The gift of receiving
Commentary
Christmas shops are not just for Christmas anymore. These stores that specialize in everything yuletide-ish do business year round and can be found everywhere. I have seen them in an outlet mall near Washington, D.C., nestled in a small village in the mountains of North Carolina and adorning the white sand beaches of the Alabama Gulf Coast.
To enter one of these shops is to experience both the nostalgic and the surreal. There are trees and lights and ornaments that look like museum pieces belonging to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. There are contemporary displays that leave you wondering what its connection to Christmas could possibly be. And then there are those memory-evoking displays that transport one back to one's childhood. For me it was the bubbling tree lights, the wispy-thin glass-blown ornaments and the fir tree, not real like I remember, but somehow just as fragrant.
I suspect there are folks who enter these stores, like me, with no intention of making a purchase, but simply to dream of Christmases past and the joys that accompanied them.
Isaiah 52:7-10
In reading this passage one is struck by the incongruities of the images presented. First, there are the messenger's feet, which are called beautiful. Why the feet? The messenger announces peace, so why not a beautiful voice? The messenger brings good news, so why not speak of the beauty and radiance of his countenance? I bought sandals this summer for the first time in a long while. In preparation for the purchase I began noticing the style of sandals other folks were wearing. I saw several nice sandals, but I must say that I saw few beautiful feet. To describe a good-news messenger's feet as beautiful is totally unexpected.
Secondly, the sighting of the sentinels seems incongruous. The purpose of a sentinel is to scan the horizon for the approach of friend or foe well in advance of their arrival. By the time the one approaching is in plain sight, everyone, not just the sentinels, should be able to see him. For the sentinels to announce what is in plain sight is totally unexpected.
Also incongruous are singing ruins. People sing. Choirs sing. Messengers and sentinels may sing. But ruins do not sing, they just lie there. That ruins would sing is totally unexpected. In fact, everything about this text is totally unexpected and that just may be Deutero-Isaiah's main point. (Note also that in the Psalm for today, some other inanimate objects sing. See "Preaching The Psalm," on page 73.)
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
This anonymous letter to the Hebrews is cast more in the form of a sermon than an epistle. The theme of this sermon, in a word, is Christ's superiority -- over ordinary humanity, over priests, even the High Priest, and over angels. This superior Christ, affirms the preacher, is none other than God's Son and our salvation.
However, Christ's superiority does not mean that he stands in discontinuity with creation or with all that has gone before. In fact, just the opposite is true. God has always been in conversation with humankind. Initially, God communicated directly, as with the first couple, with Abraham or with Moses. Later, God's communication was mediated through the prophets. Still later, the priesthood was the medium of God's message. Even though it may be true, as Richard Elliott Friedman argues in his book The Disappearance of God, that God's speech becomes less frequent the further one ventures into the Hebrew Scriptures, at no time does the voice of God completely cease. In continuity with all that has gone before, says the preacher to the Hebrews, God has in these days spoken to us by one who is of the very heart of God -- God's Son.
The Son stands in continuity not only with God as the agent of creation and the inheritor of all that was created, but he stands in continuity with humankind as well. Like humankind, he bears the image of God. Like humankind, his purpose is to reflect the glory of God. And like humankind, his task is to partner with God in the maintenance of the created order. Still, the Son carries this continuity to a new level, for he fulfills completely and consistently what humankind is able to fulfill only in part and sporadically.
Having accomplished his task, which includes the forgiveness of sin, the Son has taken his place in the heavenlies -- once again, in continuity with the celestial servants of God, but also, once again, surpassing their place of honor even as he has surpassed them in faithfulness.
In this brief opening statement the preacher to the Hebrews has set the essence of his sermon. The remainder of his message unpacks this concise statement through illustration, example and, most immediately (vv. 5-12), through scriptural support. God's purposes are historically consistent; God's Son demonstrates this divine continuity; and we are the beneficiaries.
John 1:1-14
The similarities between John's introduction and that of the Letter to the Hebrews are striking. In both the Son/Word is pre-existent. In both he is an agent of creation. In both, the Son/Word stands in continuity with humankind and manifestly reflects the glory of God. And in both the Son/Word is the agent of transformation. There are also differences, but these are differences in style and audience more than in content.
John's prologue (vv. 1-18) is well known and well loved and is certainly no stranger to sermonic development. My purpose here is simply to remind the interpreter of some nuances in the text in order that he/she might explore these nuances in critical commentaries.
The concepts associated with Logos (Word) have a rich history in Greek philosophy where Logos is something of a "first cause" or "prime mover." John's use of this term and his application of it to Jesus says much about John's theology and is a subject worthy of exploration.
Sentence division (not in the original) is an issue within this text. Verses 3 and 4 are a good example. Does the first sentence in verse 3 end after the second "being" (cf. NRSV) making 3b and 4a a combined thought? Or should the first sentence end after the first "him," the second sentence end at the conclusion of verse 3 and verse 4 begin a new thought? I am inclined to favor the latter for the mundane reasons of clarity and aesthetics -- the text simply reads better using the alternative punctuation.
John's use of "light" and "darkness" draws upon Greek philosophy as well as contemporary (for John) Hebrew thought. The terms could contrast good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, blindness and sight, faith and unfaith and/or any combination of these ideas. Also, the word "overcome" is interesting. Depending on one's choice of contrast, this word could mean "victory over," "comprehend," "put out" or "withstand."
John's has been called the most anti-Jewish of all the Gospels. Whether one agrees with that or not, it is certainly true that John has been used throughout Christian history to justify anti-Semitic actions by the church and by Christians. The interpreter must be aware of and sensitive to this history whose seeds are found in the seemingly innocuous words of verse 11.
The Word became incarnate (in-fleshed) and in so doing gave humankind not only a pure view of God's reality, but also the means for a renewed relationship between God and ourselves.
Application
Christmas, it seems, is made for memories and, like you, I have scenes of special Christmases indelibly etched in my memory. Most of these scenes, not surprisingly, come from childhood. I can remember the Christmas of my first Lionel train set, complete with an engine that smoked and tooted. I can also recall the Christmas I received a pair of skates -- not the fancy in-line fashion statements of today, but the kind that clamped to the bottom of your shoe, the kind with the metal wheels that seemed to make more noise than forward motion. I can remember my first Christmas bicycle, my first "white" Christmas and my first Christmas as a parent.
But of all Christmases past, one of the most special memories comes from my late pre-teen years. This was the Christmas when I was flush with holiday cash. All the previous year I had had a paper route and had faithfully saved a few dollars each month, which was placed in a "Christmas Box." When Christmas arrived I had almost $50 to spend on gifts for my family of five -- two parents and three siblings. Ten dollars apiece would move me from the local five-and-dime into serious shopping territory.
One day while shopping "downtown" in our small community I saw in an appliance store window the perfect gift for my mother. It was a shiny chrome toaster oven with a glass, see-through door. There was only one problem -- the toaster oven cost $35, more than half of the money I had available to spend on the entire family. To buy the toaster oven meant going back to Woolworth's for everyone else. After much anguish I made the decision and purchased the toaster.
On Christmas day I could hardly wait until my mother got to the present I had bought for her. When she did, I was not disappointed. She oohed and aahed and squealed and cried and went on and on about how perfect the gift was and how much she had always wanted a toaster oven just like this one. I cannot remember such a reaction to anything I had given her before. I don't recall what gifts I received that Christmas or really much of anything else about that day. But I can still remember the joy I felt when my mother accepted this gift of love that cost me so much.
Preachers all across the land will speak to their congregations today about God's great and wonderful gift to us of a Son and Savior -- a theme in all three texts. And, no doubt, someone will raise the question about what we can give in return. Among the many answers that will be offered to this question, let me add my own. Drawing from my own experience, I suggest that nothing could be a greater gift to God than joyfully receiving his gift to us. Ours is the gift of receiving.
Alternative Applications
Most congregations have their own Christmas Day traditions. For those that do not, here are a few thoughts that may generate some ideas.
1) Isaiah: In reaction to the standard "if it bleeds -- it leads" approach to news reporting, attempts have been made to establish news programs that report only good news. While these efforts have not always been commercially successful, the idea has merit.
For the Christmas Day celebration, a congregation could conduct a service of good news. Presentations could be given which would report the good being accomplished in, by and through the congregation.
2) Hebrews: In seminary ethics class, my professor would begin each class session by having the students write a few brief paragraphs in response to the question, "What is God saying to us through __________?" The blank would be filled in by some high profile event then currently in the news. The purpose of the exercises was to remind the student that God was still communicating with his people and to condition the student to be sensitive to God's polyphonic speech.
Some within our congregations may believe that God has said all he intends to say in Jesus and that since the incarnation God has been silent. One approach to this text would be to remind parishioners that God still speaks and to challenge them to listen for his voice in their daily doings. Inviting members to speak who have experienced and responded to God's voice might be a way of encouraging others to be more sensitive listeners.
3) John: At Christmastime, lights are hung and strung everywhere -- on trees, from eaves, around doors, in windows, on rooftops and lawns, everywhere. Folks will drive for miles to see unusual or especially creative light displays.
Playing on this theme of lights, a Christmas sermon might, in parable form, compare responses to Christmas lights with responses to the Light of the World. For example, some people demonstrate no interest in lights, either to display them or to view them. Some people do not display lights, but do like to view them, albeit from a distance and enveloped in darkness. Others like to display lights, but only indoors, in the privacy of their homes to be enjoyed only by themselves and selected friends. Still others actively participate in displaying lights outdoors for all to see and enjoy. These same reactions can be seen in response to the light Jesus brings into the world.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Isaiah 52:7-10
This brief salvation oracle from the sixth century B.C. prophecies of Second Isaiah is the stated Old Testament lesson in all three cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary. As such, it is a fitting announcement of the central meaning of Christmas.
When a nation or a people acquires a new leader or a new government, there is always a certain amount of hope aroused among the populace. My husband and I got to know a black South African clergyman during the oppressive days of apartheid in that country. He had a startling saying. "Where there is death, there is hope," he would say. That is, he knew that sooner or later the white leaders of the apartheid movement were going to die, and he took comfort and hope for the future of his country in that thought. What a relief and wonderful fulfillment of his hope it must have been when Nelson Mandela was elected as president of that country! South Africa could have a new beginning and a new future, free of racial oppression, and though that dream has not yet fully been realized, it is on its way toward completion.
New leaders or new governments, if they seem decent and sane, bring renewed hope to the governed. They promise a future better than the past, and so their people rejoice in that promise.
Such is the background of our Christmas text for today. It mirrors a custom of government in biblical Israel. When a new king ascended to the throne of that covenant people, messengers were sent throughout the country to announce the glad tidings of a new regime. The messengers sped on foot across hill and valley, and they bore the announcement that "so and so has become king (or queen)." A new era had begun. A new government was in place. And that announcement brought with it a better hope for the future.
So Second Isaiah draws on that custom. And in doing so, he gives us the first portrayal to be found in the Bible of an evangel, of a herald of good tidings. The feet of those messengers, of those evangels, who speed throughout the country side are called "beautiful," because they bring the good news that, with a new government, the people may finally know shalom. That is usually translated as "peace" in our English translations of the Bible, but it means much more than we usually take "peace" to mean. Shalom signifies fullness of life and wholeness, life in all of its abundance and goodness. And with a new government, the Israelites thought that perhaps they could finally enjoy shalom's gifts.
Second Isaiah is drawing on a practice, however, that was known only before Israel was conquered by the Babylonian Empire in 587 B.C., before its cities and temple were destroyed, and before most of Judah's remaining population was carried into Babylonian exile. But Second Isaiah is not speaking in the pre-exilic time. He is speaking to the Babylonian exiles, with whom he shares captivity. He is speaking to people who have lost everything -- their country, their Jerusalem capital city, their temple, their king, their material goods, and many of their young men in their military. Worst of all, Second Isaiah is speaking to a people who believe that God has forgotten them and that their way is hidden from their Lord (Isaiah 40:27).
To that exiled people, Second Isaiah therefore plays the evangel, the messenger of good news, and he tells them that they have a new king over their lives. Their new ruler is not a human king, however. Their Davidic human king languishes with them in exile's captivity. Rather, proclaims our prophet, "Your God reigns!" God is enthroned over Israel's life (cf. Psalm 47). The Lord rules their present and future.
But God does not rule his covenant people in some distant heaven. No. God is coming to save his people from their captivity. God is drawing near to lead them out of exile and to return them to Zion. In fact, that is one of the very first announcements in Second Isaiah's book. "Behold your God!" he cries out. "Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him" (40:9-10). The returning exiles ("his recompense") are with him, returning to Zion, and the Lord is tending them like a shepherd, gathering the lambs in his arms and carrying them in his bosom, while gently leading those who are with young (40:11). That is the gospel, the good news, that Second Isaiah announces to despairing Israel. God is coming to save his captive people, and all the nations of the earth will see his salvation of his people (52:10).
Is that not the same gospel, the same good news, of our Christmas celebration? We have always announced in the Christian church that God rules our lives, that he is King and Lord over us. When we first joined the Christian church, we confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. And though we have sometimes waffled on that confession and often seen no clear evidence of the rule of God over our ways, we nevertheless avow that he is indeed our Lord and Ruler.
But as he was in the days of Israel's Babylonian captivity, God still today is no distant Ruler, observing our lives from some distant heaven. No. God has come to us also. In the birth of his Son Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, the Ruler of us all has rent the heavens and come down to share our life and to take upon himself our human flesh, with all of humanity's trials and tribulations. God has not abandoned us. God has not left us separated from himself, captives to our sin and death in some situation of exile from him. Instead, he has drawn near to us in his incarnation, not only long ago in Bethlehem, but now in our present time. He is with us in his Spirit in the midst of this congregation, he speaks to us through the words of his scripture, he eats and drinks with us every time we partake of his Supper. And yes, he offers us the same salvation that he gave to his people Israel.
God did deliver Israel from her Babylonian captivity. Second Isaiah tells us that God raised up Cyrus of Persia to defeat the Babylonians (44:28; 45:1-7), and it was Cyrus who released that people to return to Jerusalem after 538 B.C. And so, too, our Lord, our King, incarnate for us in his Son Jesus Christ, can release us from our captivity also -- our captivity to guilt and sin, our captivity to society's tarnished ways and our own weak faults and stupid choices, our captivity to death and the meaninglessness of a transitory existence. God came to save us at Christ-mastime, good Christians. God comes to save us now. And as our Christmas carol says, "Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Lord enters in."
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 98
Like Psalm 96 (see Christmas Eve), Psalm 98 is another enthronement psalm, proclaiming the glory of Israel's God/King. It was possibly used at the ceremony enthroning the human king at the nation's new year festival. Verses 1-3 praise God the Savior, 4-6 praise God the King, and 7-9 God the Judge. Preaching possibilities include:
1) "The victory of our God" (v. 3) may have referred to Judah's return from exile, but from a New Testament perspective, it can be reinterpreted to refer to the saving power of God manifested in his sending Christ. While you likely will not select the psalm as your primary sermonic text for Christmas Day, it can be read in support of the victory that God the King set in play when Jesus arrived.
2) Verses 7 and 8 speak of the whole orchestra of creation chiming in to praise God, including "the world and those who live in it." Is it a stretch to talk about the birth of Christ in a stable for animals as an indication his Lordship over them as well? Perhaps, but Paul in Romans 8:22-23 talks about the whole creation waiting for the revelation of God. That the seas should roar, the floods clap their hands and the hills sing is poetic imagery to be sure, but they too have a stake in the redemption of creation.
To enter one of these shops is to experience both the nostalgic and the surreal. There are trees and lights and ornaments that look like museum pieces belonging to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. There are contemporary displays that leave you wondering what its connection to Christmas could possibly be. And then there are those memory-evoking displays that transport one back to one's childhood. For me it was the bubbling tree lights, the wispy-thin glass-blown ornaments and the fir tree, not real like I remember, but somehow just as fragrant.
I suspect there are folks who enter these stores, like me, with no intention of making a purchase, but simply to dream of Christmases past and the joys that accompanied them.
Isaiah 52:7-10
In reading this passage one is struck by the incongruities of the images presented. First, there are the messenger's feet, which are called beautiful. Why the feet? The messenger announces peace, so why not a beautiful voice? The messenger brings good news, so why not speak of the beauty and radiance of his countenance? I bought sandals this summer for the first time in a long while. In preparation for the purchase I began noticing the style of sandals other folks were wearing. I saw several nice sandals, but I must say that I saw few beautiful feet. To describe a good-news messenger's feet as beautiful is totally unexpected.
Secondly, the sighting of the sentinels seems incongruous. The purpose of a sentinel is to scan the horizon for the approach of friend or foe well in advance of their arrival. By the time the one approaching is in plain sight, everyone, not just the sentinels, should be able to see him. For the sentinels to announce what is in plain sight is totally unexpected.
Also incongruous are singing ruins. People sing. Choirs sing. Messengers and sentinels may sing. But ruins do not sing, they just lie there. That ruins would sing is totally unexpected. In fact, everything about this text is totally unexpected and that just may be Deutero-Isaiah's main point. (Note also that in the Psalm for today, some other inanimate objects sing. See "Preaching The Psalm," on page 73.)
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
This anonymous letter to the Hebrews is cast more in the form of a sermon than an epistle. The theme of this sermon, in a word, is Christ's superiority -- over ordinary humanity, over priests, even the High Priest, and over angels. This superior Christ, affirms the preacher, is none other than God's Son and our salvation.
However, Christ's superiority does not mean that he stands in discontinuity with creation or with all that has gone before. In fact, just the opposite is true. God has always been in conversation with humankind. Initially, God communicated directly, as with the first couple, with Abraham or with Moses. Later, God's communication was mediated through the prophets. Still later, the priesthood was the medium of God's message. Even though it may be true, as Richard Elliott Friedman argues in his book The Disappearance of God, that God's speech becomes less frequent the further one ventures into the Hebrew Scriptures, at no time does the voice of God completely cease. In continuity with all that has gone before, says the preacher to the Hebrews, God has in these days spoken to us by one who is of the very heart of God -- God's Son.
The Son stands in continuity not only with God as the agent of creation and the inheritor of all that was created, but he stands in continuity with humankind as well. Like humankind, he bears the image of God. Like humankind, his purpose is to reflect the glory of God. And like humankind, his task is to partner with God in the maintenance of the created order. Still, the Son carries this continuity to a new level, for he fulfills completely and consistently what humankind is able to fulfill only in part and sporadically.
Having accomplished his task, which includes the forgiveness of sin, the Son has taken his place in the heavenlies -- once again, in continuity with the celestial servants of God, but also, once again, surpassing their place of honor even as he has surpassed them in faithfulness.
In this brief opening statement the preacher to the Hebrews has set the essence of his sermon. The remainder of his message unpacks this concise statement through illustration, example and, most immediately (vv. 5-12), through scriptural support. God's purposes are historically consistent; God's Son demonstrates this divine continuity; and we are the beneficiaries.
John 1:1-14
The similarities between John's introduction and that of the Letter to the Hebrews are striking. In both the Son/Word is pre-existent. In both he is an agent of creation. In both, the Son/Word stands in continuity with humankind and manifestly reflects the glory of God. And in both the Son/Word is the agent of transformation. There are also differences, but these are differences in style and audience more than in content.
John's prologue (vv. 1-18) is well known and well loved and is certainly no stranger to sermonic development. My purpose here is simply to remind the interpreter of some nuances in the text in order that he/she might explore these nuances in critical commentaries.
The concepts associated with Logos (Word) have a rich history in Greek philosophy where Logos is something of a "first cause" or "prime mover." John's use of this term and his application of it to Jesus says much about John's theology and is a subject worthy of exploration.
Sentence division (not in the original) is an issue within this text. Verses 3 and 4 are a good example. Does the first sentence in verse 3 end after the second "being" (cf. NRSV) making 3b and 4a a combined thought? Or should the first sentence end after the first "him," the second sentence end at the conclusion of verse 3 and verse 4 begin a new thought? I am inclined to favor the latter for the mundane reasons of clarity and aesthetics -- the text simply reads better using the alternative punctuation.
John's use of "light" and "darkness" draws upon Greek philosophy as well as contemporary (for John) Hebrew thought. The terms could contrast good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, blindness and sight, faith and unfaith and/or any combination of these ideas. Also, the word "overcome" is interesting. Depending on one's choice of contrast, this word could mean "victory over," "comprehend," "put out" or "withstand."
John's has been called the most anti-Jewish of all the Gospels. Whether one agrees with that or not, it is certainly true that John has been used throughout Christian history to justify anti-Semitic actions by the church and by Christians. The interpreter must be aware of and sensitive to this history whose seeds are found in the seemingly innocuous words of verse 11.
The Word became incarnate (in-fleshed) and in so doing gave humankind not only a pure view of God's reality, but also the means for a renewed relationship between God and ourselves.
Application
Christmas, it seems, is made for memories and, like you, I have scenes of special Christmases indelibly etched in my memory. Most of these scenes, not surprisingly, come from childhood. I can remember the Christmas of my first Lionel train set, complete with an engine that smoked and tooted. I can also recall the Christmas I received a pair of skates -- not the fancy in-line fashion statements of today, but the kind that clamped to the bottom of your shoe, the kind with the metal wheels that seemed to make more noise than forward motion. I can remember my first Christmas bicycle, my first "white" Christmas and my first Christmas as a parent.
But of all Christmases past, one of the most special memories comes from my late pre-teen years. This was the Christmas when I was flush with holiday cash. All the previous year I had had a paper route and had faithfully saved a few dollars each month, which was placed in a "Christmas Box." When Christmas arrived I had almost $50 to spend on gifts for my family of five -- two parents and three siblings. Ten dollars apiece would move me from the local five-and-dime into serious shopping territory.
One day while shopping "downtown" in our small community I saw in an appliance store window the perfect gift for my mother. It was a shiny chrome toaster oven with a glass, see-through door. There was only one problem -- the toaster oven cost $35, more than half of the money I had available to spend on the entire family. To buy the toaster oven meant going back to Woolworth's for everyone else. After much anguish I made the decision and purchased the toaster.
On Christmas day I could hardly wait until my mother got to the present I had bought for her. When she did, I was not disappointed. She oohed and aahed and squealed and cried and went on and on about how perfect the gift was and how much she had always wanted a toaster oven just like this one. I cannot remember such a reaction to anything I had given her before. I don't recall what gifts I received that Christmas or really much of anything else about that day. But I can still remember the joy I felt when my mother accepted this gift of love that cost me so much.
Preachers all across the land will speak to their congregations today about God's great and wonderful gift to us of a Son and Savior -- a theme in all three texts. And, no doubt, someone will raise the question about what we can give in return. Among the many answers that will be offered to this question, let me add my own. Drawing from my own experience, I suggest that nothing could be a greater gift to God than joyfully receiving his gift to us. Ours is the gift of receiving.
Alternative Applications
Most congregations have their own Christmas Day traditions. For those that do not, here are a few thoughts that may generate some ideas.
1) Isaiah: In reaction to the standard "if it bleeds -- it leads" approach to news reporting, attempts have been made to establish news programs that report only good news. While these efforts have not always been commercially successful, the idea has merit.
For the Christmas Day celebration, a congregation could conduct a service of good news. Presentations could be given which would report the good being accomplished in, by and through the congregation.
2) Hebrews: In seminary ethics class, my professor would begin each class session by having the students write a few brief paragraphs in response to the question, "What is God saying to us through __________?" The blank would be filled in by some high profile event then currently in the news. The purpose of the exercises was to remind the student that God was still communicating with his people and to condition the student to be sensitive to God's polyphonic speech.
Some within our congregations may believe that God has said all he intends to say in Jesus and that since the incarnation God has been silent. One approach to this text would be to remind parishioners that God still speaks and to challenge them to listen for his voice in their daily doings. Inviting members to speak who have experienced and responded to God's voice might be a way of encouraging others to be more sensitive listeners.
3) John: At Christmastime, lights are hung and strung everywhere -- on trees, from eaves, around doors, in windows, on rooftops and lawns, everywhere. Folks will drive for miles to see unusual or especially creative light displays.
Playing on this theme of lights, a Christmas sermon might, in parable form, compare responses to Christmas lights with responses to the Light of the World. For example, some people demonstrate no interest in lights, either to display them or to view them. Some people do not display lights, but do like to view them, albeit from a distance and enveloped in darkness. Others like to display lights, but only indoors, in the privacy of their homes to be enjoyed only by themselves and selected friends. Still others actively participate in displaying lights outdoors for all to see and enjoy. These same reactions can be seen in response to the light Jesus brings into the world.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Isaiah 52:7-10
This brief salvation oracle from the sixth century B.C. prophecies of Second Isaiah is the stated Old Testament lesson in all three cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary. As such, it is a fitting announcement of the central meaning of Christmas.
When a nation or a people acquires a new leader or a new government, there is always a certain amount of hope aroused among the populace. My husband and I got to know a black South African clergyman during the oppressive days of apartheid in that country. He had a startling saying. "Where there is death, there is hope," he would say. That is, he knew that sooner or later the white leaders of the apartheid movement were going to die, and he took comfort and hope for the future of his country in that thought. What a relief and wonderful fulfillment of his hope it must have been when Nelson Mandela was elected as president of that country! South Africa could have a new beginning and a new future, free of racial oppression, and though that dream has not yet fully been realized, it is on its way toward completion.
New leaders or new governments, if they seem decent and sane, bring renewed hope to the governed. They promise a future better than the past, and so their people rejoice in that promise.
Such is the background of our Christmas text for today. It mirrors a custom of government in biblical Israel. When a new king ascended to the throne of that covenant people, messengers were sent throughout the country to announce the glad tidings of a new regime. The messengers sped on foot across hill and valley, and they bore the announcement that "so and so has become king (or queen)." A new era had begun. A new government was in place. And that announcement brought with it a better hope for the future.
So Second Isaiah draws on that custom. And in doing so, he gives us the first portrayal to be found in the Bible of an evangel, of a herald of good tidings. The feet of those messengers, of those evangels, who speed throughout the country side are called "beautiful," because they bring the good news that, with a new government, the people may finally know shalom. That is usually translated as "peace" in our English translations of the Bible, but it means much more than we usually take "peace" to mean. Shalom signifies fullness of life and wholeness, life in all of its abundance and goodness. And with a new government, the Israelites thought that perhaps they could finally enjoy shalom's gifts.
Second Isaiah is drawing on a practice, however, that was known only before Israel was conquered by the Babylonian Empire in 587 B.C., before its cities and temple were destroyed, and before most of Judah's remaining population was carried into Babylonian exile. But Second Isaiah is not speaking in the pre-exilic time. He is speaking to the Babylonian exiles, with whom he shares captivity. He is speaking to people who have lost everything -- their country, their Jerusalem capital city, their temple, their king, their material goods, and many of their young men in their military. Worst of all, Second Isaiah is speaking to a people who believe that God has forgotten them and that their way is hidden from their Lord (Isaiah 40:27).
To that exiled people, Second Isaiah therefore plays the evangel, the messenger of good news, and he tells them that they have a new king over their lives. Their new ruler is not a human king, however. Their Davidic human king languishes with them in exile's captivity. Rather, proclaims our prophet, "Your God reigns!" God is enthroned over Israel's life (cf. Psalm 47). The Lord rules their present and future.
But God does not rule his covenant people in some distant heaven. No. God is coming to save his people from their captivity. God is drawing near to lead them out of exile and to return them to Zion. In fact, that is one of the very first announcements in Second Isaiah's book. "Behold your God!" he cries out. "Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him" (40:9-10). The returning exiles ("his recompense") are with him, returning to Zion, and the Lord is tending them like a shepherd, gathering the lambs in his arms and carrying them in his bosom, while gently leading those who are with young (40:11). That is the gospel, the good news, that Second Isaiah announces to despairing Israel. God is coming to save his captive people, and all the nations of the earth will see his salvation of his people (52:10).
Is that not the same gospel, the same good news, of our Christmas celebration? We have always announced in the Christian church that God rules our lives, that he is King and Lord over us. When we first joined the Christian church, we confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. And though we have sometimes waffled on that confession and often seen no clear evidence of the rule of God over our ways, we nevertheless avow that he is indeed our Lord and Ruler.
But as he was in the days of Israel's Babylonian captivity, God still today is no distant Ruler, observing our lives from some distant heaven. No. God has come to us also. In the birth of his Son Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, the Ruler of us all has rent the heavens and come down to share our life and to take upon himself our human flesh, with all of humanity's trials and tribulations. God has not abandoned us. God has not left us separated from himself, captives to our sin and death in some situation of exile from him. Instead, he has drawn near to us in his incarnation, not only long ago in Bethlehem, but now in our present time. He is with us in his Spirit in the midst of this congregation, he speaks to us through the words of his scripture, he eats and drinks with us every time we partake of his Supper. And yes, he offers us the same salvation that he gave to his people Israel.
God did deliver Israel from her Babylonian captivity. Second Isaiah tells us that God raised up Cyrus of Persia to defeat the Babylonians (44:28; 45:1-7), and it was Cyrus who released that people to return to Jerusalem after 538 B.C. And so, too, our Lord, our King, incarnate for us in his Son Jesus Christ, can release us from our captivity also -- our captivity to guilt and sin, our captivity to society's tarnished ways and our own weak faults and stupid choices, our captivity to death and the meaninglessness of a transitory existence. God came to save us at Christ-mastime, good Christians. God comes to save us now. And as our Christmas carol says, "Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Lord enters in."
PREACHING THE PSALM
Psalm 98
Like Psalm 96 (see Christmas Eve), Psalm 98 is another enthronement psalm, proclaiming the glory of Israel's God/King. It was possibly used at the ceremony enthroning the human king at the nation's new year festival. Verses 1-3 praise God the Savior, 4-6 praise God the King, and 7-9 God the Judge. Preaching possibilities include:
1) "The victory of our God" (v. 3) may have referred to Judah's return from exile, but from a New Testament perspective, it can be reinterpreted to refer to the saving power of God manifested in his sending Christ. While you likely will not select the psalm as your primary sermonic text for Christmas Day, it can be read in support of the victory that God the King set in play when Jesus arrived.
2) Verses 7 and 8 speak of the whole orchestra of creation chiming in to praise God, including "the world and those who live in it." Is it a stretch to talk about the birth of Christ in a stable for animals as an indication his Lordship over them as well? Perhaps, but Paul in Romans 8:22-23 talks about the whole creation waiting for the revelation of God. That the seas should roar, the floods clap their hands and the hills sing is poetic imagery to be sure, but they too have a stake in the redemption of creation.
