Sunday After Christmas- Christmas is all the things: salvation, righteousness, adoption, judgement, revelation, consolation, redemption...
(Free Version)- Year B; Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40 (RCL); John 1:1-18 (BCP)
This week’s readings can be found here (Revised Common Lectionary) or here (Book of Common Prayer). Looking for the podcast? Find it here. Looking to go deeper? Check out our paid subscriptions (now half-off for a limited time!). Makes a great gift for the preachers in your life.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Christmas, a time between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6th). This Sunday, we hear about the beautiful and dramatic realities of Christmas, with words like salvation, righteousness, adoption, judgement, revelation, consolation, and redemption.
Our Old Testament reading (Isaiah 61:10-62:3) tells us about the new clothing with which God clothes his children. They are garments both of salvation and righteousness. The needs for both rescue and faithfulness have been fulfilled by God. He has provided both the rescue from our exile to sin and death as well as the faithfulness which we lacked. Because of this, righteousness and praise spring forth. God’s faithful saving action has caused a change in his people, a new name! And the nations will see it.
In our epistle reading (Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7), we are told of the nature of the law, to protect and guard the people of God until “the law of faith” would be revealed. In Jesus, we are justified by faith, by our trust in God. Once again, we hear the theme of “adoption.” God’s people have not only been rescued in an individual sense, but have been rescued into a family. And, we are now able to call Jesus’ Father our Father. It is only grace which allows us to be heirs of God’s new world.
In the RCL’s gospel reading selection (Luke 2:22-40), we are told the story of Jesus’ presentation in the temple, and the faithful saints who waited in the temple courts to receive him and to give thanks for him. Both Simeon and Anna had been prepared by God for this day, living in regular anticipation. It was revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Now that he has seen God in this way, Simeon rejoices, not just for himself but for his people because he has seen their glory. And, he rejoices for the entire world who have a light. Simeon’s promise is not just joyous, however. With the judgement of the Messiah will also come pain, as the world world will reject him. This pain will be especially acute for Mary, who bore him and is closest to him.
Anna too has been waiting. An eighty-four year old woman, she has been a widow most of her life. In her anticipation, she has never left the temple. She has worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. Anna’s response to the child is thanksgiving.
In the Book of Common Prayer’s gospel selection, we hear John’s prologue (John 1:1-18), the words of Jesus, who is called “the Word” who has been made flesh.
It is important to remember today that many of us live our lives as if the Word was never made flesh. We believe in the Word of God. We believe in Jesus, we believe in Christianity, but we act as if the belief is where it ends. But, the Word became flesh, moved into the neighborhood, and this changes everything. My hope this week is for our congregations to know a few things.
First, You are invited to know God. He is close. He is not distant or abstract. Yes, he is beyond our understanding, but he has also chosen to be known. With this, you are invited into a family: adopted, named, and received.
Second, God’s drawing near is good news, but also judgment. God is light, meaning that He reveals what is not seen in the darkness. Yet, making things right is often a painful process.
When we get to know the Light, places in your life will start to itch. You know when you get a cut or something and it starts to heal and it itches? That means it’s healing. You know when you run for the first time in a long time and your legs itch? It’s because capillaries are opening in order to get blood to right places. When you follow after Jesus, the parts of your life that have not received oxygen in a long time will start to itch. Sometimes they will more than itch. Following Jesus is painful as it means demolishing the other structures which prop up our lives. You will need to make some changes. But that means that it’s healing. If you are convicted of sin, that means God is working in you. In this, we are to resist shame. If you feel convicted about something, that’s a sign that God is working in your life!
It is painful for those who live in darkness, but the rejection is also painful to those who are closest to Jesus. It is described as a sword which pierces Mary’s heart.
Third, as we do this, it will change our posture towards others. We will begin to look at brokenness in the world and ask, “What would happen if Jesus was here?” Christ is a light to the Gentiles, to the whole world! Salvation and righteousness come from him! What would happen at my job if Jesus walked these halls? What would happen in my city, in my neighborhood if Jesus were here? And then you remember...He is...He lives in you.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once prayed the following prayer from a Nazi prison.
“In me there is darkness,
But with You there is light;
I am lonely, but You do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with You there is help;
I am restless, but with You there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with You there is patience;
I do not understand Your ways,
But You know the way for me.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer