First Sunday after Christmas
Preaching
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Object:
By specifying this text on the first Sunday after Christmas -- that day so often called "low Sunday," when the congregation is small and everyone is rather exhausted from the Christmas celebration -- the framers of the lectionary have intended these verses to be simply a praise of the love and redemption that God has manifested in the birth of our Savior at Bethlehem, a sort of "marking time," before we proceed with the church year.
Yet, the dark tones that we find in the gospel lesson prompt us to see deeper meanings here, and that becomes evident when we consider the context of this text. These verses form the first stanza of the communal lament, that is found in 63:7--64:12 and that is uttered by the Levitical-prophetic party in post-exilic Judah. The standard form of such laments includes: 1) a recounting of God's saving deeds in the past, as in verses 7-14; 2) a detailing of the community's present desperate situation, in verses 63:15-19; and 3) a petition for help, verses 64:1-12. Thus the praise in our text, verses 7-9, is uttered by those who must also confess that they have been in their sins a long time, that they all have become like one who is unclean, and that all their righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, 64:5-6. That sets the context of our text.
That also sets the connection of our text with the congregation -- with us -- however, for we who have received God's gift of the Christ child are also those who have rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit (63:10). And all of us, who have celebrated Christmas, are those who have seldom called upon the name of the Lord and bestirred ourselves to take hold of him (64:7). What does that say about the actions of God that are described in our text for the morning?
First of all, God's coming to us in the birth of Jesus has been totally undeserved on our part. Do any one of us deserve the redemption that God has begun in the birth of his Son? Have we earned God's love for us? Obviously not. Rather, we have deserved God's judgment upon us for our neglect of his company and our violation of his commands given us in the scriptures. Our just deserts would be God's abandonment of us altogether.
And yet, God has clung to his covenant relationship with us. He has shown us "steadfast love," which means he has always been faithful to his covenant, as he was also faithful to his covenant with Israel. When the Lord delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and entered into covenant with them at Mount Sinai, he promised them that he would be their God and they would be his special people, a nation set apart for his purpose (that is, a "holy nation") to be his "kingdom of priests," mediating the knowledge of him to the rest of the world (Exodus 19:4-6). And God has made the same promise to us (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Then through all the centuries of Israel's sin against him, God kept that promise, never deserting his people, but constantly forgiving and trying to instruct them and weeping over their evil deeds. And so too God in Jesus Christ has never deserted us, but has steadfastly clung to the covenant he makes with us every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Israel became God's adopted children when he delivered them out of slavery (Isaiah 63:8; Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 30:20), and God became their Father, loving them with the love surpassing that of all earthly fathers (Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 3:19; 31:9). And so too when we were baptized, we were adopted as God's children, given his Spirit that allows us to call him "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 6:6-7), and to pray with confidence to "Our Father, who art in heaven...."
The steadfast covenant love that God gave to Israel and that he still gives to us is therefore a love of the most intimate care and concern. There is nothing legalistic about God's relation to us, no cut and dried demand that we follow every jot and tittle of his commandments, no wrathful punishment when we do not measure up and fail. No. God's steadfast love is the love of a Father who will not desert his children -- a Father who disciplines us sometimes, to be sure, a Father who constantly has to forgive us, but a Father too who instructs us and watches over us, and comforts and guides us, and who will never leave or forsake us. In the words of Deuteronomy, always "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27), or in the Psalms, our earthly father and mother may forsake us, but the Lord will take us up (Psalm 27:10). We can therefore enter into the first verse of our text and make it our own prayer, for like Israel, we too have known the abundance of the steadfast love of the Lord, his great goodness, and his mercy (v. 7).
Second, because God was Israel's loving Father, he suffered when his children suffered. Indeed, he not only saw but also experienced their affliction. "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings," the Lord told Moses (Exodus 3:7). The God of the Bible is no distant Ruler, dispassionately observing his children on earth, subjecting them to the twists and turns of an indifferent purpose. No. "I know their sufferings," God says. As in our text, the Lord is afflicted with our afflictions. He suffers our suffering. All through the Old Testament he identifies with his people. And so, his supreme identification comes in the flesh of his Son, who enters into our life, and who knows our temptations, our struggles, our pains, and finally our death. In Jesus Christ, born at Bethlehem, God becomes flesh and blood like we, and he takes all that we are upon himself, and is afflicted with our afflictions.
Third and finally, God carried Israel all the days of her life. And so too does he carry us in Jesus Christ, taking us through our struggles when we have no more strength to go on, preventing us from wandering into paths of temptation and evil, shielding us from the harm that surrounds us in the world, and yes, finally bearing us safely through the valley of the shadow of death, into the light and joy and eternal life of his good kingdom.
In response to the love of such a God who has come to us at Christmastime, let us never be like those in the verse that follows our text who rebel and grieve his Holy Spirit (v. 10). And let us join in the praise from our text for the abundance of God's steadfast covenant love, for the mercy that he has showered upon us in his Son, and for his great goodness.
Yet, the dark tones that we find in the gospel lesson prompt us to see deeper meanings here, and that becomes evident when we consider the context of this text. These verses form the first stanza of the communal lament, that is found in 63:7--64:12 and that is uttered by the Levitical-prophetic party in post-exilic Judah. The standard form of such laments includes: 1) a recounting of God's saving deeds in the past, as in verses 7-14; 2) a detailing of the community's present desperate situation, in verses 63:15-19; and 3) a petition for help, verses 64:1-12. Thus the praise in our text, verses 7-9, is uttered by those who must also confess that they have been in their sins a long time, that they all have become like one who is unclean, and that all their righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, 64:5-6. That sets the context of our text.
That also sets the connection of our text with the congregation -- with us -- however, for we who have received God's gift of the Christ child are also those who have rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit (63:10). And all of us, who have celebrated Christmas, are those who have seldom called upon the name of the Lord and bestirred ourselves to take hold of him (64:7). What does that say about the actions of God that are described in our text for the morning?
First of all, God's coming to us in the birth of Jesus has been totally undeserved on our part. Do any one of us deserve the redemption that God has begun in the birth of his Son? Have we earned God's love for us? Obviously not. Rather, we have deserved God's judgment upon us for our neglect of his company and our violation of his commands given us in the scriptures. Our just deserts would be God's abandonment of us altogether.
And yet, God has clung to his covenant relationship with us. He has shown us "steadfast love," which means he has always been faithful to his covenant, as he was also faithful to his covenant with Israel. When the Lord delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and entered into covenant with them at Mount Sinai, he promised them that he would be their God and they would be his special people, a nation set apart for his purpose (that is, a "holy nation") to be his "kingdom of priests," mediating the knowledge of him to the rest of the world (Exodus 19:4-6). And God has made the same promise to us (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Then through all the centuries of Israel's sin against him, God kept that promise, never deserting his people, but constantly forgiving and trying to instruct them and weeping over their evil deeds. And so too God in Jesus Christ has never deserted us, but has steadfastly clung to the covenant he makes with us every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Israel became God's adopted children when he delivered them out of slavery (Isaiah 63:8; Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 30:20), and God became their Father, loving them with the love surpassing that of all earthly fathers (Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 3:19; 31:9). And so too when we were baptized, we were adopted as God's children, given his Spirit that allows us to call him "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 6:6-7), and to pray with confidence to "Our Father, who art in heaven...."
The steadfast covenant love that God gave to Israel and that he still gives to us is therefore a love of the most intimate care and concern. There is nothing legalistic about God's relation to us, no cut and dried demand that we follow every jot and tittle of his commandments, no wrathful punishment when we do not measure up and fail. No. God's steadfast love is the love of a Father who will not desert his children -- a Father who disciplines us sometimes, to be sure, a Father who constantly has to forgive us, but a Father too who instructs us and watches over us, and comforts and guides us, and who will never leave or forsake us. In the words of Deuteronomy, always "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27), or in the Psalms, our earthly father and mother may forsake us, but the Lord will take us up (Psalm 27:10). We can therefore enter into the first verse of our text and make it our own prayer, for like Israel, we too have known the abundance of the steadfast love of the Lord, his great goodness, and his mercy (v. 7).
Second, because God was Israel's loving Father, he suffered when his children suffered. Indeed, he not only saw but also experienced their affliction. "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings," the Lord told Moses (Exodus 3:7). The God of the Bible is no distant Ruler, dispassionately observing his children on earth, subjecting them to the twists and turns of an indifferent purpose. No. "I know their sufferings," God says. As in our text, the Lord is afflicted with our afflictions. He suffers our suffering. All through the Old Testament he identifies with his people. And so, his supreme identification comes in the flesh of his Son, who enters into our life, and who knows our temptations, our struggles, our pains, and finally our death. In Jesus Christ, born at Bethlehem, God becomes flesh and blood like we, and he takes all that we are upon himself, and is afflicted with our afflictions.
Third and finally, God carried Israel all the days of her life. And so too does he carry us in Jesus Christ, taking us through our struggles when we have no more strength to go on, preventing us from wandering into paths of temptation and evil, shielding us from the harm that surrounds us in the world, and yes, finally bearing us safely through the valley of the shadow of death, into the light and joy and eternal life of his good kingdom.
In response to the love of such a God who has come to us at Christmastime, let us never be like those in the verse that follows our text who rebel and grieve his Holy Spirit (v. 10). And let us join in the praise from our text for the abundance of God's steadfast covenant love, for the mercy that he has showered upon us in his Son, and for his great goodness.
