Christmas is for Children

. . . born of the Virgin Mary. -Apostles Creed

Christmas is for children. The children of men, and the children of God.

And now I offer you this simple phrase for kids aged 1 to 92, and for all human flesh under the sun from the time of Adam Eve until the end of the age.

This simple phrase is offered to Giovanni Pierce Colglazier, born into this world this past Wednesday as one of the Children of men who, God willing, will soon by virtue of God's Holy Baptism of him, be under the care and discipline of Christ Jesus, whose birth in human flesh we now anticipate with joy and wonder.

This simple phrase is also offered to Walter Erick “Frit” Sanders, who departed this world this past Thursday at the age of 92, as one of the children of God who, being delivered of the burden of the flesh is now in joy and felicity resting from his labors, now having perfect consummation in the eternal glory of Christ Jesus.

This simple phrase is offered to children yet unborn, conceived in their mother’s wombs, and even to those yet not conceived.

This simple phrase is offered to those who have reached an old age, even old Methuselah, who reached the age of 969 years and to those who will reach an old age in the future.

The simple phrase of which I speak consists of only five words, drawn from the Second Article of Apostle’s Creed as you have known it from a child, the Article concerning your Savior, Jesus Christ. Those five words are: “. . . born of the Virgin Mary.”

Thus you can count on only one hand what the mighty hand of God has done for you, provided you have five fingers on each hand as Jesus does.

First is a four-letter word: Born.

That is to say He, in His flesh, departed the relatively dark, warm, quite recess and comfort of His mother’s womb to breathe your poised air and to hear with his ears and to see with His eyes the very same world in which you live.

Apart from the fact that He is true God, which we will talk about in a moment, it is a miracle in its own right whenever a tiny human comes into the world, for the very first time to make use of the reason and senses as they have developed while inside the mother’s womb.

Everything is new. The child is new to the mother and father. The mother and father are new to the child. The whole world is new to the child, and the mother and father’s world is turned on its head. It is not as if this child were not a person before birth, but now that the child has entered into time and space in such a way as to experience it in all its fullness.

This is what Jesus did, too, and of course it is for you that He does this and all things well. He is born.

Second is a two-letter word: of.”

Unless you are a character in a video game you do not pop up out of nowhere and disappear. In fact, even if you were a character in a video game, there would be a cause for your appearance, and a cause for your disappearance.

In the case of your Christ Jesus Who is born of the Virgin Mary, He is at the same time the expression of every cause and purpose as given by God the Father, just as you are taught by the Holy Spirit.

No one is born without a source of being. This pertains to you, and this pertains to Jesus who carries you in His being and body through the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life in His name.

So it happens that you do not live to yourself, and you do not die to yourself, but you live and die to the LORD who is the source of all things.

Third is a three-letter word: the.

English teachers call this the “definite article.” There is only one definite article in the English language, and that is the word “the.” There happens also only to be one Virgin Mary.

Not only is she unique as a person who was also born of a mother just like you were, and just like you are a unique person, but she stands as the only mother in all of history to be a part in fulfilling what was spoken by God to Adam and Even at the fall, what was spoken by the prophets of hold, like Isiah who said by the Holy Spirit that a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and we shall call his Name Immanuel,” in patient continuance under the burden of a pregnancy announced to her previously by the angel of the LORD.

We do not have many LORDs and gods, but only one true God. Likewise we do not have many Virgin Marys, but only one Virgin Mary. We do not worship her, but we most certainly marvel at how she believed what was spoken by the Lord and it was done unto her as she believed. She, as we observe and celebrate with great joy, gave birth to Christ Jesus, the Savior of all the children of men and all the children of God.

Forth is a six-letter word: Virgin.

“[F]or the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Dear children, this is what makes the conception and birth of Christ Jesus such a great joy to behold and ponder. It is by virtue of the Holy Spirit that Christ Jesus will bear in His own body before the face of God all the sin and transgression that has ever, and will ever, occur under the sun as brought about by the sin of Adam and as continued to this day.

Where by nature you have done nothing other than continually heap transgression after transgression upon yourself and others, He, for your sake, will walk in the paths of righteousness not only for His Name’s sake, but also for your name’s sake.

Do not think that because Christ Jesus is born of a Virgin that you are somehow left out. Do not think that because Christ Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit that you are somehow left behind because you are not born of a Virgin.

On the contrary, it is this Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, Who has seen to it that you also, in your very own body, are conceived and born of the Holy Spirit in your Baptism, and in His teaching and discipline of you, even as He feeds you with the same body and blood wherewith He suffered, dies, and rose again for you.

No other creature could do this for you. He must be born. He must be conceived by the Holy Spirit. He must suffer, die, and rise again, as the rest of the Apostles Creed and Sacred Scripture teaches you.

The fifth and last word is a four-letter word: Mary.

To this day “Mary” is the most common name given to girls in the United States. There are nearly 4 million girls and ladies by that name in the United States today.

The next most common name given to girls in the Unites States has slightly over one and a half million bearers. That name is “Patricia.”

So the name, "Mary," is common.

Short of the fact that God chose Mary to be the bearer of His only begotten Son, she was common, too. As the choir is about to sing in the Magnificat, God had “regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden.”

He is to be the Savior of all people; therefore He is to be the Savior even of those who are of low estate. The lowest of the low. Even those who are burdened with sin and death.

Even those who hold ordinary jobs like garbage man, refrigerator repairman, and engineer. Even those who have no job. The homeless. Those in prison. The fatherless. The widow. The policeman. The nurse. Through this Christ Jesus born of the Virgin whose common name is Mary, God exalts them all, because He, whose birth you now celebrate, is God in human flesh, come to save you.

And then there is this thing about mothers. Every mother gives birth to a first born child, just like Mary did. Dr. Luther thought and wrote about this quite a bit. What was Mary supposed to do? Here she is in a strange place – Bethlehem was not her home – she had no place to stay but a stall where cattle are fed, and now she has this baby boy, who, if he is anything like my brother, Charles Frederick Seyboldt who was born three years ahead of me, was quite something to deal with as a person.

Yes, as we said at the start, a new and real person.

The world of that mother and father are turned upside down. I have yet to meet or know a mother who was not truly worried and concerned about bearing and raising children. This is their own flesh and blood under the creative hand of an almighty and merciful God, yet it is apart from them. There is no remote control. There is some guidance and wisdom that comes from others, yes, but there is also so much of it sometimes that a new mother might just as well throw up her arms in despair.

And then there is the business of being a father, too, often saying yes and no for the child when it does not matter, and not saying yes and no when it really does matter.

Yet, through this Child Christ Jesus, all mothers and fathers - indeed all who are born of a woman - are invited to rest in His mercies from everlasting to everlasting, for He knows your frame. He knows that you are dust, and subject to every weakness, even sin and death.

That is why, for your sake, He came into this world to be weak and to suffer on your behalf.

He has not changed. He still lives, and He will take you to be with Himself forever. He will be the Host and Imperishable Food for you in His Supper this night at this altar.

“[B]orn of the Virgin Mary.” That is why Christmas is for children. The children of men and the children of God, and that is why we say, at this time of the Holy Church year, many times and many ways: “Merry Christmas!” Which is to say, “Rejoice with me, insofar as God has undertaken to visit us through His only Son, Who has come to save us from our sin by His innocent suffering and death, by His resurrection from the dead, and by His Holy Spirit who has called us into the very life and being of God for all eternity.

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