1st Sunday after Christmas “A Lamb to Take Your Place”
December 29, 2024 Exodus 13:1–3a, 11–15
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
Between Christmas & New Years, the world hovers in the ‘holiday (slash)/ vacation/ (slash)/ merchandise season. The sales & decorations & music will be gone pretty soon.
But while the world is quickly squeezing out the last drop of holiday cheer, before it decides which holiday to ‘sell’ next, the Church is still very content in pondering what the birth of this Christ Child is all about.
And even tho we were distracted for a day or two, away from evil & trouble & sorrow & death, the pretty lights & music couldn’t stop the fallen world from being the fallen world.
Just singing about ‘peace on earth’ doesn’t make it happen; the Christ-Child came to die to make it happen. He came to do the job of The Lamb that was given in exchange for the life of the firstborn child.
The Ex.13 reading for the 1st Sunday after Christmas is historically interesting and spiritually fitting; it foreshadows our Gospel Reading, as God speaks thru Simeon & Anna, as the infant Jesus is brought to the Temple for the ceremony of purification, & the Rite of the Firstborn. It is a picture & reminder that having a ‘nice holiday’ is not the same thing as observing a spiritual, historic, & Holy Day of the Lord’s Holy Church.
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Consider the poor lamb. For the Israelites, when a family had a son, a lamb had to die. Not good news for that lamb chosen to replace the child who was first ‘out of the gate,’ and was to be sacrificed to the Lord. But this redemption of the firstborn, that the Lord commanded in Exodus, that was a picture of what it was that the Messiah came to do.
The fact is, Jesus was born because God-the-Father chose Him to take your place. Already in the OT, God wanted His people Israel to know the cost of salvation; to realize & ponder the sin-price of our redemption. And God wants US today to remember it.
Where God spoke to Israel in Ex.13, He speaks to you & me this morning. They had celebrated the high point of the year; of their whole lives, really. God had just secured their release from Pharaoh by killing every firstborn of the Egyptians. The price for Pharaoh’s hardness of heart was the life of his own firstborn.
And all the firstborn sons of Israel were redeemed by the life-blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts & lintel. This is our vital, Christian history. Soon, Israel would be having a new beginning by their miraculous passing thru the Red Sea, & their final escape from Pharaoh’s army. We, too, are looking forward to a new beginning after our Christmas celebration: New Year’s Eve & the first Day of 2025; a new start.
Yet at this busy intersection of occasions, God stops to teach His people a lesson they were never to forget; because He gives them a sacred, ceremonial reminder: ‘Each time you have a firstborn, bring a lamb & kill it. That will save & consecrate the child. Every firstborn must be redeemed.’ It was the death of the firstborn that finally pushed Pharaoh into releasing the children of Israel from Egypt. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, it was clear that =the God who could take the life of every firstborn, or spare them= that He was the Lord over Israel, and over all the world; and He was to be obeyed.
WE are to remember the Good Friday death of God’s own Begotten Firstborn;
Who sets us free from our slavery to sin. That’s what redemption is; and that’s what Christmas is about = God’s gift of redemption; the price paid to get something back.
On the night of the Passover, all the firstborn die, unless by hearing & believing God’s Word, and obeying that Word, they are redeemed. For Israel back then, it meant the lamb was slaughtered, and it’s blood smeared on the door. That was the illustration; the reality is bigger.
It’s not just the firstborn, but ALL sinners, face the prospect of death. For the wages of sin is death. So here comes the Firstborn of God himself, Jesus; not ‘made’ or ‘created’, but ‘begotten’ & born to be the Lamb of God to take your place; slaughtered at the cross, so you won’t be. He dies so that you & I are set free. Don’t let the cozy manger scene cause you to be distracted. This baby is the Father’s Firstborn, & firstborn of Mary, so that He will be able to redeem all people from their sins.
It’s ironic that Joseph & Mary are in the temple that day. ‘Irony’ is a little humorous connected-contradiction with something; an amusing double-play with an action; like two things going on at once. God loves irony. So, when Joseph & Mary present Jesus in the temple, and make an offering because he’s their firstborn son, this reminds us that Jesus is fulfilling all of the Law for us.
And even tho Joseph & Mary are doing the right thing as required = they are ‘redeeming’ Jesus; this would be the very last time it was required — Jesus was the end to this law.
And the irony is: the time would soon come when this Firstborn, as the Lamb, would be offered up on the cross to redeem Mary & Joseph, … and you & me, and the whole world. They perform the ceremony, or the illustration of Redemption for Jesus, & He will perform the actual ‘act’ of Redemption. {so ‘irony’: Mary & Joseph redeem Jesus, but Jesus will redeem them}
Jesus will shed his blood to buy us back. This little baby, would escape death that day because His parents had brought the alternate sacrifice of either turtledoves or pigeons. The law is fulfilled, & now the day is set when Jesus will end up being the substitutionary death-above-all-deaths, with His broken holy body & shed blood on the tree of the cross.
And just as the death of the firstborn signaled the beginning of salvation for Israel,
who was headed for the promised land of Canaan; so Jesus’ death & resurrection is the final divine sign of God’s willingness to spare ALL people, and to bring all believers into the eternal Promised Land.
Since only one or two generations were present when Israel came out of Egypt, God instructed parents & grandparents to teach their children & grandchildren about this historic, gracious & miraculous God & Savior. So whenever the firstborn was redeemed, and that lamb was sacrificed, the children were taught to ask that familiar Small Catechism question: “What does this mean?” And the dads answered, “Well, a long time ago, God rescued us from Egypt when the firstborn were killed. By God’s Word of Promise, the lambs protected us by giving their lives so our firstborn didn’t die.”
And so it is similar with US, as we pass on to our children & grandchildren this faith, and the knowledge given to us about this same gracious God, whose plan was to redeem mankind from the death-penalty. We are to explain to them the gifts by which our Lord delivers this faith & His salvation to us; God’s Church things remind us that He is still working to save souls. This is the reason a faithful church is not a ‘modern’ church = but rather, an historic church; a 2,000yrs old NT Ch., on the foundation of 4,000yrs of God’s illustrations of His promise. We continue to do what God has given His people to say & do because it pictures His salvation for every generation, until the Lord Jesus returns.
A child might ask: ‘What does it mean — that I had water poured on me, with God’s name? And we answer: ‘It means that Jesus took your place. He died for sinners & rose again, and you are now washed in His death & resurrection, and your sins are forgiven, and you have a new birth by your Baptism.”
‘What does it mean — when the pastor announces to me that my sins are forgiven?’ And we say, ‘It means that, because Jesus died for you, all that you’ve done wrong is forgiven, and you are God’s child; the pastor is Jesus’ mouth & voice to tell you that good news.’
‘What does it mean — that we eat & drink Jesus’ body & blood with the bread & wine?’ And we say, ‘It’s the Lord’s New Passover meal. When the Israelites ate, it reminded them that the lambs were killed to save their firstborn. When we eat, Jesus works a new miracle, and declares that we are receiving the very body & blood of the true Lamb of God – who takes away the sin of the world. We are strengthened in God’s promise that Jesus took our place & saved us. It is a real meal of forgiveness in Jesus.
The redeeming of the firstborn in Israel was a sign & reminder of God’s saving actions; and it was a promise of what He would later do in Christ. In the same way, the Word, the Water, and the Body & Blood are Christ’s promise to you, that He has taken your place & redeemed you. You are brought in to be a part of His people.
On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Mary’s firstborn Son; He is the only-begotten Son of God. And He came into this world for that one purpose: to redeem, to buy back,
to take the place of, & to save. The NT fulfillment is better than the OT picture: He redeems not just the firstborn males, but everyone. And ‘everyone’ includes you.
It’s easy to get distracted in the world’s modern celebration of Christmas, with its music & lights & holiday cheer. The most it can do is give a short break from the trouble of a fallen world. But the peace of God is far superior; it is a rest & renewal of the soul in forgiveness & life; which surpasses human reason & understanding.
The Christmas-Child was born for a much greater purpose than to give us a reason to exchange gifts & gather with our family. Christ was born to be The Lamb, to redeem us, so that we would be the Lord’s. That’s your Christmas gift.
Amen