CHURCH
LUTHERAN
Our Savior's of Elderon
Jeremiah 10:1-5; 33:14-16 I.N.I. 1st Advent 2016
Close your eyes for a moment. Think back to when you were a child. What did your house look like at Christmas time? How was it decorated? How about a tree? Was it a real tree or an artificial one? Was it tall or short, big around or skinny? How was it decorated? Did it have store bought decorations or home-made ones? Were there candy canes or some other kind of candy on the tree? Were there cookies on it or maybe strings of popcorn? What about the lights? Were there candles or electric lights? Were the lights those large ones we had years ago? How did the tree look with the lights on? How about when they were off? Can you see it clearly in your mind? Think back to when you were a child. See the Christmas tree.
Now let’s come back to the present. Do you have your tree up yet? If not I would guess it won’t be too long before you do put it up. But why? Why do you put a tree up every year? If your children or grandchildren or anyone for that matter, were to ask you why you put a tree up every year, what would you say? Let’s think about that today as we consider the question:
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE CHRISTMAS TREE?
To help us answer that question let’s take a look at (1) the history of the Christmas tree. The concept of a Christmas tree began about the year 3,000 BC. It began with King Osiris and Queen Isis of Egypt. King Osiris died before his time. His wife, Queen Isis, had a hard time accepting his death. And so in her attempts to deal with his untimely death she got caught up in the heathen teaching of survival as a spirit.
She believed her husband survived as a spirit. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead stump. She believed this tree symbolized the new life Osiris had as a spirit after his death. Guess what month and day this all happened? You guessed it, Dec. 25th.
So after that Queen Isis considered every Dec. 25th as the anniversary of the new birth of Osiris. So how did she celebrate this day? You guessed it! She put gifts under the tree that supposedly sprang up overnight.
Now the Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the winter solstice arrived they brought date palm leaves into the house to symbolize the triumph of life over death. The Bible tells us all about this: Jeremiah 10:1-4 “ Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.”
When I read the last part of the verse where it says; “…they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will no totter” I think about how in the past we would bring the tree into the house and then use wood and nails to make a stand to hold it up. Of course, today, we have Christmas tree stands you can buy.
The Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a festival called “Saturnalia.” They decorated their houses with greens and exchanged gifts. Centuries ago in Great Britain wood priests called Druids; (part of the Celtic Society) used evergreens during mysterious winter solstice rituals. The Druids used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life. They also placed evergreen branches over the doorways to keep evil spirits away.
In the middle ages, about the 11th century, there was a very old and charming European custom called “The Paradise Tree.” The Garden of Eden was represented by a fir tree with apples hung on it. This tree represented both the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that stood in the center of paradise. The tree, however, not only represented paradise, but also man’s fall into sin and the promise of salvation. This being the case people soon began putting more apples on the tree. They also put bread or wafers (representing Holy Communion) on the tree. Soon after that people started putting sweets on the tree. The sweets represented the sweetness of salvation. Later, communion wafers were replaced by little pieces of pastry cut into shapes of stars, angels, hearts, flowers and bells.
Germans and Scandinavians placed the Paradise Tree inside their homes or just outside the door to show the hope they had. Thus the first Christmas tree was born.
In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire went to Germany to teach the Word of God. It is said that he used the triangular shape of the tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve Luther was walking through the snow covered woods and was amazed by the beauty of the small evergreens. The branches were covered with a light coating of snow and shimmered in the moonlight.
When he got home he set up a little fir tree inside the house so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles that were lit to honor the birth of Christ who is the light of the world. By the way, that’s what the lights on our trees symbolize, Christ who is the Light of the world. They honor the birth of Jesus.
The German and English immigrants brought the Christmas tree to America. Fruits, nuts, flowers and lighted candles were the decorations on the tree. However, only the strongest branches would support the weight of this type of decoration without dropping. So the German glass blowers began producing light weight colored balls and decorations to replace the natural, heavier decorations. The lights and decorations were symbolic of the light and joy of Christmas. The star on top of the tree symbolized the Star of the East.
Like so many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted late in America. Part of this was due to the fact that some opposed it. Take the New England Puritans, for example. To them Christmas was sacred. The Pilgrim’s 2nd governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out this type of observance of Christmas because he felt it was pagan and a mockery.
The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against celebrating Christmas with a tree. He called it a heathen tradition. He felt that any expression of joy at Christmas was disrespectful of this sacred event.
However, by the year 1900 one out of every five homes in America had a Christmas tree. By the year 1920 the practice of having a Christmas tree was almost universal in America.
Perhaps by now you’re getting a little nervous about the origin of the Christmas tree. Don’t be! The origin of the tree is not what’s important. What’s important is the meaning you attach to your Christmas tree. I am sure none of you put up a Christmas tree or greens to scare off evil spirits or to hold onto some spirit of some false god so he doesn’t die during the winter.
But now back to our question; what’s with the Christmas tree. (2) What kind of meaning does it have for you and your family? That question and the answer to it are very important.
In our modern day world with its indifference to God, its lack of belief in God, the Christmas tree may not have any real meaning. To millions of people today all the Christmas tree means is that the holidays are here. Unfortunately, then, the tree becomes an idol like the ones Jeremiah talks about in our text. They are cut out of the forest, shaped and decorated with silver and gold. They just stand there, saying nothing, meaning nothing, and giving nothing of lasting value.
Thank God that’s not how it is with us. Our Christmas tree is more like the Paradise Tree. The second part of our text says: "'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. "'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
It appeared that the root of Jesse (his lineage) had withered and died. Yet God declared that out of that withered stump he was going to bring forth the green, new growth of a completely new being, the Second Adam, the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Christ’s birth is itself a Christmas tree, the true and real Tree of Life who was born into this world in human flesh of the Virgin Mary. This Messiah would offer eternal life to all who believe in Him. Through Christ, the Second Adam, death itself would die. Its hold on humans would be broken forever.
The Christmas tree reminds us of what God has done for us, his people. It’s a celebration of the birth of Jesus as our Savior. We put the tree up to honor Him who is the true Tree of Life. Jesus is that new, tender shoot that grew out of the stump of Jesse. He who is the Tree of Life fulfilled His purpose in this world in a wondrous and terrible way, by his death on the tree of the cross.
We celebrate Christmas by decorating our trees with decorations of life even though at the same time, we remember that it was on a tree our Savior was crucified. Jesus is the God-Man who came to this earth as a little Baby born in Bethlehem’s stable. He lived a perfect life in our place. He suffered and died on Calvary’s cross as punishment for our sins. That’s what it’s all about.
So this year when you look at the Christmas tree remember the birth of Christ and what he came to earth to do. Think about this verse” “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.”
Jesus had to die because you and I forget the true God, and because we make idols of things around us. We set up things of the world as our gods. We decorate our lives with gold and silver, material things. We tend to put our trust in those things even though they cannot help us.
Because of this, because we trust in idols, we became withered up stumps and as a result we are separated from God’s life giving spirit.
But Jesus brought us back to God. He restored our relationship with Him. Now we are united with God in a father child relationship because our sins have now been washed away in the blood of Jesus. Now we have His promise of a future in heaven as well as His grace, help and presence this side of heaven. We are no longer foreigners, aliens and enemies of God with the foolish idea that some greens over the doorway will scare off evil spirits.
There’s an old tradition where you take the Christmas tree after you’re done with it and make it into a cross for lent. That’s a good tradition because it keeps the two events closely connected.
A Christmas tree without Good Friday and Easter is nothing more than candles on a birthday cake. It means nothing. But when the Christmas tree reminds us of the Savior who hung on the cross to earn forgiveness of sins for us, when it reminds us of the peace we have with God, when it reminds us of the hope we have of everlasting life, then it’s a beautiful tree. It serves a very good purpose and is very meaningful.
We can spend hours getting our Christmas tree looking just right. We can wander through the Christmas tree lots looking for the perfect tree. We can spend hours adjusting lights and ornaments so they are just right.
But God chose the perfect tree. It had two branches and was in the shape of a cross. Our Savior hung on that tree, the most beautiful ornament ever. He had a wreath of thorns and garland of the blood He shed for us so we can go to heaven. Those were the costliest ornaments of all time. Because Jesus, God’s gracious, gift to us, was nailed to the tree, it really is the most beautiful tree there is. May each of your Christmas trees reflect this most beautiful tree? Amen
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