Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin’s Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heav’n and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth. (LSB 332, st. 1)
Jesus came to be Your Savior. He humbled Himself to be found in human form. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death on a cross. For you. His love alone motivated Him to be born of a woman to redeem the children of Adam and Eve. His love and mercy have brought you eternal benefits. In Christ alone is your salvation and the world’s salvation. The Savior of the nations has come.
Martin Luther translated this ancient hymn (often attributed to Ambrose) into German. And now we have it in English. We join our voices with the saints before and those who will come after us to marvel at God’s grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
For many, this increasingly dark time of the year brings about sadness and stress. We suffer under the weight of our sin and the sins of others. Death is all around us and wants to rob us of all joy and hope. Yet it is into our dark, sinful, dying world that Jesus came as the light, the light no darkness can overcome. He came to forgive sins and to give eternal life.
Still today, Jesus comes to us, truly and really, in His Word and Sacraments. He comes to us as we gather for worship, as we sing familiar songs, as we remind each other of God’s love come down. And we will sing and pray and hear and eat until Christ comes again.
And then we will join in that eternal feast and the eternal song around the throne, where there will be no night and no darkness, because the Lamb will be our light. And we will marvel, forever, that the Lord chose such a birth.
May Jesus be your light and your joy this Advent and Christmas season.
In His love,
Thomas J. Egger
President