Of all the colors of Christmas, I suppose red is the most prominent. Look around you, in our beautiful sanctuary this morning. We see red bows, red lights, red paper ... even the paraments, the cross around my neck, and the ribbons I gave the youngsters today are red. But there is more of a meaning to the "red" of Christmas than all of these red things that surround us today.

Just as the green spoke to us of life two weeks ago, and violet or purple suggested the royalty of Christ last Sunday, today red has a special meaning, too. I alluded to it with the youngsters, but I want to take it one step further with all of you. God’s Word sheds some light on this meaning of sacrifice, and I’d like to look at fourteen verses of the 22nd chapter of Genesis, followed by just two verses, verses 16-18 of Matthew’s second chapter. Read the text!

In the Genesis story I just read, we see old Abraham, now well past one hundred years of age, willing to sacrifice his young, probably teen-age son, just because the Lord God told him it was the thing to do.

Isaac meant a lot to his father Abraham. And no wonder. Abraham and Sarah had tried for years and years to have a son. But Sarah just never became pregnant. There were no great medical specialists in those days, so Abraham and Sarah had contented themselves with the knowledge that for some reason, they would not have a son, an heir.

But then God entered the picture. He made a promise, an agreement, a covenant with Abraham. He told Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. That the descendants of their family would be as the sands of the sea. Sarah laughed when she heard about God’s promise. But even at age ninety, God could still work a miracle in this laughing wife of Abraham. And he did. Isaac was born and they believed the promise of God. There was more than just a great nation connected to the promise. God had said that, through their descendants, one would come to set right all that had gone wrong. A Messiah, a Savior was the promise.

But now all of that was in jeopardy as Isaac and Abraham climbed the mountain. Sacrifice his own son, tie him to the altar and kill him with a knife? That had been the command of God and Abraham sought to obey. It looked as if the promise would be lost in the red blood of Isaac, slain as a sacrifice to God. First the altar, then the wood, then the ropes, then the knife. And suddenly, as the knife was drawn forth, the hand of God intervened. It had been a test, a test of faith. And so the son, the heir, was saved. The blood was not shed.

This is a remarkable story, filled with so much of Christmas. God willingly sent his own son to earth, laid him in the manger at Bethlehem. God the Father knew that it meant real sacrifice, that indeed, the red blood of Jesus must be shed for the sins of the world. Like Abraham, God did not withhold his son of promise, but willingly gave him up for the sins of mankind.

In the second reading, we find that this baby Jesus has been spared. The Wise Men had been warned not to return to Herod, so they didn’t. Instead, they departed for their homeland by another way. Herod, realizing that he had been tricked by the Wise Men, decided to do away with Jesus himself. He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and the slaughter was underway. Herod sacrificied the blood of hundreds of youngsters for his own selfish gain. Again, just as at the Cross, red blood was shed and weeping was heard!

Both stories deal with sacrifice, and give us a prelude to the events of Good Friday. I guess that whether we like to think about it or not, Jesus was born into this world to die. He came to Bethlehem as a baby, but the road would lead to Calvary and his own death. "Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free!"

It’s interesting to note that in reality we know precious little about the birth of Christ. John and Mark mention it not at all. Matthew has a scant seven verses dealing with Jesus’ birth. The rest we learn from St. Luke and that is only some twenty verses. No, the birth of Jesus has its importance only as a prelude to the death and resurrection of our Lord. It is in looking back at Jesus’ sacrifice for the sins of the world, that his birth, his incarnation take on majestic meaning!

But lest we spend all of our time with long faces this third Sunday in Advent, let us remember that red is also the color of celebration and rejoicing. Red shines about us at Christmas ... in packages shared, in candy canes consumed, in Santa’s red suit, in the glow of children’s faces! Red is the color of celebration and joy. The same is true in the Church. We use red for our festival holidays: Reformation, Confirmation, Ordination. And we also use red to celebrate the Church’s birthday, the festival of Pentecost! So, red is truly a color of Christmas, fitting both in the home and in the church. For just as we use it to celebrate the Church’s birthday, we should use it to celebrate Christ’s birthday. The two are inseparably linked together.

Christmas Day is two weeks from today. Red poinsettia will adorn the sanctuary. We will celebrate the birth of Jesus. But as we celebrate, as we worship, as we gather with our families around the altar and the colorful Christmas tree, let us remember that our Lord Jesus came joyously, courageously at Christmas, came as the perfect Lamb of God, the sacrifice for all of our sins.

Sacrifice is a tough word for us. It’s difficult to understand. We have so much in life ... and we are asked to give so little. But God gave everything he had, the greatest Christmas gift ever, that the red blood of Jesus Christ might cleanse us forever, bringing us back into the perfect relationship with him.

One good way for us to remember this red sacrifice might be through the love God has given us. The heart, like the heart of a giant red Valentine, is the center of such love. And God gives his very heart to us at Christmas. May its red glow, and may all the red of Christmas, remind us of that love, that celebration, that sacrifice for us ... in the name of Christ, our Lord!