Sermon - Christmas Day 2025 - John 1:1-18

Nativity, Sandro Botticelli, 1475

A New Birth

1. The birth of Jesus foreshadows our new birth through Holy Baptism

2. The birth of Jesus foreshadows our new birth in the day of resurrection

Merry Christmas! “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That Word which was in the beginning, who is God, through Whom all things have been made, through Whom is life and the light of men, that Word became flesh in the womb of blessed virgin Mary. He who created Adam and Eve and Mary, who created wombs for infants, He became man and entered into the flesh and the womb of the woman He had made. He who created women to nurture and feed with their own body, was born of Mary and fed from her. He who created light and air and food and water and creatures of every size and sort stepped into His created world. Though He is uncreated, in the incarnation the infinite has put on the finite to dwell with His creation in sublime humility.

To ponder the enormity of the enfleshment of Jesus is downright overwhelming. With the birth of Jesus the promise first declared by God in Genesis 3:15 is manifest: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The seed of Eve finally burst forth from the womb of Mary, and He who has come to crush Satan’s head and burst the bonds of Sin and redeem the captives from the pit of Hell was wrapped in rags and laid in a manger in Bethlehem. The contrast between the profound and the mundane is stupendous! But of course the profound would be mundane since the Lord is handling divine realities far above our minds’ powers He must deliver it to us in such a staggeringly simple way.

So the Word became flesh and dwells among us in a way that appears to be without glory, yet in a way which we can all comprehend. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” A baby is born. The birth of a child is both incredibly mundane and incredibly incredible. Babies are born all the time, women’s bodies are designed to do this thing, and everyone has been born. Birth is so simple and plain, boring in a way, because it’s happened to everyone. Moreover, the birthing process is kinda gross. It’s not like we hang up paintings of women giving birth in our dining rooms. We typically avoid talking about it too specifically because all of those details make us a bit uncomfortable.

But birth is also the most beautiful thing you can experience in its ability to bring you to tears and leave you with such joy that there are no words to describe this mystery. Here in your arms is a wet, warm, crying, squished-face eternal human being. God-willing, this child will grow and mature and become an adult, will love and be loved, will learn and fail and succeed and make mistakes, will get married and have his or her own kids and hold them the same way I am right now, and grow older and aged and forgetful and finally wear out and die and be buried by his or her own grandkids. This isn’t even to mention that this squirming little person wrapped in blankets will one day, God-willing, stand before the throne of God and dwell in His presence forever in God’s everlasting Kingdom. It’s all too much if you think about it!

So as Joseph and Mary held the newborn Christ, all squish-faced and kinda wet and squirming and letting out his little baby cries, they looked upon Him of whom the prophet declared: “the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. For as Simeon foretold: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”  So the Lord directs us to ponder birth on this most holy day in which we celebrate the incarnation of our Savior, Jesus the Christ. May we treasure up all of these mysterious things, pondering them in our own hearts, and so receive the birth of Christ as our own.

In the birth of Jesus we see our own new birth in the waters of Holy Baptism. “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” 

Jesus was not born merely for our entertainment or as an excuse to have a party, but He was born for us. Through the birth of Jesus He has opened and paved the way for us to become the children of God with Him. Conceived and born in perfect sinlessness, He was born in our stead so that we, who were conceived and born in sin, could have the same status as God’s children through Him. Of His blood and of His will He has given us the right to become God’s children. 

This new birth as God’s children is through the waters of Holy Baptism. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Through Baptism you have been born again as God’s own child. He has burst your bonds of sin apart and cast away their cords from you. You have been born anew! Just like an earthly father looks in awe upon his newborn baby and anticipates all of the life which is ahead of this child, so does your heavenly Father look upon you and see you as His own newborn with a full life ahead of you!

I know we often think of New Year’s Day as a chance to give everything a fresh start, but you have that already in your baptism! Christ’s birth gives you a new birth, a washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. You have been reborn of God and Jesus’ birth is your own new birth. Jesus was born and the Lord declared: “You are My Son.” Because you have been reborn through baptism, the Lord looks upon you as He does Jesus, and sees you as His own dear child. You are born again with Christ this Christmas because that is why He has come.

Because Christ has been born for you and made His birth your own new birth, not only is your life on earth new and fresh, but in His birth He foreshadows your birth from the grave. Remember, you are children of God, and therefore heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So you’re an heir of what? The resurrection! Paradise! A home with God in the flesh!

Jesus’ birth is your own birth, dear Christian, because just as He has risen so shall you arise. I know Christmas is not only filled with many fun memories, but it’s also bittersweet as we remember those who aren’t here this Christmas. So remember that Jesus’ birth is for all those who have died in the faith and are reborn of Holy Baptism. Jesus was born for them, and just as our heavenly Father has laid them down to rest in their graves, so shall our heavenly Father awaken them from their slumbers like newborn babes. In a way the whole earth and all of its tombs become more like one big womb, and all the earth is pregnant and groaning under its labor pains, and one day the Good Physician shall induce, and then with the cry of an archangel God’s children will be born again from death to life. Until then we wait eagerly for the redemption of our bodies, abounding in hope for what is coming, all while singing of our dear Savior’s birth. 

Merry Christmas!