Luke 3:1-6 - Nothing Can Stop Christmas - December 5, 2021

Have you ever noticed that pretty much every Christmas movie ever made has the exact same storyline? Whether it’s Scrooge or the Grinch or some silly contrived crisis in a Hallmark movie – it always seems like Christmas is in danger of not happening. Of course, in the end, Christmas always comes – because who would ever write or watch a movie where Christmas doesn’t come? In entertainment, nothing can stop Christmas. Here’s the good news: what’s true of the artificial, worldly, Hollywood version of Christmas is true of the real Christmas, too! The real Christmas is about the Son of God being born to be our Prophet, Priest and King. And nothing can stop him!

Not that people didn’t try to stop him. In the first two verses of our text Luke lists seven men who were in power when Jesus began his mission of becoming our Prophet, Priest and King. He does this for two reasons. First, to anchor these events in history. This was not some “once upon a time” fairy tale. Secondly, to reveal the evil that Jesus was up against. These were reprehensible men. Some of what they did I can’t even describe for you from this pulpit – it would get us censored on YouTube. Tiberius was an evil, vindictive, antisemitic, murderous pervert. Herod had John the Baptist beheaded because of a foolish oath (Mark 6:14-29). The high priests, the supposed spiritual leaders of Israel, Annas and Caiaphas, arranged for perjury against Jesus (Mark 14:55-59), beat him, ridiculed him, and demanded that he be put to death for being what he came to be: the Son of God and our Savior (Mark 14:62). Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent of any sin – he admitted as much publicly (Luke 23:4) – and yet he not only had Jesus illegally whipped, beaten, and ridiculed, he condemned him to be nailed hand and foot to a cross. But even with their positions and power, they couldn’t stop Christmas.

What sort of evil stands between you and Christmas this year? Does the evil of yet another variant or some other medical issue threaten your health and happiness? Does physical or emotional distance keep you from happily gathering with your loved ones? Does the evil of inflation threaten your ability to place a pile of gifts under your tree? Do you see the very real spiritual threats that materialism and false belief in a fat man in a red suit pose to faith in the one, true God and the one, true Savior?

Well, don’t worry about those evils. They can’t stop Christmas because Christmas is proof that God uses even evil for his good purposes – just as he promises (Romans 8:28). Consider the evil that stood against Jesus the first time around. Herod the Great tried to kill him while he was still a baby (Matthew 2:16-18). Annas and Caiaphas formed a lynch mob to force Pilate to execute Jesus (Matthew 27:15-26). And how did God use the evil hearts and actions of these evil men? You know. The pain that Annas and Caiaphas caused Jesus paid for your sins. The innocent blood that Pilate shed covered your sins. Even though these evil men did everything they could to prevent Jesus from serving as your Savior, they couldn’t stop him from preaching God’s grace, offering himself as the atoning sacrifice for your sins and reigning forever over all things (Matthew 28:18).

In light of what God worked through the evil surrounding Jesus’ first Coming – do you really think that he will allow the evil around you today to stop Christmas from coming to you? There’s no denying that evil may put a damper on your Christmas – but the evil you see in politics, in your personal finances, or in the spiritual evil prowling around you can’t really stop Christmas. No matter what happens, it will be a fact that Jesus was born to teach you what you need to know for eternal life, to offer himself as the sacrifice for your sins and to reign over this world – even over the evil. Nothing – not even the evil we see around us – can stop Christmas.

But what about when God seems far away; totally unconcerned with what’s going on around us. Faithful believers who lived during the days of John the Baptist must have felt that way; that God was distant and disinterested. Again, Luke lists seven powerful rulers. Everyone knew who they were. Everyone felt their authority and power in the laws they wrote and enforced and the policies they enacted. There was no question who was in control – it was printed on their money (Mark 12:16-17) and right in their face. But where was God in all of this? I think we sometimes imagine that God was constantly speaking to his OT people. The truth is that God only rarely spoke to his OT people – and for the previous 400 years he hadn’t spoken to them at all. All they had was the Old Testament Scriptures to hold onto. And then, out of the blue, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

We know what that feels like, don’t we? Doesn’t it feel like God is far away this Christmas season? We drive through our neighborhoods and see far more snowmen and reindeer than nativity scenes. Where is God when whether or not a woman has the right to kill her own unborn baby is even up for debate? Where is God when a convicted felon is set free to mow down people at a parade? Where is God in a nation that is so deeply divided politically, morally and ethically? There doesn’t seem to be much peace or good will here on earth. Where is God in this mess?

But even God’s apparent distance and disinterest cannot stop Christmas. Hebrews tells us: in the past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). God has always chosen to bridge the gap between heaven and earth by means of his Word. Even in the Garden of Eden God communicated to mankind with his Word (Genesis 1-2). And then, on Christmas, an incredible thing happened: the Word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14). You understand why that’s so incredible, don’t you? No one, not even John the Baptist, could bridge the gap between God and sinners – our sins have separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). We can call out to God, but we can’t make God speak to us. But when God decides to speak, nothing in heaven, on earth or even in hell can stop him. And Christmas, real Christmas – not the artificial lights and gifts and cheer – is God speaking his final Word to mankind through his one and only Son. And when God speaks, things happen.

And – unlike many of the things that we are told to believe today – the evidence of this truth is overwhelming. God spoke and the world came into existence (Genesis 1). God spoke and the world was destroyed in a flood (Genesis 7-8). God spoke and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down (Joshua 6). God spoke to a virgin’s womb and she conceived the Word of God (Luke 1:26-38). God spoke and you became his child in the waters of Baptism (Galatians 4:4-7). God speaks through his called servants and your sins are sent away forever (John 20:23). God speaks and his body and blood are united with regular bread and wine – and, as a result, you have everything that Mary had – your Savior, physically present with you and for you. And if that’s not a real Christmas gift, then what is? Yes, God may appear to be distant and disinterested out there, but in here, he’s as close as his Word, water, bread and wine.

Nothing can stop Christmas – not the evil around us, not God’s apparent distance from us, and, not even our own failed preparations. If I were to ask you, “Are you ready for Christmas?” what would you say? I’m guessing that 100% of us would say, “No, I’m not ready.” Why would you say that? Because you’re not thinking about the real Christmas – you’re thinking about the gift-giving, food-eating, family-gathering imitation of Christmas. You can be ready for that Christmas – you just need more time. But here’s the thing: you can never prepare yourself for the Real Christmas.

Consider what Isaiah said would be necessary for the first Christmas: prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways made smooth. Even with all of our technologically advanced construction techniques, we can’t fill every valley or lower every mountain – just think of how impossible this had to have sounded to John’s first listeners. The only conclusion you can come to is that if we have to fill in valleys and lower mountains in order for Jesus to come, then he’s never coming.

Here’s the reality: you can never be fully prepared to receive Jesus on Christmas. By nature your ears are deaf to the good news that Jesus came as a Prophet to proclaim, the valleys of doubt and unbelief in your heart are too deep. You can never be ready to receive a Priest who will serve as both your sacrifice and your mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), the mountain of pride in you is too high for that. You will never be ready to kneel before Jesus as King – not as long as you continue to imagine that you’re the king of your life. That’s just a taste of the Law that John came to the region around the Jordan preaching. It wasn’t a “try harder, be better”; it was a “you’re a damned sinner beyond all hope.” He didn’t come to tell people how to get themselves ready to receive Jesus; he told them to repent. And that’s exactly what I’m here to tell you today. You cannot and will never be ready to receive Jesus on your own – the valleys and mountains in your heart are too deep and too high. That’s God’s Word.

Prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight are imperatives, they are commands. Whenever God commands you to do something – that’s the Law. The primary purpose of the Law is not to show you how you can satisfy God’s demands but to show you that you can’t, to convict you of your sins and to show you that you can never save yourself (Romans 3:20). But did you notice that the rest of Isaiah’s prophecy doesn’t consist of commands but indicatives? It doesn’t tell us what we must do but what God WILL do for us! Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. And everyone will see the salvation of God. Do you know what this means? It means that God is promising to do for us what he demands from us. It means that not even our own sinfully corrupted hearts can prevent Jesus from coming to us to save us. Again, that’s not my opinion, that’s God’s promise; he says that just as the rain and snow come down and water the earth, so in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Catch this Christmas Spirit, the real Spirit of real Christmas. Rather than trying to gin up artificial joy this year, let the Holy Spirit create true joy in your heart through meditation on God’s Word and prayer. Rather than trying to find a way to God, remember that God chose, called and justified you in your Baptism. Rather than trying to do a little more good this month to make up for all the bad you’ve done, confess your sins and cherish your absolution (John 20:22-23). Rather than stress out over how much food you need to prepare and how many gifts you have to buy, savor the free gift of the body and blood of Jesus you will receive in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of your sins. That’s how God prepares you, raising your valleys of depression and doubt and cutting down your mountains of pride and self-righteousness, to receive his Son.

In the movies, it’s the artificial Christmas that nothing can stop. But what if it was stopped? What if Scrooge never got the Christmas spirit; the Grinch never gave Christmas back; the Hallmark movie didn’t end with everyone laughing and hugging around a crackling fire? What if this year your tree caught fire and your house and all the presents in it burned down and your family was left homeless on December 25? That would be tragic, but even that wouldn’t stop Christmas – because that’s not really Christmas. Christmas is about God coming to us in Jesus to save us from our sins – and nothing in heaven or on earth can stop the real Christmas. Amen.