[0:00] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. All across the world this morning, decorative bows, various boxes of all shapes and sizes, and brightly colored wrapping paper lie forgotten.
[0:25] Their use has come to an end, and now they have all been discarded as nothing more than common trash. But not so for the Christian faith.
[0:39] Not so for all those who confess and believe in the resurrection of the body. No. This morning, Christians take true delight in the gift of God's Son, wrappings, and all.
[0:54] For this morning we hear something amazing. This morning we hear that the flesh matters. For this morning we hear that the Word, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[1:09] And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But it's not like the Word was simply wrapped up in flesh and blood.
[1:24] No. Instead, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, the begotten of the Father, actually, actually became a flesh and blood human being.
[1:36] In other words, God the Son now has a human body and a human mind and a human soul. For in the person of Jesus Christ, God became man.
[1:53] And that's what Christmas, this and every other Christ Mass, is all about. It is about God in flesh, given for you, and given for the salvation of the entire world.
[2:09] For Christmas is about a new creation, a new beginning and a fresh start for all mankind. For within the womb of Mary, something truly miraculous takes place.
[2:23] Something the world had never seen before, something new. A woman is pregnant with God, by God.
[2:35] Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ enters our world as the first man of a new race of men. Those who know God not only as their creator, but those who truly, truly know God as their father as well.
[2:56] Which means that in Christ Jesus, we literally become members of God's family by virtue of God's one and only flesh and blood Son.
[3:09] And that's exactly what this morning's gospel tells us. For in this morning's gospel, St. John explains, He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
[3:24] He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him. To them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[3:48] Therefore, behold, the true gift of Christmas, the light which is the life of men, become man, a gift that does not wait to be unwrapped, but instead wraps its receivers in the righteousness and the holiness and the familial ties of Almighty God.
[4:08] For today the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[4:23] In other words, glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men, in the God who became man, in order that all men might truly see and know God as the Father of all mercy, as the Father of all love, and the Father of everlasting life and light.
[4:49] in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.