The prophet Isaiah preached that when the Root of Jesse would come, He would not judge by what He saw with His eyes and heard with His ears! Rather, He would judge the poor with righteousness! Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is GOOD NEWS! It is good news for you and me because it means that Jesus isn't going to judge us on the basis of what He sees and hears! It means that Jesus isn't going to judge you like you judge others. You know, because you heard from so and so about such and such. When He comes, He won't judge by what He sees, like we do. We take a look at something for a second or two and then we're sure we know all the facts and have the right to go spreading them around, showing what smart and "in the know" people we are. When He comes He won't judge as He hears, like we do. We hear something from someone about someone else and then our mind is made up. We've labeled that person, judged them, convicted them and sentenced them. Can you imagine how the Lord would judge you based on what He's seen and heard about you and from you? Brothers and sisters in Christ, our only hope is that the Son of God doesn't come to judge by what He sees and hears! Otherwise we are doomed. If Jesus is going to treat us like we treat others and judge us like we judge others and deal with us in the same way that we deal with others, then we are done for! Not one of us will avoid the guilty verdict of God!
So St. Paul writes: "When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who are under the Law." This means that the Son of God takes on flesh in Mary's womb and is born to do one thing: take your place. Jesus, the Son of God becomes like us in all the ways that will save us and is not at all like us in all the ways that save us! He is UN-like us in that He doesn't come to serve Himself while stepping on everyone else. He isn't here to base His treatment of others on rumors and hearsay. He doesn't come to judge and condemn as if He's better than everyone else! His putting His Father in heaven first by coming to save us from our sins makes Jesus so totally and completely unlike us. That's what saves us! Yet He is like us in so many ways. He has flesh and blood and skin and bones. He is born as we are born, He is bound by the Law of God to love God and love His neighbor. He is baptized with sinners in the Jordan River. He suffers as we suffer. He dies as we can die. Yet His death is unlike ours because HIS death counts against all the sins of the world. His death wipes out the sins of the world. His death on the cross takes away sins and cancels out the judgment of God against our sins. His death and His blood mean that the Lord will never judge you on the basis of what He sees and hears in YOU but what He sees and hears in Jesus. So Isaiah says: He will judge the poor with righteousness. So Paul says: He has redeemed us who were under the Law.
St. Paul writes that we are like children, slaves to the base elements of the world. What does that mean? It means that we live like the world teaches. You get what you deserve and I, of course, deserve more than you! The elements of this world, the principles upon which it operates, are simple. Look out for number one. Do good? Get rewarded. Do bad? Get punished. And all the while try to avoid getting punished when you're innocent and not getting caught when you're guilty. Prove to the world that you're a good person. Prove to God that you're a good person. Don't let anyone see it when you're not a good person! And make excuses when others see you aren't a good person. This is the way our sinful flesh thinks and that thinking is only encouraged by the devil and the world. The devil wants you to think that the world operates only if you're at the center of it. And more than that! The devil wants you to learn and believe that's how God operates. When you speak badly about others, when you lift yourself up at someone else's expense, when you judge by what you see and hear—then just believe that's how it's going to go with the Lord. That's how HE does things!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Paul tells us that Jesus was born to redeem us from our being under the Law. That means that Jesus didn't come to treat us like we treat others. It means He came to rescue us from such treatment altogether by showing us that the Father is not going to punish us for our sins because Jesus has taken them away. God's pledge, that you are redeemed from the curse of the Law and that He will never treat you as your sins deserve, that pledge and promise are given to you at the font in the waters of Holy Baptism. From the outside, by water and the Word, you are covered with Jesus, grafted into the Root and vine of Jesse. And then, by the Word that forgives your sins and the body and blood of Jesus given you to eat and drink, from the inside Christ lives in you. From the inside to the outside, Jesus covers you. When God the Father looks at you, He can't see anyone but His Son Jesus, so completely are you covered and made new in Christ! Through that Word, God the Father has poured out the Holy Spirit into your hearts so that you now know what the world has no clue about: that God is your Father! Abba, Father! Because Jesus is God's Son. And you are in Christ. Now you are a child of God. Your Baptism says so. Jesus' body and blood say so. By His Word and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit says that's what you are!
Now be careful! The temptation will be to live as if God is not our Father and as if we are still under the Law. The Law condemns. It measures and calculates and catalogs our sins. The Law is embedded in the world's notion that you get what you deserve! So watch out! Because it is easy to forget that Christ was sent to redeem us from the curse of the Law. And because it is easy to forget, it is easy to treat others as if they are under the Law. It is easy to slip into the old way of doing things, judging others by what we see and hear. We know what our actions deserve! Day after day we give each other a million reasons to throw us out and having nothing to do with us. Just as we do the Lord. But He does not cast us out. He comes to redeem us from the Law by placing Himself under the Law. Brothers and sisters in Christ: God is your Father now! Don't live toward one another as if you are still waiting for the hammer to drop on your sins and you're going to be sure to let it drop on someone else's first! Abba! God is your Father now. His Son has taken away your sins so that He is your Father once again. As your Father no longer judges you by what He sees and hears, because He only sees and hears His Son, so don't judge your baptized brothers and sisters by what you see and hear, but by what the Holy Spirit says about them. Husbands and wives, and parents and children and members of this congregation and God's family: don't hold against another person what God has taken away by laying upon the Lamb of God. Rejoice that because the Lord holds nothing against you in Christ, you need hold nothing against another person in Christ either.
Now I know the world has forgotten already, but it is still Christmas! It will be Christmas until the 12 days are over and we celebrate Epiphany. St. Paul tells us why Jesus was born, what Christmas is all about: because God sent His Son to be born of a woman, born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law. You were under the Law. Under it's judgment and condemnation. You were born into this world under the "guilty" verdict of God's holy Law. But Christ has set you free! He has set you free by not judging you and instead being judged in your place. He has set you free by being nothing like you and yet just like you. Jesus, by His death and resurrection, and through your baptism and His Word and body and blood, declares that His Father is your Father. Therefore you are sons of God and heirs of all His good gifts. Now, like Simeon, you can depart in peace, the peace of Christ. Merry Christmas, still, in Jesus! Amen.