Year B – Christmas Day – Our Brother Is Born – He Is God’s Son – Micah 5

Welcome to the preacher podcast. We are at the nativity of our Lord and celebrating Christmas day and giving some food for thought for preachers as they prepare for that day. Our series is our brother is born and today we are thinking about how our brother is the son of God himself. I'm John Mitchell from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. With me are pastors Eric Yankee and Scott Henrich and joining us for this episode, Pastor former professor Tom Cuck from Atonement in Milwaukee. So good to be with you all. Scott, could you remind preachers of the theme of the day and how it fits into our series in the foundation? The theme for the series is our brother is born, thinking about the excitement that comes to a human family whenever a baby is born, obviously even greater that our spiritual family on Christmas remembers the birth of our Savior. He's a gift not just to our earthly family but to the entire world. He makes us children of God ultimately. So for Christmas day we're focusing especially on he is God's son. So the idea I've thought of before and I'm sure others have too. We're Christmas Eve. You're often thinking about the address of the gift. This is a for you gift and then Christmas day the idea more is about the content of the gift. What is this? Who is this child in the manger? Can you be more of that period more into that mystery? Excellent. Yeah. We'll be thinking about Micah chapter 5 as our sermon text but Eric, can you remind preachers of the other readings of this festival? Certainly. So for our epistle lesson we have Paul's letter to the Galatians chapter 4 to pick up what Scott was saying. Yeah. Christmas day is the day after Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve we talk about the events themselves, the nativity and then Christmas day we get a chance to kind of bask in all of the wonderful blessings to examine the gifts that we have to talk about what they are and so we have Galatians, right? What does this mean that we get to be the sons of God that the son of God was born of a woman in our place? And then also you have for the gospel lesson John 1, of course the simple language belying a much deeper kind of understanding of everything that's happening, John talks about how the word is made flesh and then also giving us the right to be called sons. So we're definitely running with the family theme and talking about the lingering effects that all this has, working its way into Micah 5. All right. Well, let's go there now, Tom, can you give some highlights of Micah 5 or things that are especially pertinent for preachers on this Christmas day? Sure. And there is a lot in this text as there aren't many texts, but this one, there's a lot to chew on. And first of all, just the reality of the timing of Micah, Micah happens during the golden age of Israelite prophecy, so he's a contemporary, for example, of Isaiah and Amos and Hosea. And so there's a lot of prophesying being going on, Micah is kind of like the redneck prophet or the country prophet as opposed to Isaiah, who's the city prophet, if you will, Isaiah seems to be connected into the royalty. Micah seems to be more from the country and trying to bring a little bit different perspective. The immediate context of this is just before we get to our text, you've got a verse that talks about how Israel's ruler is being struck on the cheek with a ride. There's argument about how to translate that verse, but that seems to be a reasonable way to translate it. So it's talking about how Israel's going to be humbled, humiliated, et cetera. And then you get this adversity of Bav at the beginning of what is in the Hebrew chapter 5 verse 1, guys who are preaching on this, please note that the Hebrew verseification is different than the English verseification. What is English chapter 5 verse 2 is Hebrew 5 verse 1. So make sure you're aware of that as you start to do your exegesis. But it starts off with this vaudeversitive, but you, Bethlehem, and of all the places that you wouldn't think would get mentioned, Bethlehem would be right at the top of that list because what is Bethlehem's ear, small. And it's interesting when you look at how the chief priests, how the religious leaders talk about that in Matthew and they quote this in Matthew, they kind of soften it a little bit. Though you are by the no means the least, as if they don't want to admit that any part of Judaism is small, it's just kind of an interesting little note, but isn't that God's way? That God's way is to take small things and do huge things with them. Bethlehem was not a big place, even at the time of Jesus. It was probably not a very big place at all. And so, but who comes out of there, the one who will be ruler over the kingdom of Israel? One of my thoughts in regards to just approaching this whole text is that in this whole text we're going to have a whole idea of things are not always like they seem. Jesus is described as the Mosheil, the Israel, that he's the ruler in Israel so little about Jesus' life looked like that. And isn't it the case two with us Christians that so few times it looks like we're on top of things, so few times it looks like we Christians are winning. It looks like we're losing. So often we look like we're the humbled ones, like Jesus was also humble. And yet when you look in that manger, that Jesus who began there, who is he? He's still the one whose greatness reaches up to the ends of the earth, that that is the Almighty God who's laying there in that manger. And oh my wonder of wonders, he's also our brother, isn't that amazing? And so when you look at things are not always what they seem, yeah, there are plenty of times. I don't look all that impressive. There are plenty of times as a pastor, I'm a train wreck. And yet I serve the one who is my brother and he is the ruler who rules to the ends of the earth. And yes, he was doing that even when he was laying there in the manger. What amazing grace of God. I'll stop there. I'm sure there'll be other things that will come up as we go along in the in the text. Great, yeah, well, focusing on that first section of the text, Eric, and Scott, any thoughts to add? Sure. Yeah, the highlighting of Bethlehem, this is the only direct prophecy that Bethlehem would be the location of the Messiah's birth. So that is something to not skip over. Maybe we're so used to hearing these kids. The kids on Christmas Eve say, "But you, Bethlehem, Ephraeth, but this is God calling his shot 700 years beforehand that is a remarkable thing. This is the location." And then obviously you get it into the location itself as the unexpected reversal. But also this is the town of David. So God has done this before. He's doing this again. And then just a translation note at the beginning here. The English translation, the NFE says whose origins are from of old. So you're getting here, I think, what the other major preaching point is. The location of this and the unexpected nature of it, and then also the Christology here, the one who is born will have ancient origins. That is a plural word in Hebrew. So that this NFE translation is actually really, really good, I think. There is arguments about, well, it says something that comes from the person, what proceeds from him, but no, the context would lead us to think this is speaking about the person himself where he's coming from, and then why is this plural? It seems like if it's referring to one person, you can just use a plural word to do that. So origins works really well here to say, yes, this one being born will have these ancient origins. Like David, hundreds of years before Micah's prophecy, and all the way back to Abraham, but then also Tyna sent a John chapter one is very valid also. The one born in the manger is the ancient of days. Yeah, Tyna, I'm do that point. Yeah, and I'll take it just one step further, his origins are from of old, from days of eternity is what the text literally reads, "Olamdo doesn't have to mean eternity, it can. Sometimes this verse gets pointed to to prove the eternal origins of Jesus, and I think it's fair to use this text to show that there are other texts that could serve better than that, like before Abraham was born, I am, would be a good text or second Samuel when the prophecy is brought to David about how he'll have a king who will rule forever. But it can also mean unbounded time, and it can mean ancient times, and that would bring us to the thought that God has always had in his plans that he was going to send the Savior, and so to know that God planned this out, oh, so carefully, over the course of the years, is just awesome, and that the Christmas event happens at exactly the right time, in exactly the right place, in exactly the right way, and so the God who planned all of that out exactly is also planning for you. And again, that things aren't always like they seem so often my life feels so random. And yet God has a plan, and he knows exactly why he's allowing and causing the things that he's allowing and causing. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Beautiful truths. Eric, do you have anything to add on verse 1 or should we move forward or? We're on the street, so here, good. - There's kind of an interesting contrast. One would assume most of the kings aren't from Bethlehem, but rather Jerusalem. And so there's this kind of a throwback to, we're gonna get a shepherd king again. We're gonna get a king like the most famous one, you know, like the best king, you know. So we're not gonna keep going with the same kind of leadership direction, but rather God's gonna provide another one. And there's also this interesting contrast between, kind of like you were talking about Tom about between weakness and strength or between humility and majesty comes from Bethlehem, Ephrathus, and yet the later verses talk about the power and majesty of this ruler. And I think one commentary I came across, talked about the difference between Malak, you know, a king and Mosheil talking about ruling. So if you think just about how Israel was governed, it failed time and time again. It just wasn't the care that the people needed, but this new king would provide that care. - Great, Tom. - Yeah, those are great thoughts, Eric. And verses two and three in the Hebrew again, I'm referencing the Hebrew verses, and then goes to be three and four, would really emphasize that. The beginning of verse two, you have a therefore. Therefore he will be given up until the time when the one who is giving birth gives birth. In other words, what did God need to do? In order for the timing of Jesus's birth to happen, the Israelites had to go through a time of real difficulty. And the Israelites don't look like a strong nation at all because they're not. They're a very weak nation and often exile and center of them coming back. They remain a really, really weak nation until the time of Jesus, when they're not a strong nation, they're under subjugation. Why did God give them up? He gave them up because that was exactly what was right for the salvation of the world. And so there's this seeming weakness going on there. And yet you get to verse 13 and he will stand and he will shepherd in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God. Wow, and you see this wonderful juxtapositioning there between he will stand, which seems to be a standing of strength and he will shepherd, which seems to be a statement of gentleness. And lessing and stymian in their introduction to Micah make the point that there's something appealing when you have somebody who is gentle but shows strength. And there's also something appealing when you have someone who is strong, who shows gentleness. And in Jesus, of course, you get that combination just perfectly. There he is, a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger, why? Because he wants us to know he's our brother through and through that he gets, our struggles, our mortality, our weaknesses. And yet he's the same one who can walk on water and raise the dead and rise from the dead himself. What strength? And so in Jesus, we have this perfect combination of gentleness and strength that's there. - Yeah, yeah, beautifully, right, paradoxical type thing. You don't expect these two to be together, but yeah, beautiful and just what humanity needs. Great, Eric and Scott, let me give you a chance to comment on those verses in the middle of the text there. - He will stand, stands out, because it's almost like you're being whipped back and forth that this, this ancient of days will be born and then Israel will be abandoned. And then he stands up in rules. But it really fits, especially if you look at early chapters in Micah, it's almost like a courtroom scene where you have the leaders of Israel standing on trial being weighed and found wanting. They have failed God's sheep over and over and over and over. I mean, just imagine finally God saying, I'm doing this myself, I'm sending my son here. And exactly the right time, it really plays beautifully with calculations chapter four. The time had fully come, even though Israel would be kicked around like a football seemingly for so long then this king would stand. And of course, then the unexpected nature of this goes even further, the way he will show his greatest strength is by lying down, by dying in our place. But that would be his greatest victory and the greatest strength of the Lord shown through our Savior. - Yeah, Eric thoughts on these verses? - Yeah, talking about the kind of reign that there is earlier it was said will be for me, right? So this aligns perfectly with God's purposes rather than human selfishness. You have those warnings from Samuel and even in Deuteronomy about, you know, you're gonna trust in kings and this is what's gonna happen. This is how they're gonna reign. But this one is different. The reign of this shepherd will be perfectly aligned. There's no gap between how Yahweh reigns and this shepherd reigns because Jesus is God. This is what we're celebrating here. He comes and he reigns not to exploit, but he comes and reigns to care for his people. - Yeah, great thoughts. Yeah, Tom, you wanna come into the remainder of the text? Hope to check your audio time there. Make sure we're active there. There, great. - So I can jump in here. So we're maybe getting into some of the applying this text to people getting into some of the law thoughts where I think we're getting two different things here and maybe the first one is just to go with the overall setting. So you're saying that these are God's sheep and we were thinking this through as we apply this to God's people where we're specifically recognizing their sin. But also if you're looking at the overall context and let Tom jump in here in just a second, then you're thinking these are sheep who are harassed and helpless without a. So there's a law thought just in the context as people are coming into church. It doesn't mean we don't call them out for their specific sins and maybe they're failure to shepherd well or to be patient for God's timing. But God's sheep are harassed and helpless and praise be to God, he's raised up a shepherd for us. - Yeah, right, long gospel thoughts revolving around that shepherd imagery. Tom, got you back, I think? - Yeah, I apologize for messing up my microphone there. That was a user error, for sure. I wanted to piggyback on what Eric talked about on the one who will come for me who will be ruler over Israel. And you know, we almost always talking about how Jesus came for us or for the world. And of course that is totally and completely true. But this allows us to think about it in a little different way that Jesus coming to this earth was also for God that he did this to proclaim his graciousness and his mercy and to prove that he is love, that this was a proof of his, the fact that he is truth that he had promised this from all the ages and he came true on that promise. It's just an interesting way to think about this in a little bit different way. Another little aspect of these middle verses that is probably worth a little side track. And that's the thought at the end of, or in the middle of verse three, Hebrew verse three, in the name of the Lord, his God. And there's the reminder there that Jesus was humbly doing the will of the Father. And that as you see Jesus there in the manger, a part of that is because it was the Father's will to send him. And so the willing obedience of the Son, the willingness of him to humble himself, gets emphasized there as well, which is could be a fun thought for the preacher to explore just on its own, that the Christmas event is the amazing willingness of Jesus to humble himself for our benefit and to the glory of God. Very, very cool thought, very, very cool thought. Do you want to move into verse four? - Sure, sure. - Okay. And the text ends after the first little trophy in verse four, you notice the atnach after the word shallown, that's the strong break where the maserids feel the break should come. You'll get arguments as to whether or not this is an unhappy verse break, if you should have broken the verses up differently. Or if this, what goes on in verse four is actually a continuation of the rectal linear prophecy that the Israelites would be saved from the Assyrians, but that would be a picture of them ultimately of being saved from us, of us ultimately being saved from sin by Jesus to savior. I both are fine theology. You can come down on either side of it, theologically and be fine. I personally kind of think this is a continuation that it is rectal linear prophecy and that the saving of the Israelites from the Assyrians with the angel of the Lord coming through and putting 120,000 to depth becomes a picture. The Israelites had nothing to do with it. It was all God, it was only God. And at the end of the day, what is salvation? It's all God, it's only God. And so because of that, I think you can see it as one of those rectal linear prophecies where there's a partial fulfillment and a more complete fulfillment. But the first little trophy there and he, this one, peace. This he or he will be this one. one piece. It is classic verb subject object. It is a Vov consecutive most likely. You can make arguments about that, but in the verses before you've had all imperfect or Vov consecutive perfects. And so this is probably a Vov consecutive perfect, emphasizing the reality of this. This one, this Jesus guy, this one in the in the manger, this one is peace. And not is going to bring peace to you. That would be great too, but that would be saying a little less than what the text is saying. The text is saying this one is peace. There is no peace other than Jesus. And in Jesus, however, there is peace, peace with this world and peace forever and ever. Great. Yeah, Eric and Scott come in on either that last little three word section or prior to that. It reminds me a little bit of Isaiah. You know, you have Isaiah talking about the prince of peace. And he's also talking. And I think it's Isaiah nine talking about the different kind of kingly roles that Jesus is going to take up. And of course, you have the hallelujah chorus talking about the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of his Christ. And just talking about the wonderful rain he brings and how, yeah, he is peace. And you pick up all the different nuances of Shalom, this wholeness, this things as they should be and can be very potent when we're thinking about Christmas. For so many people Christmas, it comes and goes. And then we're back to making New Year's resolutions and thinking about all the things that aren't right in our life that we need to fix. But he is our peace. And so you have these lingering benefits. It's not a Christmas toy that you play with and throw away a couple days later. It's something that continues to bless. Right, right, Scott. And you get him as like the our piece by like the emphasis you both drawn out where he's not just bringing peace to us like because of Jesus, we can all have a peaceful Christmas, which is true. But if you're tying this into before where he's a he's a ruler for me, the Lord is saying. So he's bringing us peace between us and God. He's the sacrifice of atonement that means we have this objective sense of peace through through his body and through his blood and what he gave up for us on the cross. So it really ties in then that this piece is not just a cup of cocoa tonight as you look at the fire as it's burning, but it's peace piece between me and my God. Right, right. We mentioned, Scott, you mentioned a little bit of getting into a law in gospel thoughts here. I think what you mentioned was kind of revolving around the shepherd image and sheep image, ways to present both the law and the gospel there that the sheep would be scattered. She helpless, the helplessness that is there, but the shepherd is coming. He will stand and shepherd his flock and the strength of the Lord. Yeah, further thoughts online, gospel, Scott, or explaining them. Thinking about some law thoughts, how did you to get to this place? Well, they a lot like us through their sin, they bring these problems on themselves, problems that are often too big for us ourselves to fix. And then you also have this note of division of the brothers being separated. And you kind of hesitate to make a Christmas sermon too political, but I think there is at least a polarization of there's a sense of this land being too divided. And these problems, they need a strong and yet a gentle ruler to bring us together to put together the things that just seem so far broken. And that's kind of what you have in Michael five. Yeah, yeah, good thoughts, connecting that to what the world cannot provide. This shepherd does. Tom, yeah, I kind of alluded to it earlier, but repeat that one of the thoughts that I'm thinking about with this is just to use the thought that things are just not always like they seem. And on the law side, how often don't I just get caught up in what my eyes can see? And what I think about what's going on in this world, how I struggle to see the big picture of God, how I struggle to know that Jesus's rule really is to the ends of the earth, how I struggle to realize that we will always be the church militant on this side of eternity. And yet that God can take these really little things that we think are insignificant. And he can make them fantastic. Bethlehem is nothing. No one would know anything about Bethlehem except that Jesus was born there. And the whole sun, this small insignificant place becomes this incredibly important place in the history of the world. And to know that God can do those sorts of things, Christmas reminds us of those truths also clearly. Yeah, for sure. It's got. And we're not. Oh, yeah, overlooking those. So that would be the idea. We're looking for other saviors and other places are looking for God to give us to find him in more glorious places. So then you think about the classic Christmas day, like probably won't be that many people there, at least not as many as Christmas Eve. So humble little church, maybe kind of empty, you're probably celebrating communion. So here's what God has for you on this glorious day, a little bread and a little wine. So yeah, we're not overlooking those things where we're saying this, this is what God has given us. And it is, is abundant grace for us. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah, further, further gospel images, we've talked about them a little bit and anything else to add there. Or should we go to kind of just true the stuff for listeners to really take home with them, Eric? Maybe one more gospel thought. If you think about what is our eschatology? And you look at average person in America, what's their hope for the future? What do they think is going to happen? Well, you have like the Civil War movie that came out of this division, the problems that we're in right now, they're simply too great. And so it's disintegration or it's dystopia or something like this. And Micah gives a vastly different picture. No, no, no, the the Lord is king over all the earth. And he's going to shepherd you. He's going to take care of you. And in an age that's marked by anxiety, he will be your peace. Yeah, it's too, too good to be true. But it's the message of Christmas is this actually is true, right? In the flesh and blood of Jesus, Scott. And then the way he does that, you're obviously not turning Christmas into good Friday. But the way he brought us peace, thinking how we got into this text right before the ruler is struck on the cheek with the rod. And so now we're getting God's new ruler. And he's letting himself be struck in our place. He's taking that are the wages of our sin on himself. So what a wonderful thing as God is, this is how we exercise as his might, not like the rulers of this world, right? Who exercised their might to aggrandize themselves to take from those who are smaller than them. He lays down his authority. He lays down his progatives as God's son in our place. Yeah, yeah, Tom, you could really have some fun as well with just exploring that whole issue that he is amongst his brothers. And that what an amazing truth it is that God gets to or that God allows us to call ourselves brothers, sisters to Christ. And with this, the synod theme of, you know, part of the family, that would perhaps be a detail of this text to explore more fully on this particular Christmas. And it's just what that, that all means that my brother is the one who loved me enough to die for me, that my brother is the one who loved me enough to come for me, that my brother is the one who is strong enough to rule to the ends of the earth, for me, that my brother is the one who is peace. And because I am brothers to him, I have peace. I could see on this particular Christmas with that theme that is chosen, if you are using that, that that could be a detail of the text that might be worth really exploring and really focusing your sermon on. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of which, yeah, what are you thinking of as sort of a central image or what is the, there's a number of them to choose from, I think, a lot of legitimate choices for here's the picture that I really want to highlight and build the sermon around. But what are you guys thinking at this stage, at least, what is the, these central thought or central image that Micah gives us on this Christmas day? Maybe one trope that you could use almost has kind of an Arthurian feel, but throughout so much literature, there's this idea of the King who has come from long ago that will come again. Maybe it's King Arthur, maybe it's Aragorn, maybe it's Aslan, something like that. But people understand that the rulers we have per se are not fixing things and our problems are simply too great. We can't do it by ourselves. And so now you have this one whose, whose origins are from ancient times, he comes from Bethlehem, this paradigmatic King who rules not only with power, but also with concern for the people, with love for the people. Yeah, okay. So that the King who is returning here, he's our brother, but he's also the ruler and the ultimate shepherd. Other thoughts on what you might focus on? or that includes a theme or whatever, go ahead, Scott. And then we're waiting for that King with patience. So that's the big thing that Israel is abandoned during this time. And we have reason for this patience because God has done it before. He's raised up a King from Bethlehem before. And then he made this prophecy 700 years ahead of time that he came true in his son, Jesus. So we have all these handles for our faith that are here that's helping us build this patience as we're waiting for God to act in our life, as we're availing ourselves of the very humble means that he's given us. We're waiting patiently and trusting fully. God's reign is active now in the hearts of believers all over the world. And we're going to fully see that. It's going to show up. And man, we can't wait for it. Yeah, yeah, Tom. Yeah, I've alluded to it a couple of times already, but just to repeat. I'm going to focus in on the idea that Easter helps us to see things appropriately. That I'm not bound up with what my eyes see now. This is reality. And I get to see my brother laying in a manger because God loves me. And that is always, always, always the truth. And I need to see that. And Easter Christmas helps me to see that also clearly. Yeah, excellent. Excellent. So maybe you've mentioned this already or alluded to it. Any ideas for themes, even in rough form that you're going to go with or just to reiterate what you've said already. Scott. Sure. I'll give a shout out to the best ever do it Jim Hebner. Do the place. You get the place where this savior will come. You get the person. So I'm just deep, deep crystallology here and that equals peace. So you have the place, the person and the piece that this savior brings us. Place, person and peace. Great. Eric, any ideas? Yeah, just preliminarily you could talk about how the the ruler is coming or how peace has come. Something like that and talk about the the in gathering of the brothers and also talking about the the shepherding of the flock. If you wanted to break it up a little bit more. Okay, great, great. I skipped over illustrations, things like that. Anything that we other that or other things that we didn't have a chance to mention or I didn't give you the opportunity to mention here. So one comes to mind. I'm reading through Eric Larson's demon of unrest geographically Charleston isn't all that far away, but it's the story of Fort Sumter. And in some ways it could maybe fit into the time of Judah, right? There's the division. The 10 northern kings. The northern kingdom is broken off the 10 northern tribes. And so there's this need for the the nation to heal and to come back together. There's this need for peace at the time of the Civil War. And so I think his name is Anderson. He's in charge of Fort Moultrie, which is on the mainland. What he does in his effort to secure the position better is he goes to Fort Sumter, which is much better defended. Jesus kind of does the opposite, right? He goes from the strong position of heaven down to us. And then he makes peace. If you really want to get deeper into it, you can talk about how you can and before Lincoln didn't do a whole lot when he really should have tried to make peace better. And then how you know, you have someone who can try to unify and bring peace. So something like that might work. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. The interesting analogy there. Yeah. I think they could work well. Anything else you wanted to mention? If you want something a bit lighter than your support history. Now I feel a little bad. Say bye. I was, you know, when you have a little babies and you think this little baby just looks like an old man. You guys have seen that, right? I always play this game of like, when does my child's hairline match my hairline? It's like they're growing here. I've losing my hair. It's like, like now it's like five months and our hairlines are in the same place. So maybe not quite as eyebrow, but the baby and the manger is the ancient one, the eternal son of God. He is, he's not what he seems. He's, he's all things for, for us. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me like your idea of, yeah, things are not, not what they seem and that you bring out those contrasts here in the text. Yeah. Well, great. Any, any final thoughts? If not, preachers, take a look at Micah chapter five as you're preparing on this busy season. But a lot of beautiful gospel truths that come across here that fit in so well with the other thoughts and themes of Christmas day. Enjoy proclaiming our shepherd, God's eternal son.