A Late Christmas Card
Commentary
Just when you thought the holidays were over, when the last of the holiday snacks, Chex Mix and cookies and the fruit in the basket that arrived in the mail, were finally eaten, New Year’s celebrated and the football games turned off for the moment, and things are almost back to normal — along comes a late Christmas card, with its traditional picture of shepherds and kings and angels and cows and sheep and the light shining out of the manger, a tried and true quotation from scripture or a reference to a Christmas carol, and a swiftly penned greeting from an old friend, to make it all real again. Maybe Christmas isn’t over after all.
Today we get three late Christmas cards to choose from, to mix or match. Jeremiah gives us a good dose of Isaiah, language about the return of the people that reminds us we’re still on the pilgrim journey. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians illuminates the depths of the mystery, revealed once for the ages, and still revealing itself to us with new insights and wonders.
And that star of wonder still beckons us to join the wise who seek the newborn king, as it did the Magi two thousand years ago.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
For many of us Christmas, like Easter, is a movable feast — not all of us celebrate it on December 25. Because of family obligations extending in several directions, some of us will still be meeting up. Those of us from religious traditions that hold to the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian (long story) Christmas is imminent. And even if your decorations have been wrapped, repackaged, and stored away, there may still be a Christmas card winging its way in our direction to remind us it’s still a holy time of the year.
Jeremiah gives us a good dose of Isaiah, language about the return of the people that reminds us we’re still on the pilgrim journey. We are returning home, and this is God’s doing — indeed, we could not accomplish God’s task of restoration and reunion without God’s help. “For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him,” Jeremiah writes (Jeremaih 31:11). I am immediately reminded of the words from Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress: “Did we in our own strength confide the battle would be losing….” The great things happening are part of God’s good plan.
The images of from this passage, of God gathering us together from “the farthest parts of the earth…a great company (vs 8) put me in mind of another great company gathered by God. The poet John Donne writes about the gathering of all peoples at the end of time:
At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arises
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scatter'd bodies go;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,
All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes
Shall behold God and never taste death's woe.
But the poet also reminds us it’s not enough to be called from death into real life by God. We need to be ready. So he continues:
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For if above all these my sins abound,
'Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace
When we are there; here on this lowly ground
Teach me how to repent; for that's as good
As if thou hadst seal'd my pardon with thy blood.
God is calling us together for a great homeward journey — but it is up to us to believe, confess, repent, and ready ourselves for this great and holy day!
Ephesians 1:3-14
Did you ever notice how many Christmas cards feature animals, often dressed in human clothes and living in rustic human houses, celebrating Christmas? Outside it is snowing, but they are indoors, before the fire, baking cookies, wrapping presents, or decorating trees.
It seems ridiculous — but one of the best chapters in the classic The Wind in the Willows features Ratty helping Mole celebrate the season by raiding the cupboards, preparing holiday cheer, inviting the animals out caroling into the home, and sharing the special treats of the season.
Consider how many of us who live with pets and cherish their company gave them a gift on Christmas. Or if not a gift, at least a special treat, or a Christmas greeting. Some of us speak for our dogs with a semi-humorous voice, and read human emotions in their actions. I’m no exception. Our dogs get new toys at Christmas. They take part in our celebration, even though they don’t have a clue what we’re about on this day. Is this silly? Perhaps. But is it any more absurd than God’s audacious plan to treat us—who come from dust and to dust shall return—as spiritual creatures, as children, and as heirs, by becoming one of us? Doesn’t God speak to us and for us in a voice we can barely understand sometimes, ignoring what seems to be our violent and earthy natures, to elevate us and make us worthy of divine and eternal society? Jesus, the lavish gift of God, is here! It’s God’s plan, and we’re in it.
Paul’s message to the Ephesians reminds us God “destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…” (1:5) That sounds a lot like our good pleasure at including pets in our celebration. The hymn “I Wonder as I Wander” includes the phrase, “for poor, ornery people like you and like I….” When we consider the wonders of creation, the earth, the seas, the heavens, our awe increasing as our greater understanding of the universe makes it clear how little we truly know, “What are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4) That is some of what Paul is communicating to the Ephesians, that God’s “…plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (1:10) is astounding, yet true.
Matthew 2:1-12
The Magi are featured on many Christmas cards, but I’ve sometimes wondered if we shouldn’t save images of moonlight and camels and gift-bearing kings for the Epiphany season. They are certainly a favorite image for many of us. Kids love to be a king in the Christmas pageant. They get to wear a crown and carry a treasure chest. And who doesn’t love to sing “We Three Kings”? Those kings look very noble in our nativity sets.
However, the Greek word magi should be translated “magician,” “astrologer,” or “sorcerer”! Magi are not presented in a good light elsewhere in the New Testament. The evil Simon Magus (the singular of magi) believed the Holy Spirit, like secret cosmic knowledge, could be bought for a price (Acts 8:9-24). In Ephesus, magi opposed Paul’s ministry because a treasure trove of magic books, worth 165 years’ worth of daily wages, were destroyed publicly by converts to Christianity (Acts 19:18-20).
But I like “sorcerers” as a translation, because the sorcerers in Matthew’s Gospel (like the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable as told in Luke) confounded conventional wisdom by acting righteously. They act out of character — the first listeners to Luke’s Gospel might well have expected, having heard the word “Magi,” that they would an ominous harbinger of evil, who might intend harm to this king. They should be up to no good. Yet they are the ones who bring gifts, and they listen to the angelic dream which instructs them to return by a different route, breaking their pledge to King Herod to tell them where the Messiah lived.
What was the significance of the star, featured in so many Christmas cards? The Magi were astrologers, accustomed to reading signs in the sky. Yet our faith does not lead to us look for signs in the stars, even though the Magi set out on their long journey because of what they saw in the heavens.
Don’t forget: while a star may have pointed them in the right direction, scripture gets them to their final destination. Having followed the star to Jerusalem, they are told by Herod’s religious experts that Micah’s prophecy, originally delivered to assure God’s people that a king like David would come from Bethlehem and protect them against the nation-devouring Assyrians, could be interpreted to mean God was sending another shepherd-king to Bethlehem to bring peace and security.
And in AD 115, Ignatius, the overseer of the Christians of Antioch, wrote about the star to the Ephesian Christians as he was being shipped to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts for refusing to deny Christ. Ignatius tells the believers in Ephesus that certain beliefs have been hidden, but Christ has been revealed in this way: “One star in the heavens outshone all the other stars, and its light, beyond words, and its foreignness astounded all the rest, so that a chorus of stars, together with the sun and the moon gathered around it. So much greater was its light that they were puzzled— what was this new thing so unlike everything else? But this is how magic and fear were outshone, ignorance washed away, and the old kingdom was destroyed, for God was revealed in a human to reveal the newness of life eternal. Everything was changed because the plan was for death to be dissolved.”
The star in the heavens reminds us that in our journey as Christians we are called to conquer our own ignorance, to see all people in God’s light.
Today we get three late Christmas cards to choose from, to mix or match. Jeremiah gives us a good dose of Isaiah, language about the return of the people that reminds us we’re still on the pilgrim journey. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians illuminates the depths of the mystery, revealed once for the ages, and still revealing itself to us with new insights and wonders.
And that star of wonder still beckons us to join the wise who seek the newborn king, as it did the Magi two thousand years ago.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
For many of us Christmas, like Easter, is a movable feast — not all of us celebrate it on December 25. Because of family obligations extending in several directions, some of us will still be meeting up. Those of us from religious traditions that hold to the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian (long story) Christmas is imminent. And even if your decorations have been wrapped, repackaged, and stored away, there may still be a Christmas card winging its way in our direction to remind us it’s still a holy time of the year.
Jeremiah gives us a good dose of Isaiah, language about the return of the people that reminds us we’re still on the pilgrim journey. We are returning home, and this is God’s doing — indeed, we could not accomplish God’s task of restoration and reunion without God’s help. “For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him,” Jeremiah writes (Jeremaih 31:11). I am immediately reminded of the words from Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress: “Did we in our own strength confide the battle would be losing….” The great things happening are part of God’s good plan.
The images of from this passage, of God gathering us together from “the farthest parts of the earth…a great company (vs 8) put me in mind of another great company gathered by God. The poet John Donne writes about the gathering of all peoples at the end of time:
At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arises
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scatter'd bodies go;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,
All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes
Shall behold God and never taste death's woe.
But the poet also reminds us it’s not enough to be called from death into real life by God. We need to be ready. So he continues:
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For if above all these my sins abound,
'Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace
When we are there; here on this lowly ground
Teach me how to repent; for that's as good
As if thou hadst seal'd my pardon with thy blood.
God is calling us together for a great homeward journey — but it is up to us to believe, confess, repent, and ready ourselves for this great and holy day!
Ephesians 1:3-14
Did you ever notice how many Christmas cards feature animals, often dressed in human clothes and living in rustic human houses, celebrating Christmas? Outside it is snowing, but they are indoors, before the fire, baking cookies, wrapping presents, or decorating trees.
It seems ridiculous — but one of the best chapters in the classic The Wind in the Willows features Ratty helping Mole celebrate the season by raiding the cupboards, preparing holiday cheer, inviting the animals out caroling into the home, and sharing the special treats of the season.
Consider how many of us who live with pets and cherish their company gave them a gift on Christmas. Or if not a gift, at least a special treat, or a Christmas greeting. Some of us speak for our dogs with a semi-humorous voice, and read human emotions in their actions. I’m no exception. Our dogs get new toys at Christmas. They take part in our celebration, even though they don’t have a clue what we’re about on this day. Is this silly? Perhaps. But is it any more absurd than God’s audacious plan to treat us—who come from dust and to dust shall return—as spiritual creatures, as children, and as heirs, by becoming one of us? Doesn’t God speak to us and for us in a voice we can barely understand sometimes, ignoring what seems to be our violent and earthy natures, to elevate us and make us worthy of divine and eternal society? Jesus, the lavish gift of God, is here! It’s God’s plan, and we’re in it.
Paul’s message to the Ephesians reminds us God “destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…” (1:5) That sounds a lot like our good pleasure at including pets in our celebration. The hymn “I Wonder as I Wander” includes the phrase, “for poor, ornery people like you and like I….” When we consider the wonders of creation, the earth, the seas, the heavens, our awe increasing as our greater understanding of the universe makes it clear how little we truly know, “What are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4) That is some of what Paul is communicating to the Ephesians, that God’s “…plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (1:10) is astounding, yet true.
Matthew 2:1-12
The Magi are featured on many Christmas cards, but I’ve sometimes wondered if we shouldn’t save images of moonlight and camels and gift-bearing kings for the Epiphany season. They are certainly a favorite image for many of us. Kids love to be a king in the Christmas pageant. They get to wear a crown and carry a treasure chest. And who doesn’t love to sing “We Three Kings”? Those kings look very noble in our nativity sets.
However, the Greek word magi should be translated “magician,” “astrologer,” or “sorcerer”! Magi are not presented in a good light elsewhere in the New Testament. The evil Simon Magus (the singular of magi) believed the Holy Spirit, like secret cosmic knowledge, could be bought for a price (Acts 8:9-24). In Ephesus, magi opposed Paul’s ministry because a treasure trove of magic books, worth 165 years’ worth of daily wages, were destroyed publicly by converts to Christianity (Acts 19:18-20).
But I like “sorcerers” as a translation, because the sorcerers in Matthew’s Gospel (like the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable as told in Luke) confounded conventional wisdom by acting righteously. They act out of character — the first listeners to Luke’s Gospel might well have expected, having heard the word “Magi,” that they would an ominous harbinger of evil, who might intend harm to this king. They should be up to no good. Yet they are the ones who bring gifts, and they listen to the angelic dream which instructs them to return by a different route, breaking their pledge to King Herod to tell them where the Messiah lived.
What was the significance of the star, featured in so many Christmas cards? The Magi were astrologers, accustomed to reading signs in the sky. Yet our faith does not lead to us look for signs in the stars, even though the Magi set out on their long journey because of what they saw in the heavens.
Don’t forget: while a star may have pointed them in the right direction, scripture gets them to their final destination. Having followed the star to Jerusalem, they are told by Herod’s religious experts that Micah’s prophecy, originally delivered to assure God’s people that a king like David would come from Bethlehem and protect them against the nation-devouring Assyrians, could be interpreted to mean God was sending another shepherd-king to Bethlehem to bring peace and security.
And in AD 115, Ignatius, the overseer of the Christians of Antioch, wrote about the star to the Ephesian Christians as he was being shipped to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts for refusing to deny Christ. Ignatius tells the believers in Ephesus that certain beliefs have been hidden, but Christ has been revealed in this way: “One star in the heavens outshone all the other stars, and its light, beyond words, and its foreignness astounded all the rest, so that a chorus of stars, together with the sun and the moon gathered around it. So much greater was its light that they were puzzled— what was this new thing so unlike everything else? But this is how magic and fear were outshone, ignorance washed away, and the old kingdom was destroyed, for God was revealed in a human to reveal the newness of life eternal. Everything was changed because the plan was for death to be dissolved.”
The star in the heavens reminds us that in our journey as Christians we are called to conquer our own ignorance, to see all people in God’s light.
