The Nativity of Our Lord | 25.12.2025 | Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6 (7-12); John 1:1-14 (15-18) | Andrew F. Weisner |

Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ 8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. 9 Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Psalm 2

Hebrews 1:1-6 (7-12)

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

John 1:1-14 (15-18)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For jthe law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.. 18No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Homily

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word became flesh, and dwelled among us.” … “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail (“Greetings to”) – incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with us to dwell … JESUS, our Emmanuel” … i.e., “God with us.”

Who in all of history can be compared to Jesus? … inconceivably (to us!) “God from God,” born before all time … eternally – and fully – equal to his eternal and loftiest parent? By the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit he was born of a virgin … a man in time, and still GOD, unsullied by our corruption.
Who is richer than Jesus – who GIVES all things, and yet, he himself is undiminished?
Who is more illustrious than Jesus, who is the splendor of the glory of God the Father, who enlightens every person who comes into the world?
Who is more powerful than Jesus, God the Son, to whom the Father has given all authority and power in heaven and earth?
Who is mightier than Jesus, who was in the beginning with the Father, by whose simple nod the universe was established? … by whose wave of the hand the sea is calmed, diseases flee, demons are expelled, the dead are raised, sinners repent, and all things are made new?
Who is more wonderful than he whom angels adore … — and before whom devils tremble?
Who is more invincible than Jesus – Christ the King! – who has conquered death and cast down Satan? Who is more triumphant than Jesus, who overcame hell and brought souls to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father?
Who is wiser than Jesus, who founded – and now governs – the universe (the planets in their courses and interstellar space) in harmony?
Whose authority is greater than this man, of whom his Father said at his transfiguration, “THIS IS MY SON – Listen to him!”?
Who is more ancient than he who has no beginning – and will have no end! ?

HE is the one about whom children – and we – may more easily think of as a little boy, lying in swaddling clothes (strips of cloth), and lying in a manger (i.e., the animals‘ feeding trough in a barn) … while angels sang over him… and shepherds bowed down to him … and a star stood over the place where he lay.

Jesus in the manger … Humble simplicity … vulnerable, accessible to us human beings … and yet, nonetheless, this baby is God from God, light from light, true God from true God. God has joined Himself to our human nature: so now, our human nature (through Christ, who is one of the Trinity) is intimately known to, related to God, a part of God’s (Christ’s) nature; our lowliness, our vulnerability, our mortality – has been taken up (“assumed,” “put on” ) by almighty God, and we, and the world, therefore, are forever changed.

Come: Continue your work in us, Lord Jesus.

Pastor Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D. pastorweisner@gmail.com Pastor, New Covenant Lutheran Church Morganton, North Carolina, USA Faculty, North American Lutheran Seminary, Ambridge, PA, USA