First Sunday after Christmas
Luke 2:22-40
"Left - Overs"
"An Indian chief was disturbed about how lazy his braves had been during the hunting season, so he called all the tribe together and announced, "I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that, because you have been lazy and done little hunting this season, all we have to eat all winter long is clay from the riverbank. The good news is that there is an ample amount of clay to keep us going until next year."
Isn’t that life?? Good news and bad news seem to come together. I have some good news for you today, Christmas is over, you can relax, take it easy, the food is all baked, the tree is all decorated, the presents are all unwrapped, the holiday is finished. The bad news is, the clean up job remains. The Christmas decorations need to be put away, the trees undecorated, then either put back in the box, or hauled outside. There are piles of wrapping paper to put away and throw away, there are those added pounds to be lost, because you had such good food during these holidays. The bad news continues when you think of the gifts that have to be returned, because they didn’t fit right, or weren’t the exact color, and more bad news comes when you find that even though you were trying to be careful, you somehow over-spent and now you wonder how you are going to pay for all that good news.
These leftovers items are also part of the holiday, also part of the Christmas season, also part of our celebration. Somehow the leftovers seem to be an anticlimax to the Christmas celebration. Somehow these things cleaning, loosing weight, taking things back, putting things away, don’t seem to fit in just right with that Christmas Spirit. Somehow these leftovers just don’t feel right with the glitter, the excitement, the wonder, the awe, the majesty and the beauty of Christmas.
But, I would venture to say, these leftovers do go hand in hand with the Christmas spirit, these leftovers are part and parcel with Christmas.
These leftovers have as much to do with Christmas, as the event itself, because Christmas just doesn’t end after Dec. 25th, but what happened during Christmas lives on and on. It lives in our memories, it lives in these leftovers, it lives as we see anew what this Christ child means for us. The Christmas spirit, the birth of Jesus lived on in so-called leftovers of society as we read about Simeon and Anna in our gospel lesson this morning.
The Christmas Spirit was revealed first of all to two old people, Simeon and Anna. As Pastor John Brokhoff says in his book, Wrinkled Wrappings, "They are leftover from the meal of life. By their wrinkled, shrivel bodies they appear as wrinkled wrappings. But leftovers can be good and delicious as the main meal. This was the case with the couple in wrinkled wrappings. They saw something 40 days after Christmas that no body up to that time had seen. The shepherds, the religious ruler who heard rumors of his birth, his father and mother, all didn’t really understand or see in this child the image of God. The only ones who recognized the Messiah in the man-child, God in Jesus, were two aged, wrinkled, wrapped left-over people, Simeon and Anna."
Simeon and Anna saw and they believed, they saw and worshipped, they saw and lived in that grace they experienced from that child, they saw and continued to serve God through others. These marvelous people, these leftovers, this wrinkled wrapped man and woman are a fine example for us of how God continues to reveal himself to the leftovers, the wrinkled wrapped people of society. God doesn’t always reveal himself to the powerful, the wealthy, the healthy, the wise, the famous, the upper crust of society. He reveals himself to the lowly, the outcasts, the leftovers, the wrinkled wrapped, who society has frown on, who society has disregarded as weak, and worthless, but God sees as whole and holy.
God came as a child to this earth to be with all of society, even the so-called leftovers. "A Negro died and went to heaven. He got together with other blacks and they started comparing their life histories. Finally, they approach God, and their spokesperson said, "Lord, you just don’t realize how tough it was down there!! I was born black. I was of a despised race!! And God said, "I was once a Jew." The black went on, "Yes, but I was persecuted. My daddy was innocent, but still the Klan hanged him." And Jesus showed them his own nail-scarred hand. "You don’t understand, Lord!!" The black went on, "I never had a cent, no education, no home. People laughed and scoffed at me. Why, when I was a baby, we had to flee our house and move to another city for the safety of our lives." And God smiled tenderly. He placed his big arm around the black man’s shoulder and said, "I know how it is my son. I have been there myself."
Yes, He has. God did not send us a book, a picture, a song, or an idea. He did not send us a sermon or even a friend. Instead, God came himself. He gave us his presence more than that he gave us an explanation. He gave us his own life, death and resurrection.
God came to earth for the leftovers, for the wrinkled wrapped, for all those who acknowledge they cannot handle life alone. God came to earth especially today, for those who have not measured up by earthly standards. He came for the poor, the sick, the chronically ill, the despised, the broken, those experiencing broken relationships, and the handicapped.
God comes to all those who live in the humility that they cannot handle life alone. He comes to make winners out of losers. Notice, I said, He came to make winners out of losers, God does the work not us. He does it with His own timetable in His own way, through His own means.
Who would have thought that an old dying priest would be the one to bless the Baby and declare for all to hear that this baby would be the light to lighten the Gentiles. For Simeon says, "Lord, now lettest thou they servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all people, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory to thy people Israel."
Simeon declared the mission and ministry of Jesus and his followers. It would be some 33 or more years later until that mission would truly begin in earnest to the Gentiles and that mission is not complete yet. God’s timetable is not for human minds or souls to understand, or predict.
God works in some strange ways in this world. He worked through two wrinkled wrapped people who society had given up for lost. He did not work through the strong, or the correct religious leaders, or the powerful government, or the wealthy, but through two simple, faithful servants who had seen the work of God.
There is a story I would like to share about how a disabled child brought out the compassion and faithfulness of other children in a way that speaks volumes about how God works in this world.
Listen:
"In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while others can be main-streamed into conventional schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything done in Heaven is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is Heaven’s perfection?
The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish and stilled by the piercing query.
"I believe," the father answered, "that when Heaven brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that it seeks is in the way people react to this child."
He then told the following story about his son Shaya:
One afternoon, Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya new were playing baseball. Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya’s father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya’s father understood that if his son were chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.
Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his team-mates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and well try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."
Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eight inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base.
Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shaya swung clumsily and missed.
One of Shaya’s team-mates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.
As the pitch came in, Shaya and his team-mate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman.
Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball.
He could have thrown the ball to the second base man who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitchers intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the Third baseman’s head.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home.
As Shaya reached second base, the opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya run home."
Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of Heaven’s perfection."1
Yes, Lord, I am thankful you have seen in the Simeons, the Anna’s, the Shaya’s of this world, the wrinkled wrapped of this world, a holiness, a righteousness, a faith, and a dignity that is present in all your children.
Lord, I am glad your eyesight is better than ours. You see the worth of the individual. Yes, Lord, thank you for the wrinkled wrapped, for the leftovers, because in your eyes, they are the beautiful packages, and the main meal.
amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale December 23, 2002
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