Lectionary Reflection — First Sunday After Christmas Day (Year C)
12Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15The peace of Christ must control your hearts — a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people. 16The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him.
Collect
All-Loving God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Welcome to the first Sunday after Christmas Day, also known as the fifth day of Christmas! And what did my true love give me? “Five Gold(en) Rings!”2
Not really.
The theme that I was struck with through Advent was “Love.” I know. It doesn’t line up to the traditional themes for each Sunday, but the Lessons emphasised Love and that’s what stood out to me.
As I pondered over today’s Lessons, I was moved by what Love should cause in followers of Jesus. As I’ve noted before, from Love comes a host of other things. In our Lesson today, those things are listed: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, peace, and gratitude. In my series on the Goodness of Humanity, I made the case that, because of the work of Christ, humanity is now in a place of becoming. If I could use a baking simile, some of us are just the raw ingredients, waiting to be combined into a batter. Others of us are like a cake just now placed in the oven; we’ve only just started baking. While others of us have already been fully baked and are in the process of getting all the icing and decorations added. And, finally, some of us have become full cakes — decorated and ready for the big reveal at the party.
So, the list given in our Lesson today is like a recipe — each item is important and necessary for a good cake. We’re to be “tolerant with each other.” We’re all different. We’re all at different stages of becoming. We all have different opinions about things — a different taste in food, clothing, religious traditions, etc. And just because we don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean that either of us are wrong; we’re just different.3 Those of us who are further along in the baking process shouldn’t look down on those of us who are just now being formed.
We’re also supposed to forgive each other just as “the Lord forgave [us].” I don’t believe it’s happenstance that this part of the recipe comes right after tolerance; it’s the next natural step. Someone is going to say or do something that we find offensive. We’re supposed to forgive them even if they don’t ask for it. Sometimes, that’s the hardest bit, it won’t be easy but it’s a necessary action.4
Does this mean others should continue in their beliefs even if they’re wrong? Certainly not. We’re encouraged to “teach and warn each other with all wisdom” through our worship. In other words, we’re to continue to add the correct measured ingredients. We can’t just leave a couple of eggs and some flour in a bowl and expect it to become a cake, can we? A pinch of salt. A splash of vanilla. The raw ingredients of the recipe must continue to be measured and added and folded into a nice batter.
Of course, Love, “the perfect bond of unity,” is like the flour that holds the whole thing together. Without Love, the self-sacrificial Love of Christ, the other ingredients, while good in and of themselves, just won’t build a proper cake.5
In all of this — in each step of the process, from getting the right recipe to gathering the correct ingredients to preheating the oven to mixing the proper amount of ingredients together and so on — we’re to do it for Christ. When we help people, we’re to help them as if they’re Christ (because they are). When we stand up for people who have been targeted by racism, we’re standing up as if they’re Christ (because they are). Everything we say or do should be said or done as if we were doing it for Christ, because it is. Every person, everyone, is as Christ. Whatever we do to the least of humanity and non-humanity, we do it to Christ (Matthew 25.31ff).
Finally, we’re to be thankful. Too often in our world, we’re encouraged to “more” — more gadgets, more cars, more clothes, more food, more homes, more everything. We’re besieged with “more,” with “better,” with “another.” As a consumerist society, the worst thing one can do is be thankful and content with “enough.”
A sign of a good cake is “enough.” There’s enough flour, eggs, baking soda, salt, vanilla, preparation, baking time, cooling time, icing. Too much — “more” — will ruin the cake. The recipe tells us exactly what each measure, each step, must be. If we add another egg or more salt or an extra hour of baking time, we’ll ruin the cake.
Likewise, we must learn to be thankful — full of thanks — for what we have, for where we are in the baking process. We can’t succumb to the pressure of the world for “more.” We mustn’t force the acquisition of the other ingredients just because we see another cake further along in the recipe. The Great Baker will add the proper ingredients in the proper time. We must learn to be content and thankful for what we have, for where we are, for Whose we are.
And all of this, dear friend, grows out of the Love of Christ that each one of us has deep within our very essence, our very being. And not only should all of our actions and words come from Love, they must also be sprinkled with Love. Like powdered sugar sprinkled on the top of a cake, Love should be sprinkled on whatever we do or say. It all starts from Love, carried out with Love, and served with Love. Love is the beginning, middle, and end of all Life.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
2. Not surprisingly, there are different variations of this song. You can check those differences here. I found the Scottish version amusing.
3. I saw a quote the other day saying we should always speak “our truth.” And while that’s certainly a good idea, there are, however, some things that will always be wrong, even if we believe them to be “our truth.” Racism, sexism, patriarchy, and xenophobia (just to name a few) are wrong no matter who holds them as “truth.”
4. I’ve often been told that we can only, truly forgive someone if they repent. If they acknowledge their wrong doing (or saying) then, and only then, can we forgive them. What nonsense. The pattern of Christ is forgiveness even when others “don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23.34; cf. Acts 7.60).
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