the diamond found in the manger

​4th Sunday in Advent                                            LSB #379:1-3, Peace Came To Earth, LSB #387
Text – Luke 2:19-20
 
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying & praising God for all they had heard & seen, as it had been told them. 
 
THE DIAMOND FOUND IN THE MANGER
 
 
Parents can get very nervous as Christmas gifts are opened.  Some of those toys need assembly.  All those plastic pieces, the bags of small parts, the batteries that were supposed to be included, the printed directions – someone has to keep track of them all.   As fast as a child empties a box, Mom or Dad tries to gather & preserve all of its parts.  
When a five-year-old starts to break open bags & connect random things, it can almost be too much for Dad.  In the end, most every toy gets put together, though the occasional Lego set doesn’t look quite like the picture on the box.  
Some parents no longer give the children gifts with small pieces.  Books are safer.  A new doll needs no assembly, just love.  New pajamas & socks are ready to wear.  There is nothing to be lost, only gifts ready to enjoy.     The Christ Child & His peace come fully assembled.    There are no parts we must save    & there is nothing to build.  
Jesus comes as the precious, unmistakable gift in the manger.   We can’t lose the manger, & we never see it without the Child right in the middle.  He is the gift that brings His own story & needs nothing but love.  Christmas comes with God’s wonderful news of a lasting relationship – the Prince of peace joins the human race to Himself  for all time & eternity.  
In the excitement of Christmas, we can assemble many small pieces, but only one piece, one treasure, is needed.  Jesus is the diamond in the manger.  That’s what completes our star of peace.  We’ve walked through Advent with the five points of the star, seeking peace in several directions.  We’ve imagined that peace can be found if we get enough possessions, or peace might come if we can escape to a far-away retreat or lock our past equally far away.  We have tried to find peace in having control of our world.  We’ve tried to find our purpose in telling others how to live.  But in every case, God stops us before we go too far on a hopeless tangent.  At each point of the star, God gives us His own distinct peace.  
Left to ourselves, we’d go off on a search that would never end.  There will never be enough stuff or distance or control.  But with Jesus, we find peace right here, right now.   That’s especially true today.  Our peace is the treasure in the manger.  When we highlight the center of our Christmas star, the star becomes a picture of the manger.  
In the center of that manger is the diamond of His gift, but finding peace is not seeking a needle in a haystack.  Peace is finding the diamond of God’s Son in the straw of the manger.  That diamond is the infant Son of God.  He isn’t lost in the manger.  He purposely made the manger His home so He could be found there in humility. 
Who else would do this but God?  We treasure our important gifts & know where they are.  I can’t imagine a young woman, having gotten her engagement ring on Christmas Eve, would lose it.  She’s not taking it off or risking any harm to it.  Don’t ask her to wash the dishes tonight.  That diamond is the center of her world, & she’s keeping it safe. 
God’s treasure has come to be the center of our world.   What a wonder that our God puts the center of the universe, His Son, into the setting of the manger & the stable.  He doesn’t put Him safely in the Most Holy Place in the Jerusalem temple.   He doesn’t place Him, like a diamond set in gold, on the throne of the king.  He doesn’t have Him hover over us.  
All of those would make sense as the greatness of this gift should be seen yet protected.  The Son of God coming to the world rightly comes with the brilliant light of the glory of God & the chorus of angels singing.  It is right that shepherds – along with us – hear them & are stunned by the brightness & the message of a Savior born to the world.  But that outward glory is brought into one small, almost-hidden spot – the manger in a stable.  There we find the great gift of peace, like a diamond set within the arms of a manger.  
We’ve looked at the five points of a star as it illustrates different directions to seek peace, but those points lead us on a never-ending search.   True & lasting peace is the diamond held within the manger.  That infant Son of God, so small that He could be lost in all the chaos of Christmas, is our certain hope for peace. 
To help us find this treasure, let’s consider the journey of the shepherds in Luke.  They heard the news of the birth & dashed off to find the stable & the manger.  Let’s picture them as they came to the stable, perhaps led by the sound of a baby within.  What a moment as they suddenly filled the doorway to see Mary, Joseph & the baby.  
It’s likely that Mary & Joseph had no warning that the shepherds were coming.   The peace of those first moments with their Son must have been heavenly, given the long journey & the difficulty of finding a place to rest.  But now the birth is done, & their Son is with them.  Ah, rest & peace at last.  But not for long!  
Suddenly, there were shepherds, rough & tumble men, breathless from a race down the hills, filling the doorway, jostling to get a better view.   Imagine their questions & excitement: “Is He the One?  Do you know who He is?  Do you know what we’ve just heard?  Angels, a whole sky full of them!”  The stories they could tell one another.  
Mary likely told of the angel Gabriel.  Joseph could speak of the dreams that reassured him.  The shepherds could then recall every word of the angels’ message & the whole choirs’ song.  Maybe the shepherds held the infant Jesus.  Mary carefully handing the infant Jesus into the arms of a shepherd is quite a picture for us to ponder.  Shepherds were rough-handed men, but they knew how to hold the infant lambs.  Now picture one holding the newborn Lamb of God.  As he held the infant, did he speak to Him, telling Him of the angels’ song?  Before he can tell the whole story, another shepherd nudges him & says it’s my turn.  Let every shepherd have his moment with the Child, a moment that will last a lifetime. 
We can be in that picture.  Put yourself in the back row of the shepherds, one of the last to squeeze into the stable.  Eventually, the first ones must slip out the door, & you are left with Mary, Joseph & Jesus.  That is Christmas worship – taking the place of the shepherds, being the next generation to fill the stable & hold the infant in your mind, in a long & lasting moment.    
This morning, you & I heard again the events of that night, as they are told at every Christmas.  Remember how we turned the star of peace into the manger in the illustration today?  But now, the arms of the manger are briefly replaced.  The arms of the manger are your arms as you hold the infant Savior.  Look at Him & see the gift of peace that the angels declared.  
Here is peace to the world, not a mere wish, but the living Child who caused His birth in this way.  He came so that He could be held in the arms of the manger, the arms of His mother, the arms of the shepherds, & the arms of all people.  Holding the Son of God is the enduring gift of Christmas peace.  
In your home, when all the gifts are opened, you shake out the wrapping paper in case something is hidden there.  The paper gets tossed but you keep the bows for next year.  Most of the parts for the toys will be found.  Eventually, they’ll be assembled & look mostly like the picture on the box.  
The many decorations of Christmas will be put away, but the faith & the memories will remain.  That is especially true of the gift of Christmas, the Savior, & the peace that He brings.  In all our pursuit of peace, He is always God’s answer.  He is the peace that surpasses our understanding, but He is also the peace that perfectly understands each of us.  His peace ends our hopeless pursuit for possessions & power.  His peace is the Lamb of God held in His mother’s arms.  He is the gift of God, the diamond of Yahweh’s relationship with us; the treasure in the arms of the manger.  
Christmas has many little pieces that are important, no matter how small.   Parents have tried to assemble toys that have six bags of tiny pieces with an instruction manual of forty-seven separate steps.   Add an eager four-year-old helping to open those bags & spread out those parts & it’s easy to lose something in all that.   Many people today have lost their Savior. 
No matter how they have lost Him, our Creator & Savior has given each of us the privilege of helping people find that peace that surpasses all human understanding.  When Jesus returns there will be no more 2nd chances.  May Christ’s peace & love so fill your heart that it will overflow with the joy the shepherds experienced that night when they found Jesus?  Amen. 
 
 
Peace came to earth at last that chosen night when angels clove the sky with song & light 
& God embodied love & sheathed His might – who could but gasp: Immanuel!          How else could I have known You, O my God!   How else could I have loved You, O my God!  How else could I embrace You, O my God!  Who could but pray: Immanuel!   Who could but praise Immanuel!  Amen.[1]
 


[1] Text: Jaroslav J. Vajda. Copyright © 1984 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.