His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Flesh

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day

December 25, 2024

John 1:1-14

 “His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Flesh”

On this Christmas morning, we rejoice in Jesus, God Incarnate, the Word-made-flesh. When you stop and think about it, that word “flesh” crops up in quite a few phrases in our English language. For example, we acknowledge members of our family, both immediate and extended, as our own “flesh and blood.” Here in the shadow of our nation’s capital, there are always politicians looking for opportunities to “press the flesh,” that is shaking hands and mingling with people. For someone who is painfully thin, we might say that they need to “put some flesh on those bones.” And what about the famous line from Shakespeare’s play, “The Merchant of Venice.” Here Portia says to Shylock: “The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh.’/ Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh…” (Act 4, Scene1).  Within Scripture itself, there are well-known references to flesh, including the words of Jesus to his disciples about waiting and watching with him in Gethsemane: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38). And Paul the apostle’s well-known words about the affliction in his life that he asked the Lord to remove; his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Christmas celebrates the incarnation of God in human flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This great mystery is about God becoming one of us, coming down to our level, to rescue and redeem us from sin and death. Because his Gospel is peace, in Jesus there is no fear of flesh. That becomes the theme for preaching this day. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Many years ago when I was a young boy, my parents, brother and I went to visit a great aunt who lived nearby. She had never married and lived alone on the family farm which her father, my great-grandfather, had homesteaded. She had recently fallen and broken her arm, and was recovering at home. While we were there, my mom “voluntold” me to help my great aunt change the bandage on her arm: “Oh, Jack can help you with that.” I shot my mother a dirty look because I didn’t want to help my great aunt. I didn’t want to help because I didn’t want to get too close to her flesh. She was an old lady and her skin was loose, wrinkled and creased. As a young person, this was just too much for me and I was looking for a way out. I think my great aunt sensed this, and said it was okay; she could do it herself. Of course, I now see this situation in a very different light. And guess whose skin is starting to get loose, wrinkled and creased? The Lord Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, has a way of helping us get over ourselves and learn from our fears and failures.

That holy Child of Bethlehem, the Word-made-flesh, would grow up and demonstrate no fear of flesh, not just with words but with actions. Think of all the times in his earthly life and ministry when Jesus broke the rules, violated the Law of Moses, by making contact with those who were considered unclean and untouchable? There were strict laws prohibiting God’s people from going anywhere near those afflicted with leprosy, but we are told this: “And behold, a leper came to [Jesus] and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 18:1-4). No fear of flesh here! We’re also told this: “And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed [Jesus]. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ And stopping, Jesus called them and said, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, let our eyes be opened.’ And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him” (Matthew 20:29-34). No fear of flesh here! And one more: “As [Jesus] drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother” (Luke 7:12-15). According to the Law of Moses, anyone who came into contact with a corpse was unclean, but that didn’t stop Jesus from doing what he did. No fear of flesh here! In each instance, Jesus touched people in need: the leper, the blind men, the dead man, and in so doing, he brought God’s gifts of healing and new life. Jesus is not afraid to touch what is sick and dead in our own lives today. Will we let him? Will we allow Jesus the Word-made-flesh to do this? Will we give him access to those areas of our lives that need his mercy and healing? This is the very thing Jesus came to do: to rescue and redeem us from sin and death.

Recently, a freezer quit working here at church. For several days, we walked around, sniffing and saying, “What is that smell?” We finally figured out where it was coming from, and then summoned up the courage to open up that freezer door. Lots of food gone bad and the smell was beyond horrible, as you can well imagine. That made me think: is that what we smell like to God because of our sin? Jesus came into our world unafraid to touch the ugly, awful, stinking effects of sin and death in our lives and in our world. At is something only God could do, but we are often afraid to do the same to others. Free-lance writer, Virginia Stem Owens, who served as a houseparent for mentally disabled boys, wrote about this: “It is we who have isolated ourselves from the Incarnation. Our fear of the flesh is so deep that we institutionalize death and decay wherever it breaks out. There would be little chance of Jesus meeting a leper on the road today. Any kind of freakishness, whether physical, mental, or emotional, must be put away from our midst… The offense of the Cross began with the offense of the Incarnation. The bloody public death was foreshadowed by a bloody stable birth” (“A Hand in the Wound,” by Virginia Stem Owens, as found in For All The Saints: A Prayerbook By and For the Church, Vol III. New Delhi, NY: American Publicity Bureau, 1991; pp. 981-982).

In Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, we need have no fear of flesh, whether our own or others. In his own flesh, Jesus came to fulfil what was written by the prophet Isaiah: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Those chubby little hands and feet of Baby Jesus will grow up into adult hands and feet that will be pierced by nails upon the cross. From Bethlehem’s manger to Golgotha’s hill, Jesus came in the flesh to redeem and restore us, and make us his own, now and forever. He comes to us now in his holy Supper. Under bread and wine, he gives us that very flesh to eat and blood to drink, and so be strengthened in our faith. That is the good news of Christmas, and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. Because his Gospel is peace, we need have no fear of flesh. Thanks be to God. Amen.