Sermon for The Nativity of Our Lord--Christmas Day, December 25, 2025

John 1:6-14 (The Nativity of Our Lord—Christmas Day)

“Jesus, the True Light and Life for the World”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

December 25, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is from the Christmas Gospel recorded in John 1:

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came for a witness, so that he might bear witness concerning the Light, so that everyone might believe through Him. ⁸He was not the Light, but came in order to bear witness concerning the Light. ⁹[The Word] was the true Light, who, coming into the world, gives light to every person. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave to them authority to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not from blood nor from the will of the flesh nor from the will of man, but from God. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

          He was coming into the world, the very God who made the world. His coming into the world was planned from eternity and promised through the centuries through the prophets. God Himself would come and save humanity from the darkness of sin, death, and the devil. The Word of God who is God the Son would become flesh and dwell among people as true God and true Man in the person of the One named Jesus, who would save His people from their sins. 

          It happened that, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,” the Virgin Mary (Gal. 4:4). The true, real, authentic Light of the world, the divine Word, sent by the heavenly Father, came into the world which He had created. In the child of Mary, the God-Man Jesus, was Himself Life, Life that is the Light of people who wander around in the dark blindness of sin. And the people were indeed blind to Him. He came to His own people, the people of Israel, and they did not receive Him as God, Light, or Life. They rejected Him as the very Savior whom God had promised in His holy Word. What’s more, Jesus, the Light and Life of the world, was in the world, and even though He made the world, the world didn’t know Him either. 

          It is not all that much different today, is it? Jesus is still the Light of the world. And He has come in the flesh, won salvation from the darkness of sin by His cross and resurrection, has ascended into heaven, and still comes to people today through the preached Gospel and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion by the working of the Holy Spirit. Yet, the world itself chooses to remain in the darkness of sin. Many people refuse to receive Jesus as true God, Light, Life, and Savior. That’s the very nature of sin.

At one point in each of our lives, we too rejected Jesus. Because we were conceived and born in sin, we were at that time blind to the riches of God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8 that “at one time you were darkness.” We were enemies of God, separated from Him because of our sins which put us at odds with His perfect holiness. Ephesians 2 puts it this way, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:1-3 ESV).

          Because of the sinful darkness in which all people lived, the Word of God, the very Son of God Himself, took to Himself our flesh and blood in order to be our Savior. Jesus, the Light and Life of the world, suffered in His earthly life all the things that we suffer—the grief, the pain, the temptations, the wants, and the needs of a fallen world. Jesus, Light and Life, entered the darkness of a sin-filled world of evil and death to bring to every person the light of life in the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life in the glorious presence of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through His death on the cross, when He suffered for the sins of the world, Jesus won our life. He won our rescue from death and the devil. He purchased our forgiveness with His own blood so that we are now dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11).

          These gifts of forgiveness, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation are what our God and Savior offers and gives to people freely through the Gospel Word and the Sacraments, where Christ our Light and Life is present for us. The Word of the Good News of Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins continues to be sent out into a world living in the darkness of sins and under the shadow of death.  Christ Himself continues to come to people with the light and life of His grace and mercy in His blood-bought forgiveness and salvation. And still it is that so many in our world do not know Jesus by faith as their Savior. Many people refuse the free gifts He brings. Instead, people mock Him and His Word, both privately and publicly. They discount His Scriptures as out-of-date and useless in a “modern” world. Many in our world remain blinded by their sin and under the darkness of the devil. 

          But there are those, like you, who have received Christ by faith as your Savior. In the days of the New Testament, when our Lord Jesus walked among humanity, there were many then who received Him, who believed on His name and so became children of God by faith in Jesus. Like you, they also were covered in the forgiving blood of Christ, receiving from Him light and life. Some examples include the shepherds who came to see the newborn Savior, Jesus, lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling cloths; Simeon and Anna who waited in the Temple to receive their Savior into their arms; Peter, Andrew, James, John, Paul, and the other apostles; the Samaritan woman at the well; the once blind Bartimaeus; Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea; Mary His mother, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and countless unnamed other women who supported Jesus in His ministry. And let us not forget John the Baptist. He was especially sent by God in order to be a witness to Jesus, the Light of the world, so that people might hear the Good News of His coming into the world as Savior. John was sent to announce the coming of the Christ so that all people might believe through Jesus and not remain in the darkness and blindness of sin.

          This is also our role as those who have become children of God by faith in Jesus, our Light and our Life. In Christ who comes to us in His Word, we have seen through faith the glory of God—His grace and mercy and love shown to us in the Savior’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. We have received His Word in the Gospel by faith. And that Word of Christ in the Gospel delivers to us personally forgiveness and eternal life. You and I have been given clean hearts and have been made into new creations by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace in Word, Baptism, and Supper. Now “you are light in the Lord.” Now, by faith, as the children of God in Christ, we walk as children of light (Eph. 5:8-10). As Jesus told us in His Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16). Your Savior also says to you in His Word, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).

          Like John the Baptist, you and I are sent by our Lord Jesus to be His witnesses in a world that is lost in darkness and sin. We, the people of His Church, are sent in our different vocations to point people to the hope, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ, the God who took on flesh to save and rescue and redeem. You and I, then, become for others the very light of Christ in their lives when we offer to them the message that Jesus loves them and is with them in their troubles. We reflect the light of Christ when we announce to friends and strangers that in Jesus their sins are forgiven and that they do not need to continue to live under the great burden of guilt and shame. Our actions of mercy demonstrate the light of Jesus to others as we help them in their physical needs by donating to the Food Shelf, shoveling a sidewalk for a neighbor, listening to a coworker’s concerns, praying for someone, or volunteering time and resources to make someone’s life better or easier. 

          As Christians who live in the Light and Life of Jesus, we share in word and action the light and life of Jesus. Jesus was sent into our world to bring the light and life of forgiveness and salvation to us all through His perfect life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Now, you and I, in His Name, are sent into the world, out into our neighborhoods and community, with the Good News message of Jesus Christ and His saving work so that others might hear, believe, and be saved. Like John the Baptist, you and I are sent to be witnesses of Christ in everything we say and do. We have the joy and privilege of proclaiming Him as our Savior and Lord while we share in the lives of others by giving them the mercy and love of Christ through our works and words.

          The true Light of the world, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, has come.  He has borne our sins for us and has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). Now, we live our lives as witnesses to Christ the Light and Life of the World so that others might believe in His name and also be made children of God in Jesus’ Name.  God grant us the ability and the blessing to do so now and even more so in the year to come. Amen.