Exchanging Jesus?

PASTOR BURCHAM'S SERMON

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Well, today is another one of those big days. I know you don't think so. You think yesterday was the big day or maybe Christmas Eve was the big day but, for retailers, today is one of those big days. In fact, actually maybe it's a big day for you because this is the day when you return all the things that didn't fit. This is the day when you exchange all that stuff that wasn't quite what you wanted to get. It's almost become a holiday tradition, the day after Christmas, the biggest return day of the entire year. I don't know what retailers call it. I know they call the Friday after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” because everybody comes there to buy all the gifts. I don't know what they call the day after Christmas. All I know is they're going to be ready for you. They're going to have extra tables set up and extra personnel there, because this is the time everybody is going to bring their toys and their jackets and all the other things in and return them and exchange them for something else.

That got me to thinking. If exchanging things is so much a part of Christmas, almost becomes part of the Christmas tradition we have, what else do we exchange after Christmas? What else do we want to sort of give back now that Christmas is gone? Are some of the things we adopted for the Christmas season, some of our attitudes, our dispositions, the way we acted towards other people, now that Christmas is over officially, would we like to exchange those back to the old way of doing things? Would we like to sort of return those?

What I mean is this: During the Christmas season, even with the hustle and bustle, didn't you usually have a smile on your face? You were smiling. You got in the mall, somebody elbowed you, that was okay, it was Christmas time. Things are busy. Somebody cut in front of you on 22 nd Avenue . That's okay. It's Christmas time. That's alright. You kept smiling throughout the whole thing. You had a great disposition. You were just a little bit more easy going towards that. Is it time to return that? Is it time now to get that stern look, the furrowed brow? You don't want anyone to think you're soft anymore? Time to go back to way the things are supposed to be.

How about the whole integrity and honesty thing? It seems around the Christmas season we want to be a little bit more honest, have a little bit more integrity about us. All of a sudden, the clerk charges you less than what you really should be paying and you point that out and say, “No, actually, it's supposed to be more than that.” Somebody at the Quik Trip gives you too much change back. “Oh, no, no, no.” You want to give that back to them. Now do you just consider yourself lucky? I mean, after all, Christmas is gone.

Or how about maybe even in some of your business dealings? Were you just a little bit more easy to get along with? Willing to give just a little bit more? Maybe disclose a little bit more about the deal the person is signing? But now all of a sudden you're noticing you're just not closing as many deals as you did before. It's time to return back and get back to the way things should be.

Respect that you showed to your family? Please and thank you and yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. Saying, “I'd like you to do this please,” not, “Go and do that.” Now is the time to just get back to the way it was? You know, you make an extra effort with relatives because you want to get along. You don't want to get into an argument. You even laughed at your cousin's jokes even though they're not funny. Now you can't wait to get to school to tell all your friends about the really stupid jokes your cousin told.

Are we going to let Christmas just go by the wayside? Are we going to wrap it up and pack it away with all the lights and with all the decorations? Will the impact of Christmas be so small and be so short that it only lasts about 48 hours? Christmas Eve to Christmas Day and then, after that, we're just going to pack it up and put it away with something else? Will our celebration mean that little to us? Will the birth of Jesus have so little of an impact that it only lasts for just a season and we won't pull it out again until next year? And how quickly will that fade, the so-called spirit of Christmas?

Well, hopefully, you're not like the couple that was in British Columbia last year. It faded pretty quickly for them. I'm not sure where they were going. All I know is that the woman ended up getting arrested. She got arrested because she beat the man up with the Christmas tree. No lie, a Christmas tree. She was carrying a Christmas tree. He was carrying some boxes. He had the unfortunate mistake of mentioning to her that the boxes he was carrying were a lot heavier than the Christmas tree that she was carrying. So she whacked him up side of the head with the Christmas tree. Think about that for a moment. That was probably the same Christmas tree that they sat under and exchanged gifts under, the same Christmas tree that they probably exchanged warm smiles and glances to one another. But within a couple of days, she's beating him up with it.

Is that all Christmas is? Is that all it means to us? Just a holiday we celebrate? It's an attitude we put on for a few weeks out of the year, but now it's time to get back to life as normal so we're going to pack it away? Christmas isn't meant for just a season or just a day or a couple of days. Christmas is meant for an eternity, and Christmas itself has changed eternity. In fact, it's changed eternity not only for you, but it changed eternity for God. Now maybe you hadn't thought about that before. Eternity was changed for God. Once He was born of Mary, He was never to go back. Once the Son left the right hand of the Father and He was born and took on flesh and blood, He forevermore would be the God-man, Jesus. He would forevermore take on flesh and blood. He would forevermore be part of His creation. Eternity was changed for God when He was born and laid in that manger. And eternity was changed for us. In fact, the whole point of Christmas, the whole gift of Christmas, this Christmas spirit we talk about is because eternity has been changed. The gift of Christmas is eternity. St. Paul put it this way, “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.” Why? So that we might have full rights as sons. That God would send His Son to be born of a woman, to be born under this law so He could redeem us from this, so He could save us. Jesus came into this world with only one purpose: He came to earth so you and I could go to heaven. He came to this world to lay down His life for us. He came into this world so we could spend an eternity with Him. That doesn't last just a moment. That lasts for all time. If you will, this is the greatest exchange that has ever taken place. It is God doing the exchanging. God exchanged His Son in for you. God traded in Jesus so He could have you. Scripture puts it this way in 2 Corinthians, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so we could become the righteousness of God.” Jesus, who is innocent and pure, Jesus who had no sin, He's exchanged for us who are full of sin. So Jesus takes on our sin and we take on His righteousness. It's the greatest exchange that has ever taken place. All of a sudden, Jesus' life becomes our life. His perfection becomes our perfection. Our sin becomes His sin. His life, His birth becomes our birth. His death becomes our death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. It's the greatest exchange of all time. God exchanging His Son so He could have all of us. That's the gift of Christmas.

That's what God is doing for us. It all began in that manger. It all began with the birth of a son to Mary and Joseph. It all began with God becoming a human being. That's not something we want to exchange. That's not something we want to pack up and put away until next year. You can't fully comprehend the joy of Christmas and not be changed and it not have a deeper impact on you than a smile for a few weeks out of the year. It lasts longer than that, the joy and the peace we sing about. That's with us for all time. And if we comprehend the magnitude of God's love, we comprehend the sacrifice of the Father and of the Son that changes us. And it changes our whole attitude, our disposition, not for just a short time but for all time. Christmas, the event, we may celebrate once a year. But the impact of Christmas lasts all year long. It's not something we can put away. It means that our attitude, it means our integrity, our honesty, all the things we normally associate with what we do around Christmas, we do all the time.

Let's do this: Go ahead and make your exchanges either today or tomorrow. The lime green sweater you got, take it back, I don't blame you. The second waffle maker you got for Christmas, you don't need two of them. Take one of them back, it's okay. Stand in the long lines. In fact, look for the longest line if you will. Stand there patiently with a smile on your face. When somebody cuts in front of you, go ahead, let them. People will notice, I guarantee it. And when they notice, sooner or later, somebody's going to say something to you, probably dripping with sarcasm, they're going to say, “Well, I guess you still have the Christmas spirit.” And I want you to smile and look back at them and say, “Yeah, I do. I think I'll keep it all year.” Amen.

Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church