“The Twelve Blessings of Christmas: Goodwill”
Luke 2:13-14

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Christmas Eve—December 24, 2014

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

For our Advent and Christmas sermons this year at Trinity we have been meditating on “The Twelve Blessings of Christmas.”  Tonight we consider the blessing of “goodwill,” as the angels sang to the shepherds on the first Christmas Eve, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

It is more than a little ironic that for Christmas this year some people will be getting one of recent best-selling books promoting what is call the “new atheism.”  The authors of these books consider all religion to be outdated superstition, incompatible with the 21st century.  Their objections to Christianity are mostly based on supposed errors and contradictions in the Bible.  Their list of alleged Biblical errors and contradictions is superficial, shallow, and often downright silly.  They show a complete lack of understanding for the historical, cultural, and linguistic setting of the Bible.

But, Christians must admit there IS one huge, glaring, seemingly irreconcilable contradiction, running throughout the Bible.  It is the all-important question of God’s attitude toward humanity.

On the one hand, the Bible sternly proclaims God’s wrath, and anger, and threats of punishment toward humankind.  As John the Baptist declares in the third chapter of Luke’s Gospel, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? . . .  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

But, on the other hand, just a few pages before, in the second chapter of same book, the angel announces to the shepherds: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. . .  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

So, which is it?  “The coming wrath” and being “thrown into the fire”?  Or, “good tidings of great joy . . .  and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”?  This seems to be an insoluble contradiction, on the topic of what the Bible is supposed to be all about: the all-important question of God’s attitude toward humanity, God’s attitude toward YOU.

The solution to this conundrum is found in Colossians: “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form . . .  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Once you were alienated from God, and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body, through death, to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

God, in his justice and holiness, could not simply write off the debt of our sins.  The due price and penalty had to be paid.  As Hebrews says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

But, Jesus declared about himself, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In the Babe of Bethlehem “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”  God became flesh, to live, and suffer, and die as a ransom for you, “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  As the book of Titus says, “He gave himself for us to redeem us.”  He gave himself for YOU, to redeem you, by the ransom of his life and death “to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

What is God’s attitude toward you?  The solution to this conundrum is found in the manger at Bethlehem:  “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.   For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. . .  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

Because of the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem, because your Savior, Christ the Lord, lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death to make up for your sins, because he rose triumphant from the dead, you are forgiven.  God’s attitude toward you is not wrath, or anger, or threats of punishment, but peace and goodwill.  Not just at Christmas, but throughout the year, throughout your life, and into eternal life.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

Amen.