2nd Sunday of Christmas

Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18 

John 1: 1-18

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
  ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
  ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

. . .

The Remnant

Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Contrary to Walmart and some other retailers’ attempts to impose their policies and business strategies on us, today is the 12th and last day of Christmas, and not Monday, December 23, when those who were finally off work and had some extra time for last-minute gifts or decorations were met with shelves full of Valentine’s Day stuff. Not even leftover items at discount prices were left behind. Christmas was gone even before it began.

It was a restful Christmas for the Vieira household, a much-needed time to cleanse the mind and prepare for the year ahead. There was an abundance of loved ones, close friends, and delicious food—too much delicious food, I might say. 

One of the highlights of our winter break was our traditional Christmas Day supper, which consisted of roast beef as the main dish, shrimp potato salad, and, of course, my birthday cake for dessert. As has been customary for twenty years or so, it was a lovely evening in the company of our old friend, Grandpa Stewart. The roast beef was particularly delicious—more medium than medium-rare, but still the best in recent years. 

However, we had a problem this year. Lily was still in the middle of her holiday adventure with friends in Utah, so we ended up with lots of leftover, excellent beef. I felt somewhat disappointed. A roast is never the same on the day after. Yet we debated a bit about what to do with all that meat. Reheating it became quickly out of the question. Either as a half-roast or steaks, the pinkness would be gone. A good suggestion was made of slicing the refrigerated beef and using it as deli meat for sandwiches, but the idea did not get further traction. 

Eventually, we settled for fajitas. I know, thinking that this would work could sound too ambitious for a reclaiming project. Looking back, it almost makes no sense. Yet, not on the day after Christmas, but about 48 hours later – because we needed a break from rich foods – the leftover cold beef was sliced into strips and sautéed with garlic, onions, bell peppers, and jalapeños to be repurposed into a completely different dish, with an entirely different flavor profile, and yet, as delicious as the original holiday main course, despite being the most expensive fajitas ever made. The Vieiras’ understanding of how to handle Christmas leftovers forever changed. 

Another, and fancy, word for leftover is remnant. Remnant is also a biblical word.   In the Old Testament mainline narrative, God is always restoring the remnant of God’s people.

It begins with the central message of the flood story. Creation, and more specifically, humanity, has gone awry. God starts over, selecting a few animals and people to represent the general remnant, but with a dose of divine repentance. Never again to destroy the earth, God promised. 

Next comes Abraham, the lone example of absolute trust in God. To him, God promises nations of heirs. But God delivers God’s promise only at a very old age, when nothing much remains of Abraham and Sarah’s once proud and hopeful personhood. This would not have been possible without God’s full majesty.  

Everything goes more or less well, given the circumstances, until Abraham’s great-grandchildren. Out of jealousy, Joseph, the youngest of Jacob, son of Isaac, is left to die by his siblings and ends up sold as a slave into Egypt, only to rise up to power second only to Pharaoh. A great famine reaches God’s people, and Joseph’s siblings are forced to travel to the foreign and great land, hoping for grain. When Joseph meets them and reveals himself, and everyone reading is waiting for his wrath to be known, the word “ remnant” first appears in the biblical narrative. A weeping Joseph says to them instead, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life … God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors (Genesis 45:5, 7).” God did not only fully restore whatever love was left over among these stranged brothers but also the faith and hope of an entire nation. This would never happen without the full power of God to restore what is left behind.

Then, according to the Bible, this entire nation became enslaved, with very little dignity left in them. Then God heard their cries, sent them a marginalized leftover leader named Moses, and empowered them with a set of instructions, the law, the Torah, as another promise, a covenant of life. It contained everything the people of God needed at that time to thrive out of love and trust in God and care for their neighbors and strangers. The dignity of all was to be upheld. Follow this, God said, and things will be well with you. God was trying to teach that without the fullness of God’s presence in their hearts and minds, they would not make it. 

Well, they did not follow the instructions and, therefore, did not make it. They had the script to remain safe and thrive in a brutal world. They tossed it, and things went awry again. We know the rest of the story: invasions, destruction, loss, and exile to a foreign land.   

That brings us to the remnant of God’s people Israel, that we heard from Jeremiah today.  

God said, “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 where they shall not stumble, …

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, ‘He who scattered … will gather ….

and will keep [them] as a shepherd does [one] flock.’

…

I will turn their mourning into joy;

I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow (Jeremiah 31:8-10, 13).”

A few verses later, Jeremiah voiced God’s plan for the fullness of time. The one Paul proclaimed to the struggling church in Ephesus. The promise of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). God would be forever our God, and we would be forever God’s people. God would be in our presence and remember our sins no more. God realized that without him with us, we could make it. The law he gave to Moses would be known to us by heart, and the remnant, those who still believe, would be left with nothing but grace upon grace—the fullness of God’s presence. 

Six centuries later, in a time of deep hopelessness and under intense oppressive forces, a child known as Emmanuel, or God with us, was born in a manger, wrapped in bands of cloth, and empowered to regather all peoples for all eternity. Two millennia later, he still uses whatever faith, hope, and love remain in us and among us to reclaim us and renew our collective purpose and our identity: children of God. He was born as a sign of joy for all those who belong, who receive the power of his inheritance, and whom God brought in through brooks of living water. Jesus Christ, the Lord, was born for all of us who believe, the remnant. Thanks be to God. Amen.