Weekly Word
Posted on Dec 23, 2016 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed Advent season.
As I have been preparing for Christmas, I came across a sermon given by Martin Luther on Christmas Eve, 1521. In his sermon, he said, “In this manner Christ takes to himself our birth and absorbs it in his birth; he presents us with his birth so that we become pure and new in it, as if it were our own…” Experts call this “The Divine Exchange.” This teaching comes from the ancient Roman laws about marriage and property rights. According to the law, when a couple was married, each simultaneously retained what each previously owned, but now also had full rights to use what the other owned as if it were their own.
To give you an example, when Jill and I got married, I owned an old, beat-up Datsun pickup. It wasn’t much, but it got me where I needed to go. Jill, on the other hand, owned a really nice, sporty, Ford Gran Torino. It was really nice, and we felt really cool driving around in it. Now, while I still owned that Datsun pickup, I immediately owned Jill's cool, sporty Torino, as well. At the same time, Jill now fully owned my ugly Datsun. I definitely got the better end of that deal, in more ways than one!
According to Luther, that’s what happens at the birth of Christ, in the Incarnation: God is joined to us fully and completely in the birth of the Christ child and thereby takes on our life, our hopes and dreams, faults and sins, ups and downs, and gives us Christ’s righteousness. The sins are still ours, but Christ takes them on as if they were his; and while the righteousness is Christ’s, we now can make full use of it. We definitely got the better end of that deal! Through the Incarnation, God now looks at us and sees us as fully righteous and pure, just like Christ. According to Luther, this is why Christmas is so special. It is the celebration of God’s intent and action to be joined to us fully and to promise always to see us and treat us as if we are Christ.
As you celebrate Christmas, I pray that you know that because God chose to give us the incredible gift of the birth of Christ, we now have all the goodness and grace we need.
Have a blessed and Merry Christmas!
Shalom, Pr. Dave