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Advent Day 2, Christmas Paradox

This year I took our church through the 500th celebration of the Reformation.  The one who fought for Reform for the sake of the Gospel was Martin Luther.  Though Luther was a Pastor, a Professor, a Theologian, he embraced Christmas as a child.  Luther loved Christmas.  In Christmas, Luther saw the Paradox of Christmas.

In 1520, Luther wrote three treatises calling the German people to embrace the Reform of the church.  One of them was entitled "The Freedom of the Christian", which contains a beautiful phrase that describes our Freedom in Christ:
"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none,
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

It is a Paradox - two perfectly correct statements that seem to stand in contradiction to each other, yet both are true.  It is how Jesus described what it meant to follow him.  

Matthew 16:24-27
24  Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For Martin Luther, the greatest Paradox though was the first Christmas - Jesus, the Son of God comes to earth through the nine months of Mary's pregnancy and is born a little baby.  Everything about the birth of Jesus demonstrates that God himself would send his son in a manner that "Denied himself".  
Born to a poor Virgin girl
Born in anonymity
Born in a cattle stall - laid in a feeding trough
Born to be seen by shepherds, not Kings and Court

In his sermon on Christmas Day in 1530, he said, "Is it not strange that the birth of Christ occurs in cold winter, in a strange land, and in such a poor despicable manner?"  He adds, "How could God have shown his goodness in a more sublime manner than by humbling himself to partake of flesh and blood?

Paradox - God became human flesh.
The Paradox of Christmas is the Miracle of Christmas - first for Shepherds, then for all who come seeking Christ the Lord.

Luther said it best:  "How is it possible for mankind to hear a greater joy?"

Peace

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