First Sunday After Christmas

Psalm: Psalm 148 

Old Testament: Isaiah 61:10-62:3 

Gospel: Luke 2:22-40 

Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7

Although the secular calendar says Christmas has come and gone, the Church calendar has us right in the middle of Christmastide. This Sunday marks the 4^th day of Christmas, so we should be looking for “four calling birds” or something like that. Just like other seasons of the church, such as Advent and Lent, things that we typically associate with a 1 day celebration are actually seasons to be celebrated. I like that Christmas is actually a season and not just a day because it means that we can keep the decorations up longer and sing Christmas songs for a few more days. But, it also gives us more time to celebrate the birth and early days of Jesus life. It seems like Christmas Eve and the rare year when Christmas falls on a Sunday are always reserved for Jesus’ birth. But more things happened in those early years of Jesus’ life than just a stable and some shepherds.

Today, in our reading from Luke, we get one such episode of Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus to be circumcised. Per Jewish custom, male children were to be circumcised on the eight day. Firstborn children were also to be dedicated to the service of Lord after 40 days, to ensure “purification,” as the text says. However, since the Levites were the priests, parents had to “redeem” the firstborn through a sacrifice to the Lord. Jesus’ parents performed both of these ritual acts as good Jews. These little details, which don’t mean very much to us non-Jews, reveal Jesus’ Jewish context and his keeping of the Old Testament law.

As an aside, since we were discussing the 12 days of Christmas, the sacrifice Mary and Joseph pay for Jesus is 2 turtledoves. This may be represented in the well-known song, “On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two turtledoves.”

One thing that strikes me from the early days of Jesus’ life is that everywhere he went, people seemed to recognize who he was. Even when Mary visited Elizabeth, John the Baptist recognized Jesus, womb to womb. In this episode in Luke 2 both Simeon, a righteous man, and Anna, a prophetess recognized who Jesus was and celebrated his coming. Jesus was the Messiah and God’s Son from the moment of his conception. In the early days, he was recognized and praised, then later in life, the demons recognizes him, and finally, the centurion at Jesus’ crucifixion who proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54) These individuals, and others, get little divine insights into Jesus’ true nature and are able to take the step of faith to believe in him. I don’t know why some people understand who Jesus is whereas other people can’t. Why did Judas betray Jesus, and the other disciples abandon him, when other people like Simeon and Anna, could tell when Jesus was only 40 days old that he was the Messiah?

We can probably never answer these questions, but it is the same today. People can sit in the same service or have the same painful experience occur in their life and some will turn to God for salvation and peace and others will reject him. Through prevenient grace, Wesleyans believe that God is calling all people to God’s self and we then each have the ability to choose to accept God or not. Humanity has been given freewill and we each have to choose God for ourselves.

Our challenge is to be more like Simeon and Anna and recognize who Jesus is and where he is working in the world. We don’t want to have the Christ pass us by and not recognize him. Once we have found him, our challenge and call is also to help other people find him. We are to point others to Jesus and be a reflection of who he is. When others see us, how we act and who we hang around with should all point people to Christ. May this be so in our lives.

Grace and Peace.