First Sunday of Christmas: Clothed in Christ

First Sunday of Christmas: Clothed in Christ

 

         Isaiah 61.10-62.3

         Psalm 148

         Galatians 4.4-7

         Luke 2.15-21

 

Prayer of Invocation

 

Father, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

Prayer of Illumination

 

Spirit, teach us to keep in step with you as you lead us to bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Bless our meditation on these words you have given us for life. 

 

PROCLAMATION

Judging from Facebook posts, we are not the only family that brings in the Christmas season with new PJs! It is fun to see the pictures with the family together, all sporting their new, matching, comfy pajamas, sometimes with names engraved on the front. This year might be the best PJs I’ve ever gotten! There is nothing like going to bed on Christmas Eve with soft, warm, comfy PJs. The world just feels right!

There are lots of ways that we can explain what Christmas means, what it is all about, what it accomplishes for us. Our Scripture readings for this morning encourage us to think of Christmas as a clothing ceremony, as a time in which we dawn our new garments which represent a new status and a new reality for us.

 

In the ancient world, and even for much of the modern world (until the advent of sweatpants and sports leisure wear), your clothes told the world who you were, to whom you belonged. And in many ways, you can trace the story of the Bible through the theme of clothing, or in some cases lack thereof. Nakedness and shame; leaves intended to cover shame; animal skin; sackcloth and ashes; white robes of vindication and belonging. 

 

Our text from Isa 61-62, harkens us back to the garden and the precarious condition of all of humanity: Adam and Eve rebelled against God, sought to live independent of God, and it resulted in them being naked and ashamed. Alienated from God, orphaned because they sought to make a life on their own apart from God’s goodness and provision, Adam and Eve are compelled to try and cloth themselves, to cover their shame and their rebellion. And this is the condition we inherit at birth; we are all trying on our own to cover our shame, to make up for our alienation from God, to provide for ourselves what we need in order to make it in this world of chaos and disorder and hurt that was ushered in by the original rebellion from God’s rule and care. The message of Christmas, you see, stretches back that far! It takes us to our original parents and the world they left for us--a world that seeks in all kinds of ways to live apart from God’s wisdom, care, and provision. 

Genesis 3.21 foreshadows what God would do for all of humanity as they deal with the effects of rebellion when we read: “And the LORD God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” We catch a glimpse of the Good News of Christmas here in Genesis 3. God moves towards us in our rebellion. God does not let our “No”, our quest for independence be the last world; He does not let it be our death sentence. Instead, He gives us a foretaste of what we would need to deal with the wrongs we committed in rebellion against God. Our rebellion requires clothing, a covering for our shame. And that covering, that clothing, would involve sacrifice, blood--garments of skin. 

Our reading in Isaiah 61.10-62.3 takes us further along in this imagery we first see in Genesis 3. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 was sent to provide cover for straying sheep. He did so by being despised and rejected (Isa 53.3), taking upon our shame and our rebellion (Isa 53.3-4). He did so by being pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isa 53.5). His wound would heal all the wounds that we acquired as we would become both victims and victimizers of sin. How? The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53.6). It was the Lord’s will, Isaiah tells us, “to crush him, to make him an offering for our guilt...to make many accounted as righteous” (Isa 53.10-11). His sorrow, pain, and shame are our path to salvation. And that salvation, in Isa 61-62, is described as a clothing, a robing, and a crowning for us!

 

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD...for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” (Isa 61.10)

 

“You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” (Isa 62.3)

 

Christmas is the announcement that God has given us our permanent clothing! He has covered our shame caused by our rebellion through the offering of His Son, Jesus. We are clothed, robed in His righteousness. We have favor, closeness, security, and fellowship with God once again! We have a new status, a new reality because of the faithfulness of Jesus.  “The Lord God has caused righteousness and praise! (Isa 61.11). 

And these new garments, this new clothing that has dawned in the coming of Jesus Christ, is for all peoples--all of humanity, all those who are in Adam, all who have been orphaned because of our inherited lifestyle of sin and rebellion! This is what the shepherds announced at Jesus’ birth! This is what the angel told the shepherds: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people! (For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord “ (Luke 2.11-12). Jesus, Luke tells us (2.21), is the name that announces that our nakedness and shame have been covered by God. We no longer need to take and keep, fight for survival, provide four ourselves--for God has dealt with our sin, and healed us. 

Our text in Galatians (4.4-7) recounts the stories we find in the early parts of Matthew and Luke: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal 4.4-5).”  But when Paul says this in Galatians, he is also alluding to the Roman tradition known as the toga virilis, this ceremony in which a former slave, or a minor in the household becomes an official adult, an  heir of the household. And this change of status is symbolized with new clothing, a new gown, the toga virilis (Gal 4.2). Earlier in Galatians 3, Paul says “but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ... [you are] heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3.25-29). 

And how do we receive this new clothing? How do we become adopted sons and daughters, heirs of Christ? The short answer is the Spirit! 

 

“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts...we are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Gal 4.6-7)

Galatians has a complex back story. Paul, in this letter, is really mad, perplexed, and frustrated at the Galatians. When he left them, they understood that Christ was the provision for all their needs, that Christ made them full members of God’s expansive family. They received Christ and the Spirit, who was working mightily in their midst. But after Paul left, a group of missionaries came along telling them that the clothing of Christ was not sufficient, that if they wanted to be full members of God’s family and enjoy all of his benefits they had to be circumcised and follow the Law. 

For Paul, this is no minor issue. If they try to cover themselves through circumcision and the Law, they will be accursed, cut off from God. This, for Paul, would be the equivalent of them trying to cover their shame and rebellion with leaves. God, Paul argues,  has provided the only clothing they need--and it came through the blood, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

But the question remains. How is the clothing of Christ sufficient? And Paul’s answer is the Spirit!

 

“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (Gal 4.6).”

 

And this means that we are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters. 

For Paul, to be clothed in Christ is to be empowered by the Spirit. (It’s like the Incredibles and their super powers that come with their garments!) Being clothed in Christ means that the Spirit enables us to be all that we were made to be; it is God’s way of undoing the rebellion in the garden. For this reason, Paul says “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5.16). Because it is the Spirit (and not the Law or any other add-on to the work of Jesus) that produces the fruit of life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5.22). “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5.25).

So when we, at Christmastide, look at our new clothing, when we remember that we are clothed in Christ, it is a time to remember that we are sons and daughters--no longer orphans. And we remember that it is the Spirit that provides for us what we need to be all that we were made to be. We remember our calling—to keep in step with the Spirit. 

And what is our fitting response to all of this? How do we celebrate this new clothing that we have! Like the shepherds in our Luke reading, we glorify and praise God for all we have heard and seen (Luke 2.20)! Psalm 148 becomes our song! Like the psalmist, our joy is not complete until everyone and everything praises God: angels, the heavens, mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, beasts and livestock, creeping things and flying birds, kings of the earth and all peoples! For everything that has been made has been healed by the wounds of Jesus! For the name of the Lord, Jesus, has been exalted in the manger, and on the cross, and at the right hand of the Father (Ps 148.13)! We want everyone to see our new clothing, and everyone to share in our joy!

Joy, as I said a few weeks ago, is the purest act of rebellion in this world of darkness. It is the ultimate way we declare the message of Christmas and resist the powers that seek to draw us into despair. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come”—and He has clothed our nakedness and dealt with our shame and alienation. And as we keep in step with the Spirit, we become what God has made us to be!

 

Eucharist

 

The Table reminds us of this. For we come to the Table saying “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress. Helpless look to Thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me savior or I die. Rock of ages, cleft for me; let me hide myself in Thee.” We come to the Table to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus; we come to the Table to be covered by His love. We come to be empowered by His Spirit. And these elements declare that we belong, that we are loved, that grace is available, that we are no longer orphans. It is by grace and grace alone; God’s provision, not ours. 

 

Benediction

 

He has clothed you with the garments of salvation; He has covered you with the robe of righteousness. Hallelujah!