Title: The mystery revealed

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being."

Life is full of mysteries, and mystery fills Christmas.

Isn’t this the reason you have had all those presents to unwrap last night and this morning, because the giver of the present wanted to create a mystery? Why else would we take the time, and add the expense to the gifts that we buy? We don’t want the receiver to know what the gift is until just the right time.

The unwrapping of the gift is the revealing of the mystery. And, the mystery must be revealed. What good is a mystery that remains a mystery? Who would remain interested?

If you were given something, but told that you could never unwrap it, how interested would you be? Indeed, what once was curiosity would turn into frustration, or disinterest, or even anger at the nasty joke being played on you.

Life is full of mysteries, and mystery fills Christmas. Rather, the revealing of a mystery is what Christmas is all about. The birth of Jesus is all about the Lord revealing, unveiling, ripping the wrapping off of Himself so that you, the receivers of Him, can know who He is.

In the birth of Jesus Christ, the mysteries of God begin to be revealed. That’s why the writer of today’s lesson from Hebrews said, "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being."

God the Son, born of the virgin Mary and named Jesus, is the radiance of God the Father’s glory. Thus, Jesus tells us, over and over, when we hear Him speak, we hear what His Father has to say, and when we see Jesus act, we see how the Father acts. Jesus is exactly like His Father. So, when the Son of God becomes the Son of Mary, the package also contains the Father, for the Father and the Son—not to mention the Holy Spirit—are a unity in Trinity.

That God became a human being reveals a great deal of the mystery of God. Now, just because you grew up with this, don’t pass it over quickly as you will that scorned fruitcake of so many bad jokes. Tell me, in what other religion does God become man, or do the people of that religion even like the idea of God becoming man, and when is this the place where the mysteries of God come to light?

In the religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons get it turned around. Their focus isn’t on God becoming man, but man becoming God—and, that is the goal of the Mormon man. And, you ladies should really love it because only the men get to become God, while the Mormon ladies get to keep having babies for them, or so they believe.

In the religion of Hinduism, and in the mythical gods of the Greeks and Romans and Norse, there are gods of this and gods of that, and they are impetuous gods. They are the gods of the seas, who will zap a ship so that it sinks, and the gods of the weather, who will drought you or soak you depending on how they feel about you, and the gods who decide into what sort of being you will be reincarnated, but they are never gods who love you so much that they would become one of you.

So, don’t take Christmas too lightly, just because the mysteries about which you sing have become so familiar. This event—Emmanuel, God with us in the birth of Jesus Christ—is the greatest event in the history of the world, which will lead to the next greatest event—His Good Friday sacrifice for your sins—which will lead to the next greatest event—His resurrection from the dead—which will eventually lead to His last, greatest event—the resurrection of all who belong to Him to the eternal life of the Paradise to come.

Here is another way to think about Jesus Christ. The Christmas gifts that people give you reveal much about how they feel about you. When a woman gets a lovely jewel from her guy, it doesn’t take a leap of love to know how he feels about her. But, when he gets her a vacuum, well, um, there will be a mess to clean up.

If God’s desire were for you to clean up—for you to clean up the mess which your sins have made of His commandments, and the damnation you deserve because of them—then His Christmas gift to you would have been a spiritual vacuum, and mop, and dishwasher. If God expected you to atone for your sins, He would have given you the tools to do it. And, you would not have considered it a gift, at all.

Here is another aspect of the mystery of God revealed to you: God is generous. "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being." Notice that everything Jesus does, He does for the good, not of Himself, but of others. Consider this the Law portion of this sermon—the part where you feel guilty because, way too often, you don’t think of others, but think very much of yourself. And, you know better. You know the Golden Rule. You know the command to love your neighbor as you love yourself. But, you still struggle to go out of your way to do a good deed, unless the good deed is convenient for you or will really make you look good. And, you won’t stop saying bad and mean things about others, though you hate it when they do the same to you, and you know that you are supposed to use your mouth to defend other, speak well of them, and explain everything in the kindest way.

Yes, your actions and words reveal you, and remove any mystery as to what you are made of, just as the Lord Jesus’ actions and words revealed what God the Father is made of, and He is generous.

So, He doesn’t give you a vacuum, He gives you a jewel—His only begotten Son. So, He doesn’t require you to atone for your sin, He gives you atonement—His only begotten Son. So, He doesn’t wait for you to get your act together and please Him before He will save you from death, He gives you eternal life—His only begotten Son.

Jesus is gift. And, as His life is unwrapped, you see what a generous gift He is: He heals, He helps; He feeds, He finds; He blesses, He bears; He is damned, He dies . . . for you.

And, as He performs each act, and speaks each word, and takes each nail, and breathes His last, He is the exact representation of His Father’s generous and loving heart. He is the mystery of God, revealed. In Jesus Christ, you know who God is, you know who you are. You know how to possess eternal life.

Now, you know who God is. You know that God is your Creator, and God is your Savior. You know that He loves the whole world—that’s why He gave His only Son to be its Savior.

Now, you know who you are. You know that He made you. You know that He made you in His image, but sin has brought the darkness of death. You know that you are beloved by God as you know His love in Jesus Christ.

Now, you know how to possess eternal life. You know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You keep hearing how Jesus was born for you, bled for you, was damned for you, died for you. You know how Jesus now lives for you. By hearing His Gospel, the Holy Spirit gives you faith to believe in Jesus for eternal life. And, so you do. And, so you were baptized for eternal life. And, so you eat and drink of Christ’s body and blood for eternal life.

In Jesus Christ, you have the answer to the biggest, most often asked question of mankind: who is God and how can I know Him? You know Him, for you know Jesus. This is what Christmas is all about.

Life is full of mysteries, but eternal life is not. The mystery has been revealed. Merry Christmas. Amen.