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Christmas Day
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD
Rev. Matthew Wurm
December 25th, 2016
Sermon Text: Isaiah 52:10
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon text for this
morning is Isaiah 52:10, “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
Today, we wait for word of some important event by staying close to the television, the radio,
the Internet, or to our cell phones. We sit in the waiting room of a surgical unit at the hospital, hoping
expectantly for the sound of the doctor’s footsteps coming out of surgery to tell us that “all went well”
and that our loved one will be just fine. Parents listen late at night for the sound of footsteps in the
house telling them that their teenager has arrived home safely after a night with friends. Relatives wait
close to a birthing room, listening for the news of newborn and healthy child. Grandparents wait for the
call or even the photos or video clips of the new grandchild. Tweets, texts, phone calls, news reports,
and even the sound of the doctor’s feet or the first cries of a newborn can bring some very good news.
We pray for that kind of news, and we are delighted when it comes.
There was no Skype at the time of Isaiah, but there was a message system—the messenger who
could be seen on the hillsides at some distance running to deliver the message. But Isaiah’s reference to
the “beauty” of the feet of the runner have little to do with the messenger and have a whole lot to do
with the beauty of the message.
In Isaiah’s time, the message was about the restoration of Israel, the end of their captivity in
Babylon. Though doubts no doubt persisted in captivity about the power of the God of Israel, the souluplifting message of the messenger to God’s people and the central message of Isaiah in this text was
“Your God (indeed) reigns.” What Isaiah was foreshadowing for us was the ultimate message of
salvation and the eternal reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who brought an end to the
captivity of sin. He is the one who brought to an end the bondage experienced by those with no hope
because of their alienation from God. He brought freedom—freedom from the eternal consequences of
sin and freedom to experience life here to the fullest and life forever with him in heaven. The Lord Jesus
reigns, and through faith in him, we share in his kingdom!
Those who bring this message of salvation by grace through faith for the sake of the reigning
Jesus Christ can be welcomed with great joy. But it is, of course, their message that brings the greatest
joy. Isaiah 52:7 is a familiar passage: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings
good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who
says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The verses following verse 7 simply underscore the joy associated with
the fact that the God of Israel reigns. Paul in Romans 10:15 quotes Isaiah in talking about the
importance of those who proclaim the “good news.” (“And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”)
A temptation may be to glamorize the messenger. We may look at this new, handsome young
pastor we have and thank God saying, “Now we have a new, younger pastor with a younger family to
save our congregation and really make it grow.” But that is not at all the case, nor the right reason to
thank God. We thank God for sins forgiven! We might look at that new-fangled chasuble he’s wearing
and think to ourselves, “my how glamorous!”, but that’s not right either. The beauty is not in
messenger, his age, his prowess, nor his looks. The beauty is in the message he delivers. The beauty is
in Jesus, the one who comes to us in the flesh.
For Isaiah and Israel, the captivity experienced in Babylon was real. It hurt. It was destructive. It
all but wiped out their peace, happiness, and hope for the future. But the return to Zion was glorious!
The message of God reigning was greeted with great joy, and, as Isaiah makes clear in verse 10 of the
text, God’s reign and salvation are for all nations.
We can identify with the Babylonian captives. Sin (captivity) is still real in our lives. It is
destructive. It can bring so much hurt and obliterate true happiness. It wipes out any hope we may have
for forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption. We may be sorry for what we have done, but we can’t
fix the problem. We’re captive. And then along comes a messenger with the beautiful message of God’s
gift of a Savior, Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection bring to us forgiveness, peace, happiness,
freedom, and hope through faith. We can know for sure that the Lord Jesus reigns. And that message is,
indeed, beautiful!
Today, you may have checked the weather report before heading out to church. You did so just
to hear the latest weather news. Tonight, you might sit by the phone, waiting, hoping, praying that you
will get a call on Christmas from your son, your daughter, your relative, your friend and hear the news
that everything is alright. News—its something we wait for in anticipation.
Here is the news this morning: Today, to you, a child is born and he is Christ the Lord. He was in
the beginning and all things were made through Him. He is God in the flesh for you. All the earth now
worships Him for he has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and to all the ends of the
earth news spreads this day – the salvation of our God has come. In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And now may the peace of God which surpasses all human
understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.