Christmas Is For Martyrs
St. Matthew 2:13-18
December 28, 2025 anno Domini
Sermon idea from William Gleason sermon found in Heath Curtis’ book Telling People What to Think.
Christmas is for martyrs. That’s why today the church is dressed in red. It’s not for Santa Claus – it is for blood, martyr’s blood. Christmas only works on martyrs – it only works if you die.
That is the sermon of the church calendar on these immediate days after our Lord’s birth.
Martyr has come to mean a person who dies for believing that Jesus is the Christ – the promised Savior of the world, but the basic meaning of the word is simply “witness” – someone who confesses, who testifies with his words and deeds that Jesus is the Christ.
On December 26 the church remembers St. Stephen, the first martyr after Christ rose from the dead. He preached the death and resurrection of Jesus and concluded his sermon by calling his congregation of Jews a “stiff-necked people,” uncircumcised in heart and ears, who betrayed and murdered the Righteous One whom God had sent.” His sermon was meant to put his hearers to death for their sins and raise them to life in Christ, but such words were too hurtful to them – so they stoned Stephen to death and lost out on Christmas.
On December 27th the church remembers St. John, the Evangelist and Apostle. John’s witness is abundant – his writings make up about 1/3 of the New Testament. According to tradition he was the only Apostle of Jesus not put to death for his faith. Instead, he was exiled to the island of Patmos where he died in old age.
Today the Church remembers the little boys of Bethlehem, innocent of their deaths because they made no vocal confession of Christ. They did not preach to stiff-necked people like Stephen, or record the offensive words of Jesus like St. John, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” No, these children were not martyrs by word or deed, but martyrs by birth – they were born in Bethlehem around the same time as Jesus, and when the Wise Men revealed to King Herod that they were seeking the King of the Jews, paranoid Herod could not handle it. He murdered all the two year old toddlers of Bethlehem.
Christmas is for martyrs. If Christmas is going to do anything for you, other than provide an opportunity to feast with your family and show your love through the sharing of gifts, if Christ is going to do anything for you – you must be a martyr, by dying to yourself and giving witness to Him.
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9, ESV)
Whatever is in your heart comes out of your mouth. Whatever you’ve set your heart and mind on affects your speech. When you are brought to faith in Christ the subject and center of your conversation changes. It changes from you to Him. It is no longer about what you deserve or what you want or how you are deprived, it is about Him.
Listen to St. Paul’s witness in the New Testament. He writes to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Or this witness to the Philippians, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Such a witness, a martyrdom is not easy, because you know your favorite false god – it is you. That is what sin has done to you – you love you, you worship you, life revolves around you. But when Christ calls us, what does He call us to do? “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, ESV).
For Christmas to be yours a great change must be worked in your heart – perhaps change isn’t the right word – a death and resurrection need to happen – the death of your old sinful self and the resurrection of a martyr / a witness– with a heart that beats with the living blood of Christ and a mouth that confesses not me, but Him. Thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit is just the person of the Trinity to work such a miracle in the waters of baptism – for there you are buried with Christ by being baptized into His death and you are raised to live in Christ as God’s own child.
Whenever the martyrs’ days come up you have to ask the question – would I be as bold as Stephen? Or John the Apostle? Or the early Christians martyrs? One of the common tests the earliest Christians faced was a test of faith. It was a simple test – all you had to do to pass the test was throw a pinch of incense on a fire and declare, “Caesar is Lord.” If you failed the test – if you refused because you believed “Jesus is Lord,” well, then, all manner of horrors faced you – wild animals, burning, crucifixion, your family being tortured and killed before your eyes. How easy and how tempting to just toss the incense and say “Caesar is Lord.” The Devil would certainly convince you that God knows you don’t mean it. He would understand. You’re defending your family, you’re saving your life – surely those are good and godly things.
None of us has faced death for the Christian faith, or really any deprivation. You are not enduring what our brothers and sisters in Nigeria are enduring at the hands of Islamic terrorists. But every day you face tests, and they may seem as small as a pinch of incense, but they are God’s call to you – will you confess Christ or will you put Him to death by your denial? When you have company over a weekend will you go to church or not? Will you pray at the dinner table? Even when you’re eating out? Will you choose sports or the Lord’s house on Sunday morning? Do you give to the Lord what is easy and convenient or the first fruits of your labors and a generous portion? Is the diet of your eyes and ears wholesome nutrition for your soul, or are you feasting on junk?
I shouldn’t be surprised when someone asks me, “Pastor is it a sin if …” I ask the same question myself and it’s a really bad question – because if you’re asking the question you’re already on the fence. You want permission to do something you know is wrong.
Listen to these words from Saint Peter, as he encourages you to give a good witness, to be a martyr.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:9–12, ESV)
Then a few verses later he writes, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. …. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:20–24a, ESV)
God gave His Son into the world that you might have life. That life is for martyrs. So let us pray that we die to ourselves, and to our sin, and live to Christ. That all we do gives witness to His Name. Amen.