Date: December 29, 2024
Festival: 1st Sunday after Christmas
Text: Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15
Preaching Occasion: Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, Wellston, MI
Appointed Scriptures: Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:22-40
Sermon Hymn: LSB #567 Not What These Hands Have Done
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Old Testament reading for the 1st Sunday after Christmas follows on the heels of the infamous tenth plague of Egypt, which was also the first Passover, when God struck down all the firstborn children and beasts in Egypt, His wrath literally passing over those whose doorposts were covered in lamb’s blood. Because He struck down these firstborn, God commands the firstborn of every man and beast in Israel be consecrated to Him, that is, made sacred. Only instead of being killed, they shall be redeemed with lamb’s blood yet again. And here is the purpose for this—here is why God tells them to do this: that when their children ask why they do this, they’ll teach them about what God did when He brought them out of Egypt.
In a word, this is catechesis, and it introduces a ritual, or tradition they would practice for centuries and millennia to come. Catechesis and ritual have a symbiotic relationship—they inform one another. Often, the best way to teach our faith is to teach by doing. When I teach Confirmation class, the kids often don’t have to sit there and try to memorize the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer by monotonous repetition because they’ve already been doing that during the liturgy. Many Christians are sadly opposed to ritualism in the Church because they think it’s legalistic; they wrongly think the rituals of the historic liturgy are works we perform to be accepted by God. But that’s not what’s going on. We all have rituals, whether we realize it or not. If you brush your teeth in the morning, that’s a ritual. If you put pajamas on before bed, that’s a ritual. If you watch football after church on Sunday, that’s a ritual—and some even have superstitious rituals by wearing your favorite team’s colors in hopes they’ll win the game. Even those who don’t practice a traditional liturgy in their churches engage in rituals of some kind.
Ritual is not just about what you do; it’s also about how you do it and why you do it. Growing up, my family had many Christmas rituals, or traditions. One of them I’ll never forget is that my dad devised a system using a board game called Trouble to pass out gifts. Including him and my mom, there were five of us, and he’d assign each of us a number according to the six sides of a die. We’d take turns popping the bubble in the middle of the board to roll the die, and whoever’s number came up, the one who rolled the die would bring one of their presents to them, which my dad also systematically numbered. Nobody was allowed to receive presents three times in a row, so the die would just be rolled again if that happened.
So, that’s what and how we opened presents, but why? Why did my father develop such a ritual? He did it to teach us patience, humility, and to have joy in other people’s joy, so we also learned not to be selfish. In his view, it was silly for everyone to just open all their presents at once. He thought it important to instill in us patience and humble servitude during a time that heightens materialism. He also ingrained in us a sense of community in the family by experiencing one another’s joy. This was before the advent of smartphones, so we couldn’t lose ourselves in digital screens; but even without them, we could easily lose ourselves in our self-centeredness.
I’m sure you all have your own Christmas rituals, or traditions. And I’m sure there are reasons why you do them, which you may or may not be aware of. We perform these rituals in our “secular” lives for a sense of order or to teach our children important lessons, and our spiritual lives are not exempt from such rituals, as we see in Exodus. The what in Exodus 13 is the institution of the Passover, the how is the consecration of the firstborn, and the why is redemption and catechesis to remember the salvation God delivered.
So now today, our liturgy—our rituals—are not just about what we do but also how and why we do them. A simple example is why some of us cross ourselves when the name of the Holy Trinity is invoked—to remember we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which was pronounced over our hearts and minds at our Baptism, and to revere the speaking of His holy name. It’s a personal, pious choice. So, when we see someone’s piety that’s different than ours, let us not judge them, thinking they’re being legalistic. If you don’t cross yourself, don’t look at someone who does and think, “Oh, they think they’re earning God’s favor just because they’re being so pious. That’s too Catholic.” Or if you do cross yourself, don’t look at those who don’t and think, “They must not be very devout or serious about their faith.” Rather, as Paul exhorted us in the epistle, “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,” and “longsuffering, bearing with one another” [Colossians 3:12-13].
Let’s use one other element of our liturgy as another example, the what being the Lord’s Prayer. How we say it is by rote memorization together; other congregations might sing it. Why we say it together is twofold: (1) It’s a communal prayer, because it begins, “Our Father,” not “My Father,” so we are not just praying with one another but also all Christians everywhere. And (2) just as the text says when Jesus first taught it to the disciples—to teach us how to pray [Luke 11:1]. If you know you need to pray but you don’t know what to pray, the Lord has given you the words to pray—His own words. Likewise, you can use it as a guide to pray for specific needs, for example, praying for a job falls under the 4th petition of praying for your daily bread.
Now the best ritual of all in our liturgy, of course, is the Sacrament of the Altar. The what is the Lord’s Supper, the how is chanting or speaking the words of our Lord, and the why is as Jesus said on the night He instituted it: “for the remission of sins” [Matthew 26:28].
Furthermore, when our children or even other Christians who aren’t used to these rituals ask us why we do them, we can teach them: “We say the Lord’s Prayer together not because it’s something to do but so we pray with all Christians everywhere and learn how to pray, especially when our own words fail us. We receive the Lord’s Supper because He instituted it for the remission of our sins, and the pastor chants or speaks His words because it is the Word of Christ that makes it do what He promised to do, and chanting helps us to slow down and meditate on God’s Word.”
We all know children are an inquisitive bunch, and to our chagrin they all reach an age where they ask, “Why?” about everything. Why not immerse them, then, in the Divine Service where they can keep asking and learning why we do what we do so they can learn what God is delivering to them? As we heard in the epistle, Paul encourages us to teach and admonish one another “in psalms and hymns” [Colossians 3:16]. That is exactly what we’re doing in the liturgy. These rituals teach us the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and during the time of year where people think Christmas is about being a good person, these rituals remind us what Christmas is really about. Yes, we can still celebrate Christmas because there’s 12 days of Christmas; it’s not over yet.
We learn what Christmas is all about in Mary and Joseph’s own Christmas ritual, which we read in the Gospel today. On the eighth day of Christmas, they presented their firstborn to the Lord, just as their ancestors were told all those centuries ago after their exodus. The eighth day is hugely significant in Jewish tradition. The verse is skipped for some reason in the lectionary, but the 21st verse of Luke 2 tells us the eighth day was also the day of Jesus’ circumcision, just as all of Israel’s male children would be circumcised on the eighth day.
So, why did they circumcise and consecrate Jesus to the Lord? Well, because they were devout Jews obeying the Law. Still, why is this so important for us? Because Jesus came to fulfill the Law on our behalf. Why is that important? Because this day was the first time the Lamb of God bled for us to cover the doorposts of our hearts. Because by being consecrated to God on our behalf, He also consecrates us to the Father, meaning each of us have become God’s firstborn son. Now that might sound strange, and, well, you’d be right. The Gospel is strange; it is scandalous; it makes no sense. How are all of us here today, with all Christians everywhere, firstborn sons? I don’t stand here to explain to you how this is possible, because I can’t; I can only stand here to tell you what God has proclaimed and accomplished in Christ for you. And what He has done is made you His firstborn—or His heir—with Christ, as Paul says in Galatians 3[:23-29].
Why is that important? Because when a father writes his will, who receives the inheritance? The firstborn—and in most cultural traditions, such as Jesus’ Jewish heritage, the firstborn son, the heir. And the problem was, we were not God’s firstborn; we were rebellious children, like the prodigal son in the parable. We were enemies of God. So, by making us God’s firstborn sons and heirs through Christ, we receive what Christ has received in His own inheritance: resurrection from the dead and eternal life. And what better way is there to remember and teach this than in the rituals of our liturgy? Which teach us where He gives us this inheritance: in His body and blood, and in the womb of Baptism. Why do we do this? Not because we think God will accept us by doing them, but, as we heard in the epistle, “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” because of all He has done for us and continues to do [Colossians 3:16-17].
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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