas!
THE WORD BECAME FLESH
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
In many and various ways God spoke to His people of old by the prophets, but now in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Dear hearers of the Word made flesh:
The Word who was in the beginning; through whom all things were made; in whom was life; who was the light of men; became flesh! You have two hands and ten fingers; Since Christmas, God has two hands and ten fingers. Your have two feet, two eyes, two ears; God has two feet, two eyes, two ears. The Word became flesh! He was knit together in the womb of His virgin mother and born amid the smell of hay and animals. God is now with us in the flesh, skin and hair and sweat and all. And that can seem pretty unspiritual. By nature man has always sought to fashion his own spiritual idols.
New age mysticism invents a god who is at a distance, floating about in nature or in the universe, leaving the natural things of our body alone. This is nothing new, but a revival of ancient Gnosticism which held that the body (flesh) and the physical world is unimportant at best and evil at worst (something to be separated from the truly spiritual).. This heresy of second century intellectuals taught people to seek an inner spiritual glow unhindered by sin or guilt before God. The way of salvation was seen as superior wisdom or knowledge. Being on a sophisticated spiritual wave length supposedly gave one freedom to do with your body what you pleased. This heresy interpreted the virgin birth as a purely symbolic event – something that never really happened. This heresy is what Newsweek and other weekly magazines falsely promote when they describe the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas as Christian gospels. Written a century after the apostles died, these works were never recognized by the Christian Church. They were known to be heretical right from the start and were never received as Scripture given by apostolic authority through the Holy Spirit. Christian gospels are exactly what they never were.
Modern-day America doesn’t care about that truth, however and therefore our culture has a strong case of the Gnostic bug. There are hosts of spiritual voices and celebrity voices and educational voices saying that you must discover who you really are as opposed to being saved by God’s grace through Christ. But dear Christians, you are not the spark of light. You are part of the problem. If you follow what’s deep in your heart like the Gnostic elitists did, you will actually mislead yourself and those you drag down with you (all very spiritual and wise and mature, of course). You see, if the Gnostics and new age mystics are right, then gathering together today and each Lord’s Day is a serious waste of your fleeting time. If they are right than there is nothing more meaningless than The Word made flesh and His gifts for you!
But they are wrong – dead wrong! The fact that they don’t receive The Word made flesh is not surprising. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. It is part and parcel of the sinful nature of us creatures to say to our creator, “get lost – we’ll find our way”. We are prone to worship nature or ourselves or imaginary idols of mind and spirit. Beloved, please know that such is our natural drift, our default setting. What feels right by nature is to spiritualize God in ways that we choose. We are not prone to worship The Word made flesh. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
How bad is this leaning away from Christ? He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. The ignorance of turning from the one true God is nothing new. It is always dressed up as spiritual or human wisdom of one kind or another. It is most often viewed as reaching higher, becoming uninhibited, finding oneself, being really spiritual. God in the flesh with hair and skin and sweat, tempted as we are, suffering as we do, can seem pretty unspiritual.
But beware of those who want Jesus to rise above the body. Beware of those who want spirituality to be primarily a mind thing or a heart thing or an emotions thing. Where your body is and what it does, is not just a physical detail. Where our body is and what it does helps identify whether our spiritual life is real or bogus! Sin of the soul gets fleshed out in the body. Faith also gets fleshed out in natural life. If we want to be left alone to do with our bodies whatever we choose, then we don’t want the Word made flesh. Beware of those who want Jesus to rise above the body and leave it alone. Beware of those who are a bit put off by the skin and hair and sweat of the Son of Man. Beware also of your own desires to keep God at a distance like some nebulous spirit. We are all tempted to do that!
He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Beloved, you who are born of God, this is the beating heart of our faith. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Born of the Virgin Mary, God is our brother – knowing the bodily mess that we are in..
You have hunger, Jesus knows hunger. You have turmoil, Jesus knows turmoil. You have physical weariness. Jesus knows physical weariness. You have temptation, God the Son had temptation – just like you – in every way like yours yet without sin. He can sympathize with your bodily struggles.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. That’s God’s gift! That’s Christmas and nothing can ruin Christmas! You have a flesh and blood Savior! He gives Himself to you that you might be whole again body and soul. He loves you body and soul! He redeems you body and soul!
Isaiah the prophet foretold it this way, The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” But who would have understood the wonder of how God bared his holy arm? That bare arm was so small and so weak, bound in swaddling clothes.
You have an arm. Since Christmas God has a flesh and blood arm. You have a mouth. Since Christmas, God the Son has a mouth just like you. His infant mouth which nursed at Mary’s breast would later rebuke the sea and rebuke Satan’s accusations and speak peace to you. In His body, on the way to the cross, His mouth got slapped for what comes out of yours and the prayer and praise that doesn’t come out as it should.
Dear Christians, see how God bares His holy arm to bring salvation. As He does so, the tender brow of the little one in Mary’s arms is being prepared to be pierced with thorns. The amazing wonder and beauty of infant hands and infant feet will in adulthood, feel the flesh-ripping pain of driven spikes. It’s the only reason this sacrificial Lamb took on our human skin. His hands got nailed for what my hands have done and failed to do. Your hands too! See what God does for us when He bares His holy arm?
The Word through whom all things were made became flesh and used that flesh for our forgiveness. The Word in whom was life, faced death willingly to defeat death for us. By His death on the cross He redeemed our race. That’s why a crucifix is never pretty, but ever so beautiful! Foolish talk if He’s just a man! But if He is God and Man, if God in the flesh died there in your stead, than it is good news of eternal happiness – happy, happy, happy!. His bodily resurrection trumpets how eternally good the news is! How beautiful are the feet of the risen Christ as He stands bodily in the midst of his disciples and says, “Peace be with you”. The Word became flesh and now flesh endures. The heavens and earth will wear out like a garment, but not you. There is now a place for you at God’s right hand.
He is still a man! He is still the Word made flesh! After making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. On this day He still upholds the universe by the word of His power. On this day He also upholds you by the word of His promise! Christmas is about being given to! He was born to give you second birth! So He did in your baptism! There He washed your precious human skin and hair to make you a new creation. By His Word of promise He also gives His flesh to you today in the Sacrament, His very body into your mouth! God is not at a distance. See how close the Word made flesh comes to you now. Merry Christmas!
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
12/27/2006
