Christmas Eve
December 24, 2012
Non-Christians view the Bible as just another book. A very good book,
but just a book, nonetheless. There are also those who take issue with the
Bible because there are many things in there offensive to them. For Christians,
the Bible is a book, but more than a book. It’s the Word of God.
But how does one interpret the Word of God? Literally? Figuratively? Some
will take, for example, the six days Genesis tells us in which God created the
world, literally, whereas others will take it figuratively. Those who take it literally
say that the words say what they mean, but those who take it figuratively say
the words are meant to symbolize something else. So how do we take it? Literally?
Figuratively?
The Christian Church believes that the Word of God is the written words
of God, using language as it is normally used. There is narrative, there is statement,
there is exhortation, there is poetry, there is history, and there is metaphor.
Different parts of Scripture need to be interpreted according to the kind
language that is being used. For example, in the case of the Genesis account of
creation, this is language that is used in a straightforward manner, telling us
what happened, and even describing what each day consisted of—there was evening
and there was morning, the first day. In other words, each day was a
twenty-four hour time period.
There’s an example on perhaps a less serious scale and may perhaps take
a little of the romance out of your picture of how the Christmas event
unfolded. “Hark! The Herald, Angels Sing” is a beloved Christmas hymn. However,
this is what the words in the Gospel According to Luke actually say: “And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying, ‘Glory to God in
the highest.’”
Does that mean we’re wrong in singing in the hymn that the angels sang?
Does it, in fact, mean that the angels didn’t sing, but rather spoke? Most
people know of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger, although most don’t know him by
this name. They know him, rather, as Pope Benedict XVI. Joseph Ratzinger, in a
book he has written about Jesus’ birth and infancy, made this wonderful
observation: “Christianity has always understood that the speech of angels is
actually song.”
To be literal is not to be so literal that you miss the point that is
being made. An article in the New York Times stated that “most evangelicals
describe the Bible as literally true. Yet for many, ‘literally’ often means ‘keep
what’s there and add details to make it vivid.’” Some explain how to ‘live the
experience’ of Scripture: ‘Smell the sea. Hear the lap of water against the
shore. See the crowd. Feel the sun on your head and the hunger in your stomach.
Taste the salt in the air. Touch the hem of his garment.’ But is this the point
of the words of Scripture?
Language is wonderful and we use it to communicate. That people
interpret the Bible in so many different ways shows that it can be tough to
understand what someone means when they say something or write something. The
Bible is God’s communication to us of who He is and what He has done. While
some would take the account of Jesus’ birth as just a story, the way God tells
it it is a true story. The details are literally true. The way God works is not
mystically but very real and in physical ways. Thus, God came to us as a baby.
Mary actually gave birth to a Son. Mary wrapped Him up in actual swaddling
cloths. He literally cuddled up in her arms.
The reason all of this happened is because God wanted to actually,
literally save us. We, every person, are actually separated from God by our
sin. He came to restore us back into an eternal relationship with Him. He came
to deal with our sin, to put it away, to forgive us of our sin. The way He did
that was by becoming man. And He did it the long, drawn-out way. By being in a
womb for nine months. By being born and needing to bed fed and cared for by His
mother and by His adoptive father, Joseph. He went through the painful years of
adolescence.
He actually traversed places on the map teaching and preaching and
healing people. He forgave people of their sins. He taught and called apostles
into ministry. At the heart of God’s actions in sending His Son was the cross.
Jesus was born, but it was His death thirty-three years later where we see the
fruition of God sending His Son. It wasn’t just that He died, He took upon
Himself the sin of every person. He died in our place. There is no figurative
or metaphorical message here. Jesus actually paid for the sins of the world in
His suffering, death, and resurrection.
In the birth of Christ we are shown an important thing about God. That is
that the way He comes to us is by actually coming to us. The way He brings salvation
to us is by bringing Christ to us. The way He forgives us is by delivering His
Son to us.
If all we got were God coming in the flesh, Jesus being born, Jesus
going to the cross and walking away from His grave, well, that certainly would
have been enough. That would be as much as we need. It would be more than we
could ever ask or hope for. But with God, well, He’s not done. It’s not enough
for Him. He keeps giving us more Jesus. As He gave His Son at Christmas, He
gives Him to us also in our lives. In the same way the birth of Christ, Jesus
coming in the flesh, is actual, literal, so is His coming to us in Baptism and
the Lord’s Supper.
Rather than attempting to feel the mist of the waves washing up on the
shore of the Sea of Galilee, the waters of Baptism flow down our head. Instead
of placing ourselves in the shoes of the 5,000 people who sat listening to
Jesus and feeling the pains of hunger, we are actually given bread and wine in
which our Lord gives to us Himself, His body and blood in and with that bread
and wine.
This is the reason for the Gospel. The Gospel is the way God brings His
Son to you. The way He did it the first time was through the womb of the Virgin
Mary. The way He does it now is by delivering the Gospel to you. When the
Gospel is proclaimed, Jesus is delivered to you. When you are Baptized, you are
united with Christ. When you receive the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper,
your Lord comes to you.
There are parts to the Bible that are literal. There are parts that are
figurative. We interpret them accordingly. The essential point is that it is
all true. It is definite. It is definitely true.
If you want to get a feel for what it felt like that night in
Bethlehem, in that stable, what Joseph and Mary were experiencing, consider
that you actually experience what they did. Not that you can smell the hay or
the animals. But God in the flesh was given to them on that night. They were in
His presence, they were given God. In Baptism and the Lord’s Supper it is the
same thing, God in the flesh is given to you, you are in the presence of God.
When the Gospel is proclaimed and is applied to you in Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper, Jesus is delivered to you. The one who was born, who lived, who died,
who rose, is the same one who definitely continues to come to you in the means
in which He has directed you to.
As for the message of the angels, whether spoken or sung, what they
proclaimed is the truth for all time and eternity—that it is the glory of God
to bring true peace to you. Peace in the midst of your sins that plague you;
peace in the midst of sorrow and pain and hurt. Peace in God’s Son, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
SDG
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