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1st SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
Here are the lessons for the first Sunday after Christmas with a thumbnail sketch of
their context:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3-O Sing For Joy to God our Strength
The prophet is overjoyed as he peers into God’s future for Israel and also for the
nations. The images of an exquisitely dressed groom and that of a bride convey the sense
of the prophet’s joy. God’s justice will come to the nations to the extent that
God’s righteous acts will resemble a garden in the early rainy season with sprouts
springing up and tendrils running everywhere. Thus overjoyed with such visions of sugar
plums dancing in his head, the prophet will not cease to pray for Jerusalem until vision
becomes reality. When such a convergence occurs even the nations remote from Israel will
not fail to be dazzled by God’s glory. So renewed and transformed will Israel be,
that God will give cup Jerusalem in hand and give her a new name.
Galatians 4:4-7-The Rest of the Story
The lectionary committees have selected this passage for the first Sunday after
Christmas no doubt to remind worshipers of the theological ramifications of what
we’ve just celebrated on the 25th. Christmas is exhausting! But in view of the larger
theological significance of incarnation, the birth of Jesus is but a blip on the cosmic
screen. Even while we’re still putting the wrapping paper away, Scripture reminds us
that the rest of the story-the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ-promises us a rescue from slavery in all its forms and adoption into God’s
global family. "And since you are his child," Paul says, "everything he has
belongs to you."
Luke 2:22-40-Normalcy Around The Extraordinary
In other years, a portion of this passage shows up during Epiphany where Simeon attests
to Jesus as being the promised one as well as that of Anna’s prophecy. Our lesson,
however, begins earlier with the parents of Jesus doing pretty much normal activities like
having Jesus circumcised and named, Mary purified, and Jesus dedicated to the God.
Following Simeon’s and Anna’s epiphany of who Jesus was destined to grow into,
the lesson ends with reactions-Jesus’ parents must have had to work through such
portentous words! But they conclude their otherwise "normal" activities and
return home. Yet, the narrator whispers to us that though back in routine place and time
and sameness, this child was already beginning to grow up in all ways under the special
favor of the divine.
