The Manger Is Where My Soul Feasts :: John 1:1-14

The word for our meditation this morning comes to us from our Gospel reading in John chapter 1, where we read the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This word that became flesh is the bread of life who was born in the house of bread. The goal, therefore, of our meditation is to feast on the Bread Himself. 

The opening of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn “O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is my paradise at which my soul reclineth” (LSB 372:1) says exactly what our meditation is about. The word reclineth in that line, “O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is my paradise at which my soul reclineth,” gives us a picture of the feast in the first century. Guests did not sit at the table for the feast. They were stretched out on couches ... reclining on one elbow ... their feet extended away from the table ... their heads toward the table ... there they contentedly ate and talked. 

Hence the theme of this sermon is ...

O JESUS CHRIST, THY MANGER IS MY PARADISE AT WHICH MY SOUL FEASTS

I.

How fitting is it that the son of David was born Bethlehem? 

The word Bethlehem means “house of bread.” He who called himself the bread of life is born in the house of bread. The eternal Word of God became the bread of life because man can not live on bread alone. The eternal Word of God has taken flesh to become one with man, and that flesh is the life of the world. Whoever eats this bread ... this flesh of the Son of David who was born in the House of Bread ... will live forever. You can be sure and certain of this because it was he who cleansed us of our sins ... who now sits at the right hand of the Father ... he says so! What he offered for our purification was his own body, his own blood. In the manger at Bethlehem lies the One who is the Father’s final Word about us. 

You will find him in a manger, the angels said. That’s right, a manger! Mangers are where cows eat. Their master and owner puts food in the manger for them. With single mind and with all sorts of noise, the cows hustle to the manger so that they can eat. 

Consider now: the bread of life from heaven is the gift to us ... it is given to nurture us on the food of eternal life and to fill us with the drink of eternal joy. Like the shepherds, we have come this morning to worship Him ... Christ the Lord. With single minds, we have come to feast our souls at the manger of God’s only son ... for from the one who lies in that manger joy flows forth. 

Let our hearts therefore have commune together, full of glad sound, crying out our amazement: “O Jesus Christ, your manger is the paradise at which my soul feasts contentedly.” 

This gift of God is not only food for the stomach and drink for thirst. This gift is God’s Word ... the eternal food for our souls that nourishes the faith of Christ. When Adam and Eve stood before him in their shame and burdened with the unbearable debt of our original sin ... ... when they heard the Word that the descendant of the woman would crush the serpent’s head ... ever since that day, the Word of promise has been like appetizers for faithful souls. In many times and many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets (Heb 1:1). And now by that Word, God feeds faith and nurtures hope in his faithful people. 

II.

And what a Word of life it is that God speaks! Reflect on what the Holy Spirit says ... 

First, Jesus is the heir of all things. Whatever power and riches lie in the Word of God ... Jesus is the heir. Second, whatever there is of life or hope ... Jesus is the heir. He is heir and owner by right of sonship. Third, he is not a creature to be elevated to a position of honor. He is the very reflection of God’s glory and the character of God’s very nature. He is as we confess Very God out of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. 

Furthermore, this tender and pure Jesus is the mighty Word by which all things were made and by which all things hang together. Jesus is True God and True man. This man is God. This God is man. He is our brother. He is our savior. He is the true Light. By the Light of his Word the whole universe hangs together and serves his purpose ... to give all who feast on his Word life. He is God’s right hand man, the arm that God makes bare when he rolls up his sleeve to save us. And to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And so you are. 

God has entered the flesh as a naked and helpless infant to make you one of his own. He needed to be fed by his mother, to have his diapers changed by his father, to be wrapped in homemade receiving blankets to protect him from cold. He willingly has entered into our flesh for the purpose of making a sacrifice ... the sacrifice that will save the lives of all the condemned brothers and sisters in Christ. This sacrifice, his sacrifice, will not be with the blood of bulls or goats, but with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death, that we may be his own and live under him in his kingdom. 

III.

And so we shall, on account that God has raised Jesus from the dead. God is Just and the Justifier of those who have faith in what Jesus has done, through his birth, his life, his death. And he shares that life with you now through his means of grace. As Paul tells Titus, He has saved us, not on the basis of works which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior, so that having been declared righteous in his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (3:5-7). 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the amazing wonder of the birth of Christ lies in the amazing wonder of God’s Word, who by his own Word, exercises the power of God’s right hand and does what he promised. Our Great High Priest comes to you and brings to you the body of your redemption and the blood of your forgiveness. Here is the manger of Jesus to feed your souls. 

So come to the feast, for all things are now ready. The bread of life and cup of salvation await. Here, you will recline in the peace from heaven, in sweet conversation with the Lord of the feast ... in Jesus’ name.