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1st SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
We’ve by this time made it through the stress of Christmas plays, cantatas,
vigils, friends and fellowship and now finally arrive at our first Sunday after the 25th.
The lessons for this Sunday hold out marvelous promise and insights into Incarnation
(Isaiah 63). In these lessons are excellent praise, (Psalm 148), a behind-the-scenes
theological reflection on the larger vision of Incarnation (Hebrews 2) and a darker side
of Christmas (Matthew 2). Enjoy!
PSALM 148—NOT ENOUGH REASONS TO OFFER PRAISE?
Like stockings that bulge on the mantle, in a Dickensian
Christmas, so the psalmist fills the day after Christmas with a variety of motivations for
offering God praise. The psalm issues playful commands—"praise the
Lord—heavens . . . angels . . . sun and moon . . . twinkling stars . . .skies . . .
vapors . . . ocean depths . . . fire and hail, snow and storm . . . mountains and hills .
. . cedars . . . reptiles and animals . . . human beings . . . and every created
thing."
ISAIAH 63:7-9—A SAVIOR HAS COME
With shepherds in bathrobes and family gift-giving still fresh in
many people’s minds, this passage speaks directly to the heart of Incarnation and the
Savior behind the Season. Similar to Psalm 148, the opening line seeks to "recount
the gracious deeds of the lord." What follows is a marvelous "Christmas
story" of God’s great favor, mercy, and steadfast love shown to Israel,
God’s becoming a "savior" to them. And all of these gifts showered on
humanity simply because God made a choice to love and lift and carry God’s people.
HEBREWS 2:10--18—PURPOSE-DRIVEN BABY
Lest we be lured into the I’ll-be-home-for-Christmas nostalgia
and sentimentality of the season, this lesson looks beyond crèches and swaddling clothes
to the larger mission of Incarnation. In this passage the writer looks for the meaning
behind Christmas: redemptive suffering. In order to rescue humanity, God sent the Son to
be God-enfleshed among humanity so that through his humanity-wrapped-around-divinity,
people could be freed from the power of death. But such a salvation required God to become
a real human being.
MATTHEW 2:13-23—CATCHING THE FIRST TRAIN OUT OF TOWN
Though occurring later in the Advent of Christ—probably
about two years after his birth—we come to the dark side of Christmas: a king goes on
a manhunt to exterminate a pretender to the throne. The pretender, of course, is Jesus;
still just an infant, but in King Herod’s eyes, the baby appears as a dangerous foe.
So Joseph and Mary and baby quietly slip out unnoticed and relocate in Egypt. Tricked
through supernatural global positioning (the Lord appeared in a dream, v. 13), an
infuriated Herod launches a pogrom on helpless children two years and under. At this point
Matthew inserts a prophecy fulfillment, and this dark story ends when Herod dies and an
angel instructs the holy family to return to Palestine.
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