2023-1-4 Eleventh Day of Christmas

 2023-1-4 11th Day of Christmas Isaiah 64:1-12 Luke 2:40-52

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Perhaps you have joined with the myriad others who make use of the new calendar year to set goals for yourself.  Engaging in an annual review and setting goals for personal and professional development is always a good thing. Whatever goals you have set, regardless if they involve the words “yes” or “no,” I hope that you find support here at Emmaus.

But one goal for every Christian that is not up for annual review is the desire to be shaped and molded by God. As a people who are marked by the sign of the cross, we desire to grow into the faith in which we are baptized.  We desire to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord our God. 

I am always struck by the image of the Potter and the Clay in Isaiah 64. “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

I am not an artist of any kind. And, I am certainly not a potter.  But, I do like to watch the process from time to time.  The shaping and molding of the clay can be sudden and violent, and it can also be smooth and gentle. I have observed potters slam the clay down and punch it and squish it to get it loosened up.  Then, also I have seen the gentlest of motions and the most careful of touches as it is being put into its shape.   The gentlest and most beautiful of motions is when the clay is on the potter’s wheel. The moistened hand applies subtle pressure and the creation grows and bends within the potter’s hands.  

This is what God is doing to His people.  God is molding and shaping us through His Word.  Both His Law and His Gospel impact us. Sometimes that Law is sudden and violent. Thankfully, the Law can be impressed upon us in a gentle way. Holy Scripture record instances when God held up the theological mirror in a variety of ways to get people’s attention and to bring them to repentance. The violent and extreme would be when Israel is invaded as a punishment for the people’s idolatry.  Or, I think of when King David was held accountable by the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba, murder of her husband, and thinking that he is his own god accountable to no one.  All it took from Nathan was a story and the words, “You are the man.” 

When the realization sinks in that the people have sinned and there is the collective “What have we done?”, at the Father’s direction, the Holy Spirit leads them into repentance, so they may receive forgiveness from God.  Fresh from their absolution, they strive to do better. 

The impact of the Law is one kind of mark upon the clay.  The act of repenting is another kind of mark.  The grace of God’s forgiveness is a molding and bending, erasing and covering over the ugliness of sin.  And, then there is the freedom and growth in faith. That is another shaping of the clay.

Eleven days ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus, the Christ child. As we learn from Luke 2, Jesus is going through his own kind of formation and shaping. His formation does not require the theological mirror or repentance.  As Jesus explains to his Mother and Joseph, He is the Son of our heavenly Father. His humanity, his mind, is learning, growing, gathering wisdom and understanding.  Jesus is under the Law but needs no repentance.  For, he comes to fulfill the Law.  He is in Jerusalem and he is at the Temple because he is tending to His Father’s business.  

The reason Jesus and his family are in Jerusalem is to celebrate the Passover.  The Passover commemorates the single most important act of redemption that God did to Israel.  In the final plague that moved Pharaoh to release the Israelite slaves, the Lord killed the first born son of every Egyptian.  The Lord spared the eldest son of the Israelites because they obediently spread blood of the lamb upon the doorposts of their homes.  The Lord passed over Israel.  In mercy, they were spared death. The Egyptians suffered terribly. 

Jesus is God incarnate.  He comes down to us for our salvation.  He enters our humanity on His Father’s direction.  When Jesus is older, he will return again to Jerusalem.  In his obedience to the Father, he will be betrayed and killed upon the cross. Because he is under the Law, he will die our death.  But, because he is innocent of sin, his death will set us free.  

Jesus’ Incarnation and death on the cross is the second great act of redemption of His people.  His people are the world: Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female.  We receive the gift of the righteousness of Christ Jesus through faith.  And, we too enter into the process of being molded and shaped by God’s Word of Law and Gospel.  

Jesus comes down from heaven for us. He enters his passion and dies on the cross for us.  He is resurrected on the third day for us.  On account of His blood shed for us, God’s wrath passes over us.  In his mercy, we are spared.  

We too sin, fall short of the glory and expectations of God, we too are called into repentance.  The realization and confession of our sin shape and mold us.  Our repentance shapes us.  The announcement of God’s forgiveness, changes the shape and trajectory of our lives. We are molded by God’s grace. 

We confess with Isaiah, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.