The Second Sunday after Christmas, 4 January 2015
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a
St. Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23, or St. Luke 2:41-52, or St.
Matthew 2:1-12
Background: From Christmas to Epiphany
In past comments
I’ve described the important days that immediately follow Christmas, namely St.
Stephen’s Day (26 December), St. John’s Day (27 December), and The Holy
Innocents (28 December). In the Lutheran
and Episcopal Calendars, there are provisions for Christmas I and Christmas II,
the Sundays following Christmas. The Roman calendar is different, with its
provision for The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that falls on the
Sunday immediately following Christmas. The Gospel for that celebration is the
account of the Presentation (St.
Luke 2:22-40). The Gospels for the first and second Sundays of Christmas in
the Episcopal and Lutheran Calendars are the Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1) for the First Sunday, and
a choice of Gospels for the Second Sunday – the Gospel for Holy Innocents Day (St. Matthew 2:13-23)
although leaving out Herod’s rage and the slaughter of the Innocents, the trip
with the adolescent Jesus to the Temple (St. Luke 2:41-52) and finally
the Gospel for the Feast of the Epiphany (St. Matthew 2:1-12). The first
of January is observed in the Roman calendar as The Octave Day of the Nativity
of Our Lord, the Solemnity of Mary the holy Mother of God, with a reprise of
the Lucan Birth Narrative. In
the Lutheran and Episcopal Calendars it is observed as the Holy Name with the
Gospel, St. Luke 2:15-21,
the same as the Roman Gospel, but with the verses speaking of the circumcision
of Jesus (which preserves the older name for the day). The Roman calendar
observes the Epiphany on the nearest Sunday (this year the 4th),
while the Episcopal and Lutheran Calendars keep it on its usual day but with
the option of reading its Gospel on Christmas II.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Thus says the
LORD:
Sing aloud with
gladness for Jacob,
and raise
shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give
praise, and say,
"Save, O
LORD, your people,
the remnant of
Israel."
See, I am going
to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them
from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the
blind and the lame, those with child and
those in labor,
together;
a great
company, they shall return here.
With weeping
they shall come,
and with
consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them
walk by brooks of water,
in a straight
path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have
become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is
my firstborn.
Hear the word
of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it
in the coastlands far away;
say, "He
who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep
him as a shepherd a flock."
For the LORD
has ransomed Jacob,
and has
redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come
and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall
be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain,
the wine, and the oil,
and over the
young of the flock and the herd;
their life
shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall
never languish again.
Then shall the
young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young
men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn
their mourning into joy,
I will comfort
them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
I will give the
priests their fill of fatness,
and my people
shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the LORD.
These words seem familiar to us, in that we have probably
read them, or at least phrases like them in the material from II Isaiah. There
is scholarly debate on the “genuineness” of these sections – how much is Jeremiah
and how much is from another source, and from what period of his ministry did
these words come? It is clear that Jeremiah proclaims a hopeful message here,
either in retrospect to the victims in the northern kingdom, or currently to
the exiles in Babylon. None-the-less they are hopeful, and messianic words for
us, following the Christmas feast. There is a hint of what will become the
universalism of Jeremiah, “and gather
them from the farthest parts of the earth” and his emerging theology of the
“remnant.” God is the one who is seen as scattering the flock and then calling
them back, the traditional prophetic theme of faithlessness, punishment, and
then return.
Breaking open Jeremiah:
- How is God’s Word for you
a gushing brook?
- Has God made highways
through the desert for you?
- Have you made that happen
for others?
Psalm 84 or 84:1-8 Quam dilecta!
How dear to me
is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts! *
My soul has a
desire and longing for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my
flesh rejoice in the living God.
The sparrow has
found her a house
and the swallow
a nest where she may lay her young; *
by the side of
your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my
God.
Happy are they
who dwell in your house! *
they will
always be praising you.
Happy are the
people whose strength is in you! *
whose hearts
are set on the pilgrims' way.
Those who go
through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs, *
for the early
rains have covered it with pools of water.
They will climb
from height to height, *
and the God of
gods will reveal himself in Zion.
LORD God of
hosts, hear my prayer; *
hearken, O God
of Jacob.
Behold our
defender, O God; *
and look upon
the face of your Anointed.
For one day in
your courts is better than a thousand in my own room, *
and to stand at
the threshold of the house of my God
than to dwell
in the tents of the wicked.
For the LORD
God is both sun and shield; *
he will give
grace and glory;
No good thing
will the LORD withhold *
from those who
walk with integrity.
O LORD of hosts,
*
happy are they
who put their trust in you!
This pilgrim song uses powerful language to describe the
author’s longing (the verbs in Hebrew add an almost sexual intensity to the
phrases) for the “courts of the Lord’s house.” The temple precincts are seen as
inclusive rather than exclusive, for even small birds are welcome there,
nesting in the cracks in the façade. The pilgrimage that is described here, ‘Happy are the people whose strength is in
you! Whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way’ are reminiscent of the
sentiments in the passage from Jeremiah in the first reading (and equally
reminiscent of readings from II Isaiah.) The following verses about the gushing
springs especially recall the Jeremiah and II Isaiah passages. As the pilgrims
make their way up to Jerusalem, they and the verses that describe them become
aware of the wall towers (ramparts) that protect the holy city, and provide
entry to the place where God dwells. It is also the place from which the King
administers justice, and so some of the pilgrim’s fervor and prayers are
centered on the Davidic kingship, which God has anointed as protector and
“shield”. In the final verses however, God is revealed as a shield, ‘For the Lord God is both sun and
shield.’ Thus dwelling in the capitol,
as opposed to dwelling in the midst of the wicked, is the preferable way – for
God withholds nothing from those ‘who
walk with integrity.’
Breaking open Psalm 84:
- In what ways are you a
pilgrim?
- How does the church or
your faith enable your pilgrimage?
- What is your spiritual
destination?
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be
holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his
children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love
toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for
you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as
you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may
know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his
glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness
of his power for us who believe.
In preparing to read this passage or to preach on it, or
even to spend some time of devotion with it, it might be helpful to recognize
the strong baptismal background evident in the initial verses. And if we are tempted
to look for a personal predestination here, we will be disappointed, for the
community seems to be the focus of God’s actions toward us, and the center from
which praise is rendered to God. The
second section (verses 15-19a) reveals the mystery of reconciliation. Again,
the community of saints is the focus. The section begins with a prayer for “wisdom and revelation” so that we might
know him, and through him the mystery (the hope) to which we are called – both
Jew and Gentile. There is no fulfillment here, but only initiation and
prayer. As we launch into the Sundays
after Epiphany, and meditate on the ministry and teaching of Jesus, these
passages seem to provide and excellent place and manner of beginning.
Breaking open Ephesians:
- What does God intend for
you?
- In what ways do you look
back to your Baptism?
- How do you look forward
from your Baptism?
St. Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
Now after the
wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
"Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain
there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy
him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went
to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what
had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have
called my son."
When Herod
died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and
said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of
Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph
got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when
he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he
was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the
district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that
what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be
called a Nazorean."
Or
St. Luke 2:41-52
Now the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem every year for
the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as
usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return,
the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.
Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then
they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did
not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days
they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and
asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding
and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother
said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father
and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." He said to them,
"Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my
Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he
went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother
treasured all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine
and human favor.
Or
St. Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking,
"Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed
his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod
heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together
all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the
Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has
been written by the prophet:
`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from
them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem,
saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found
him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they
had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that
they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child
was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt
down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him
gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not
to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
For the liturgy planner, or for the preacher we are met with
a dizzying collection of Gospel possibilities. This richness is not one of
largess so much as indecision as to the actual nature of the day. Is it a
belated Holy Innocents/Christmas, or looking ahead to Jesus and the Holy
Family, or incorporating Epiphany? In
the first selection we see Jesus placed by Matthew in the heart of the history
of Israel – actually in the heart of their Salvation History. The second selection,
from Luke sees the fulfillment of that vision of Jesus in the heart of Judaism.
It is he who knows and understands the ancient teachings. The lesson might also
be about what it means to be a family, family with father and mother, or family
as the community of faith. The final anticipatory passages from Matthew that
deal with the Magi opens the door to Jesus in the midst of the nations – in the
heart of the Gentile, if you will.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- What is the heart of the
faith of Israel?
- What is the heart of the
faith of Christianity?
- How are these combined in
your heart?
After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the
Collect for Sunday:
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully
restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life
of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who
lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Questions and
comments copyright © 2014, Michael T. Hiller
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