Not Done Yet

‘Tis the day after Christmas; now what do we do?

Tomorrow it’s back to the rat race. What’s new?

We’ll box up the manger and throw out the tree.

And next year we’ll do it again. Wait and see!

There’s some change, but mostly each year seems the same.

How long has it been since the baby first came?

There’s often a let-down feeling after Christmas. There’s such a mixture of hope and hard work, expense and expectation, partying and, sometimes, pondering. And then it’s over, and what has happened? Is anything really different? Baby Emma has another ear infection. Russians lob more shells into Ukraine. The Visa bill arrives. There is more evidence of influence-peddling in Washington.

Was Christmas just a hiccup in the everlasting sameness of things? A song by Tom Lehrer, a satirist popular in the sixties, goes like this:

On Christmas Day you can’t get sore,

Your fellow man you must adore,

There’s time to rob him all the more

The other three hundred and sixty-four.

Did Christ’s coming really make any difference at all?

The year moves through its cycle of death and rebirth, summer, fall, winter and spring. There’s beauty in the ebb and flow of the year. Christians celebrate these seasons, also; God’s creation is good. But is that all Christmas is? A punctuation mark in the eternal circle? In many ways the calendar of the church, the liturgical year, reflects the calendar of the earth’s seasons as well. We move from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany, from Lent to Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. There’s a beautiful certainty to that rhythm, a certainty that anchors us to life, and gives it shape and meaning. In the midst of the chaos of life, we are reminded that God is present with us and orders all things. And this does make a difference. But does the circle just keep on endlessly repeating itself?

This cycle also helps the preacher looking for a text. The lectionary gives four texts for each Sunday of the year: one from the Old Testament, one from the New, one Psalm, and one reading from the Gospels. This helps us make sure that we don’t leave out any part of God’s revelation to us and helps us to notice connections that we might not otherwise make. My own bias at Christmas is to emphasize the Incarnation, Immanuel, “God with Us.” I could happily preach on John 1:14 every year: “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” This truth never becomes stale, never goes out of date, and always applies.

But Christmas is also about the fulfillment of a promise. As we just sang, “Isaiah ‘twas foretold it....” God promised Israel to send a savior, a king who would rule with righteousness and justice, a king who would end oppression, a king whom all would acknowledge and obey. But today’s reading from Isaiah isn’t one of the classic Messianic prophecies. It’s not a promise. It’s a call to action.

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth." [Is 62:6-7]

What does this have to do with us?

Why was this verse chosen for the first Sunday after Christmas?

Isaiah was inspired to write these words of comfort to an Israel which had been captured and taken into captivity, whose city and temple had been destroyed, whose God had appeared to have abandoned them. And just as he had foretold, the exiles returned to Jerusalem and the city was rebuilt. Just as he had foretold, a child descended from their great king David was born who would be the savior of all people. Matthew and Mark, Luke and John cite these and other prophecies in their gospels. Jesus himself announced at the beginning of his ministry that the time Isaiah had spoken of had come when the poor would hear good news, the brokenhearted would be healed and the captives freed. Weren’t Isaiah’s prophecies fulfilled with the coming of Jesus? Why are we reminded of the charge to Jerusalem’s sentries on the first Sunday after Christmas?

The Gospel reading for this first Sunday after Christmas is from Luke. It’s about two people, Simeon and Anna, who had been waiting for God to fulfill his promises to Israel.

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.' ... There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." [Lk 2:22-40]