The Gift and the Law
John 1:1-18
Christmas is the time of the year when we set aside the Law. Isn’t that what we do when we give gifts? When your children were younger you threatened them with the Law, “If you don’t behave, Santa won’t come.” You never followed through. Even if that child lit a bulletin on fire during the candlelight service or snooped in your closet to see his presents before they were wrapped, Santa came. Santa was always coming. Santa even made more gifts than usual.
Santa himself doesn’t keep his own Law. He doesn’t have a list of who is naughty. When’s the last time you ever heard of someone not getting a gift because they were naughty. Either Santa isn’t watching you or he couldn’t care less what you do. You’re getting presents. For us that is what a gift is – it is setting aside the Law. You’re naughty. You’re nice. It doesn’t matter – you’re getting gifts.
Sometimes we apply this “Santa theology” to the greatest gift of Christmas –the gift of Jesus, the gift of forgiveness for your sins. Do you think that forgiveness is a setting aside of the Law?
When we confess that we are sinners we are confessing we wished God dead. We’re like the prodigal son in the parable – “God, I want what I want and I want it now, even if you haven’t given it to me. Get out of the way God, drop dead Dad, so I can get what I want.” Then we imagine that forgiveness is God saying, “That’s OK. Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind.”
Jesus did not set aside the Law. He kept it. When God spoke His final Word into the world, His Word made flesh He says, “In Jesus I am taking care of the Law so I can give you the gift of forgiveness. Unlike Santa, God does not bend the rules. He is holy and righteous, perfect and just. There’s no taking back the commandments. Being the God of His Word He does not say, “Oh, I didn’t mean those 10 commands – never mind.” In order for you to receive forgiveness from God the Law must be met, sin must be paid for, death must get its due. Forgiveness can only be given if the debt of sin is paid.
That is why God sent His Son into the world. There are two verses in today’s Gospel reading which make this clear.
The first is verse 12. “But to all who did receive him (Jesus – the Word made flesh), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12, ESV) To all who believe in Jesus’ name, He gives the right to be become children of God. Right is a legal word. It’s a word of the Law. We know that branches of our government are supposed to protect and defend the rights of “we the people.” In God’s Kingdom the only authority is God Himself and this right to become children can only be granted by God if God’s Law for His Kingdom is kept.
We confessed this morning that on our own we have no rights before God. We even used legal language, “I justly deserve temporal and eternal punishment?” You deserve to be cast off for your sin, cut out of God’s will. That would be justice. There should be no gift for you under the Tree of Life. That would be right. That would be legal. Your name is not on the list of those deserve life – that is what you confess.
Yet in Christ Jesus, you are given that right. Jesus never broke the Law. He was never naughty. He never lit the bulletin on fire in the candlelight service and never used his little sister’s doll to test his new saw that Joseph gave Him. He never said “yes” to the Devil’s temptation. He was a true man who never lusted and always honored women – by encouraging faithfulness within marriage and chastity outside of marriage. He was a true man whose manliness wasn’t measured by His toys and hobbies, but by His sacrifice of love and life for His bride. If you want to be real man – and we need real men today more than ever – use Jesus – the true man as your example. This is why the Word became flesh – Jesus kept the Law for you and then took the judgment of the Law against you upon Himself. The wages of sin is death and Christ received your paycheck on Good Friday.
The second verse to teach that God’s gift is not a setting aside of the Law is verse 17. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” At first glance this sounds like that false distinction – the Old Testament is Law and the New Testament is Gospel. In the Old Testament God is a mean, rule-setting judge, and in the New Testament He’s gone soft on the law like your Santa Claus – giving out the gifts no matter what you’ve done. That false understanding can only happen with those who don’t actually read God’s Word. For just a few verses later in Saint John’s Gospel, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (29) This is grace – God forgives you. This is the truth – that forgiveness comes at the cost of His own flesh and blood. The Law came through Moses, and those commandments expose our sin and rebellion. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ whose flesh and blood sacrificed and spilled on the cross was the payment for your sin and the purchase of your forgiveness.
The greatest gift of Christmas is this – “your sins are forgiven.” That gift of forgiveness never comes by itself – it always comes in a huge gift basket. Alongside forgiveness there is a large helping of life – eternal life. Packed in with forgiveness is the sword of salvation. With it you have a certain defense against every enemy – sin, Satan, death. They fear, tremble and run when you hold this weapon by faith. Finally, underneath all these gifts is a medicine which will heal every affliction and infirmity of body and soul you suffer. It promises pure joy and perfect health – it is called the resurrection of the body. God the Father gives these gifts to you, not by setting aside the Law, but by sending Jesus to keep the Law by satisfying its demands for obedience and death. This is your gift – the right to be a child of God – forgiven, alive, saved, and finally resurrected – in the name of Jesus. Amen.