Video of the service is here. The sermon begins around the 8:20 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It was probably in 1534 that Martin Luther wrote the words to this hymn, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” though it didn’t have its present tune until around 1539. And it probably wasn’t originally for singing in church. In their house that Christmas in 1534, the Luthers had five children of their own, plus six nieces and nephews, plus a grand-niece, plus Katie’s aunt.¹ Martin probably wrote this hymn to be a sort of family pageant, with one of the children as an angel singing the first five stanzas, then they all sang the sixth stanza; children may have taken turns singing stanzas 7-14, and then they all might have joined together on the last stanza.

It’s a very simple song, and it’s meant for children. It puts us alongside the shepherds, hearing the angel’s directions and following them to Bethlehem. “This little child of lowly birth shall be the joy of all the earth… These are the signs that you shall mark: the swaddling clothes and manger dark. There you will find the infant laid by whom the heavens and earth were made” (LSB 358:2, 5). Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the angel has told us about. “How glad we’ll be to find it so!”

It’s a simple song, but it is not simplistic. There are deep waters here. The title gives us a hint at just how deep those waters go: heaven and earth, and how far apart they are. We pray, or we ought to pray, daily that God’s Name would be holy, that God’s Kingdom would come, and that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. The way it is in heaven is not the way it is on earth. On earth are the “sad and bitter” cries of those who suffer, who are sick, who grieve; of those for whom this is not the happiest time of the year. On earth are those who need this Savior to set us free. This is the sinful world that requires the divine blessing of the “noble Guest.” “You came to share my misery that You might share Your joy with me.” On earth as it is in heaven. It is the One by whom the heavens and earth were made who comes to earth from heaven above. But though He created all, in the manger “how weak You are, so poor and small, that You should choose to lay Your head where lowly cattle lately fed!”

This is a children’s song, but it is not only for children. Unless you become like a little child, Jesus says, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not the sweetness or innocence or cuteness of children that make them worthy of Jesus’ blessing. It is that they have empty hands. Their hands might be sticky, or dirty, but they’re empty. They don’t bring all their goodness, all the things they’ve accomplished; they don’t have anything to give to Jesus in return. He simply gathers them to Himself and puts His hands on them and blesses them. He receives them because He loves them. He receives you simply because He loves you. So the angel says to you as well: “He will on you the gifts bestow prepared by God for all below, that in His Kingdom bright and fair, you may with us His glory share” (LSB 358:4). “This is the Christ, our God Most High, who hears your sad and bitter cry; He will Himself your Savior be from all your sins to set you free” (358:3).

“How glad we’ll be to find it so! Then with the shepherds let us go to see what God for us has done in sending us His own dear Son. … Glory to God in highest heav’n, who unto us His Son has giv’n! While angels sing with pious mirth a glad new year to all the earth” (LSB 358:6, 15). But not just the new year that begins on January 1. The year of God’s favor begins whenever He gives the new birth from above here on earth, by water and the Word, making newborn children of the heavenly Father. A glad new year from heaven above to all the earth, to you. Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to you on earth. Until it is on earth as it is in heaven.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 12/21/23

1https://luthertoday.wordpress.com/2022/12/25/christmas-1534-or-1535-2/