Fourth Sunday of Advent December 22, 2024
“The Beauty of Christmas” Luke 1:39-56
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Fifteen years ago Velma Reish, one of our home-bound members, surprised me. After our customary hello’s Velma said, “My, I’m a pretty woman”. “And I got my good looks from my mother.” Then Velma, 86 years young, showed me a picture of her sainted good-looking mother. Now, what am I supposed to say? I congratulated her on her good looks, applauded her new hairdo and fussed over her good-looking mother!! In this week before Christmas she had the beauty of Christmas.
Christmas starts with beautiful women. Velma Reish is one of them, but I also saw a host of beautiful young women at our preschool program on Thursday. Cute dresses, beautiful hair made the Christmas program even greater than it already was. We’ll see the same on Christmas Eve – that is one of the joys of our Children’s Christmas Program. Women, younger, older, even at 86, look amazingly beautiful at Christmas. Christmas starts with beautiful women!!
That is exactly what our text from Luke 1 tells us. Two beautiful women, Elizabeth and Mary, tell us about the beauty of Christmas. Now I don’t know the appearance of either of these women but I can tell there is a beauty to them. One was older (Elizabeth) and one was a mother by a miraculous manner (Mary) but both had a beauty about them. Both had a beauty of their soul, their heart, their faith.
Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, soon to be the mother of John the Baptist, was in the words of Zechariah, “Well advanced in years” (I guess you never call a woman OLD!). But when she got this news she responded in joy, “The Lord has done this for me. In these days He has shown His favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:25) Then six months after her pregnancy another women is made beautiful. Mary, virgin Mary, receives a visit from Gabriel, an angel from heaven, and is told the news that she would become the mother of God’s Son, Jesus. Mary, knows that she can’t be pregnant and questions Gabriel about this. “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And his response was, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35)
Her beauty came in her response. “ I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said!” (Luke 1:38) When Elizabeth was visited by Mary shortly after the visit from Gabriel she spoke about the beauty that she saw, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! And why am I so highly favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:42-45)Mary even acknowledges how beautiful she has become. In her song she says, “My soul glorifies my Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is His name.” (Luke 1:46-49) Christmas begins with beautiful women!! Elizabeth and Mary usher in the season. Their will and joy and amazement are their beauty.
I have used one prayer for all the weddings that I have performed over the last 30 years. Talk about being stuck in a rut!! The prayer for the bride says, “Bless this loving wife. Give her tenderness that would make her great, a deep sense of understanding and a great faith in you. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, that eternal youth that is found in holding fast the things that never age.” There is lasting beauty in the heart where Christ finds a permanent home.
The beauty of Christmas is found in the child. Is there anything greater than the joy of a child on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? It is excitement and pleasure and joy. Well, the beauty of Christmas is not just found in a child, but in Thee Child – Jesus. This a great time of the year! For an entire month, from Thanksgiving until Christmas one event seems to predominate our lives – Christmas!! Cards, gifts, shopping, parties, decorations, and probably a million other things, some that still need to get done, fill our lives. But for too many once the Day is over everything is over. But not so for the Christian, the one who knows that the beauty of Christmas knows that the lasting beauty is found in Thee Child – Jesus. Christmas joy continues even after the holidays are over. Every day of the year we are thrilled that God came to our side, that He has become part of our lives and that He is Immanuel – God with us – at all times.
John the Baptist recognized the beauty of Thee Child while he was in the belly on his mother Elizabeth and while Jesus was in the belly of His mother, Mary. Elizabeth said, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy!” (Luke 1:44) Even in the womb, even at life before life there was joy in what God would do through the coming of this child.The beauty of Christmas is the glorious exchange that we receive – the glorious work that the child, the son of Mary does for us. There is a grand reversal that Christ comes to bring for us. In Mary’s song she says this, “He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:51-53) The beauty of Christmas is that God wants to bring the gift of the Christ child to us. We want Him to do His work in us, whatever that work may be. If we are among the proud, the haughty, those who have no desire to have God in our life, then we welcome the Christ child to us to do His work of making our will and heart changed and different. He can turn everything right side up!!
A number of years ago at the children’s Christmas Eve practice I saw an interesting message on a sweater – Nice Until Proven Naughty. There have been a number of times that we have been proven guilty – naughty. I told you about the prayer that I pray at weddings. “The inner beauty of soul that never fades…” Well, at one wedding reception I attended ,things were not going as the bride expected and the bride became incensed – she blew up – and she made everyone quite uncomfortable. The prayer that we gave two hours prior for her inner beauty of soul faded too quickly.
The beauty of Christmas is the lasting beauty that He provides. Our beauty is found in His coming for us, His life lived for us, His love given for us, His promises offered to us. The message of the angels to shepherds and to us is still true, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, A Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) Unto us sinners, unto every one of us who has this fading beauty, to everyone that struggles with sin and temptation and discouragement, a Savior has been born. That is the beauty of Christmas!!
In Isaiah 53 the beauty of the Christ is mentioned, but in a whole different way. The prophet says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” (Verse 2b) Was he talking about His physical appearance or about His appearance when He went through His torture – I don’t know. But His beauty was deeper than skin or color or size. The beauty of Christmas is the birth of the Savior for us – His coming, His suffering, His death and His resurrection are His beauty because they make us beautiful in Him.
This week you are going to have many opportunities to share the beauty of Christmas with others. By your words and in your actions share the joy and the peace and faith and the hope that God has given to you in Jesus, the beauty of Christmas that never fades.
I think that you are just as pretty (or handsome) as Velma. She got those good looks from her mom. I know where your good looks, your great beauty comes from – your Savior who washed your heart, your Lord who guides your ways – your Jesus who was born for you. Have a beautiful Christmas!! Amen!!
(This message was originally preached on December 20, 2009, to the beloved saints at Ascension.)
