This sermon series will focus on the major cities of Jesus Christ’s life here on this earth, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. Each sermon asks a singular question, what did Jesus do in that city, and answers with a letter, addressed, if you will, from the future, warning each city to pay attention to its Lord and Messiah and guiding them to His truth. As we listen and hear the words to the past, we also hear that the words are for us today. May the Lord bless us as we hear His Word.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this evening comes to us from the Prophet Micah, the fifth chapter:
Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.
Thus far the text.
Dearest Bethlehem,
You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you? When the Assyrians were coming up against Israel and her holy city, Jerusalem, you were waiting. You were waiting to fight, weren’t you? You were waiting to go into battle. You were waiting to do miraculous and heroic acts.
But, O Bethlehem, that’s like the 5-year old who puts a pot on his head, holds a spoon in his hand, and heads toward the door with his decorated brother who’s going back to Iraq. It’s a ridiculous sight to see. It’s cute, even.
But, O Bethlehem, you didn’t want to be cute did you? You wanted to fight. You wanted to defend. You wanted to do marvelous things for the Lord’s name. When you saw Israel being attacked, you wanted not to turn the other cheek but to strike them back on theirs.
But you were too small. You were too little. In fact, compared to the rest of the tribe of Judah, that glorious tribe of Israelites, fearsome, awesome, dedicated, the men and women about whom all the best Biblical stories are told, you were just a runt. There were no great stories out of you. The best you had was that the great King David had come from your city. But even he didn’t have much to do with you afterwards, he reigned from his palace in Jerusalem. And he left you behind.
But God had not forgotten you, O Bethlehem. In fact, He gave you your name in order to foreshadow what He would do in you and through you. Your name, which you know, means “House of Bread.” You had no idea why you were named such a thing, did you? Perhaps you thought your name should be BayitDavid, House of David, or Bayitzaeer, Little House. But God had something much bigger in mind.
You could not fight, O Bethlehem, you would lose all your people. So the Lord decided that just as David had come from your city, so too would you have the singular distinction of bringing forth the ruler over all of Israel, even the world, that He had promised to Eve back in Genesis 3, that from the seed of woman, the Messiah would come.
And this Messiah, He would be of the ancient of days. What does this mean, but that the Messiah is God Himself? So, out of Bethlehem, out of a bunch of people, one who would be God would come. Perhaps this sounds like blasphemy, O Bethlehem, but this is the point: that the One who would come to rule over the world does things in ways you could never imagine.
For in you, O Bethlehem, the Lord God would send His Son, Jesus the Christ, to be born in your town, in a manger. A little child, laying in the feed trough of animals. A human boy, set in a place where things eat. Setting up a foreshadowing of what you would do one day, O Bethlehem and all who hear this letter.
For you are no better than the animals. In your sin, you have made yourself as low to the ground as the serpent in the garden. Make no mistake, you are dirtier, dingier, and more sinful than you could ever imagine. House of Bread? House of moldy bread perhaps. House of worm-filled, dung-splattered bread. That’s what you are. That’s what you all look like in God’s eyes.
But, you, O Bethlehem, YOU are not the bread that is to be eaten. Rather, that bread is this little baby. You are as the animals, looking for food, going to the manger, and only finding the body of a boy. But instead of turning away in disgust, as most people would, the baby invites you to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, for in them are true life, true salvation, true repentance, true faith. If you do not eat and drink of His true body and blood, He will say you will have no part in Him.
For His flesh is true bread. HE is the bread of the House of Bread. He is the one who was born in your town for the forgiveness of the entire world’s sins. He is the one who will grow up and die for you. This little baby, born tonight, in the City of David, is Christ the Lord. But the Christ, the Messiah, this Jesus, He is so different than what you expected.
How could you expect that this Jesus would grow up to die on a cross, O Bethlehem? How could you expect that this Jesus was the Son of God, and not just the Son of Mary? How could you expect that this Jesus, this one with human flesh, human soul, human emotions, human in every way except for sin, is God Himself? How could you expect any of this?
That’s the point, O Bethlehem. Despite your smallness of size, despite your grievous sins before the Lord of All Creation, God will use you to bring forth His Son in order to save you. He shall be the shepherd of His flocks, not flocks of animals, but flocks of sheep-like people, people who need to be lead, need to be reminded that they cannot do anything unless their Master tells them to. And this Master Shepherd, He shall lead you beside the still waters, make you lie down in green pastures, restore your soul for His name’s sake, but He will also lead you into the valley of the shadow of death.
But, O Bethlehem, do not fear. For just as the night grows dim, a new dawn shall break. For you who dwell in the darkness of sin and the shadow of death, you shall rejoice, for indeed, you have seen a great light and the new light of a new dawn has come upon you. Jesus Christ is that light. For indeed, in Him, O Bethlehem, is all hope to be found.
When you enter the doors of your churches, you must indeed abandon all hope. When you enter them, there is nothing for you based of your own doing. Bethlehem, and all who hear this, you cannot save yourself. You will not go to be with the Lord if only you are a good person. You are lower than the angels, you are lower than the snake, you are lower even than the devil himself. For you are sinners, each and every one of you. You have no hope of being saved.
Except that this Jesus the Christ came to be born for you. He lived for you, died for you, and was resurrected for you. When your trust is in Him, when your faith is in Him, when the Holy Spirit has worked these things in you, then, and only then, do you know that you are saved. But when you do not have these things, when you turn away from the Christ as so many will come to do, then you are trusting in yourself. And that is a perilous place to be.
But that’s why Jesus came, because you had no hope. He is your hope and your salvation. The way of this Shepherd will guard you into all truth and righteousness. And just as He has come into this world as a baby, we now know that He has borne all our griefs and carried our sorrows. He has taken all things from us onto Himself so that He would redeem them, starting in His manger and leading to His cross.
This Lord, O Bethlehem, is a man of wood. Born in a wooden manger, working with His own two hands in carpentry, and having those two hands nailed to a cross. He is born into this world to be crucified by its devices and ingenuities. But He also uses creation, He uses the things of this world in order, not only to effect salvation, but also to bring it to you by His means of grace.
The cross, the manger, would mean nothing, except if it had a way to get to you, a vehicle. And so, this Jesus, born this night, O Bethlehem, would grow and institute His baptism, where by the water and the Word of God, you would be saved. “[And this is] not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
And He would sit down with His disciples one Sabbath evening and, “…the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
By these means, O Bethlehem, the Lord will bring to you His cross. And by these means, O Bethlehem, the Lord will shepherd you. And by these means, O Bethlehem, the Lord shall show His strength and declare His majesty. For the Lord choses to do things in ways you can’t imagine. Choosing you, O Little Town of Bethlehem, does not make sense. Using bread and wine does not make sense. Eating and drinking this baby’s true body and blood does not make sense. Washing you clean of all your sin with water and the Word does not make sense.
But, who said the Lord ever had to make sense to you, O Bethlehem? Who made you in charge of deciding what would and would not be? No one. The Lord has declared to you these ways. And though you may have missed all that the Lord was doing in your midst, O Bethlehem, there is still time, for there is still hope in this very Lord, Jesus the Christ, that tiny baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. In Him, all the hope of the world is found, and it is in no other place. Turn to Him and trust Him for the forgiveness of your sins, O Bethlehem, for He, and He alone, is your peace. In Jesus’ name, we write you in love and concern. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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