December 26, 1999
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Twelve Days of Christmas
Sing with me: “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.”
In the Middle Ages, Christian holidays were practically the only holidays to celebrate. So people wanted to extend Christmas from one day to twelve days. On the twelfth day, it is Epiphany when the Wise Men arrived with their gifts for Baby Jesus. This is where we get the custom of giving gifts.
Today is the first day of Christmas. Some of us may keep counting the days until January 6th which is Epiphany. If you didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas, you may have already started counting the days before Christmas 2000! There’s only 365 days to go!
Purification of Mary
When Mary gave birth to Jesus, she started counting days too. In Leviticus 12:1-8, God tells Moses of what is expected of new mothers. If Mary’s first child had been a girl, it would have been 80 days before she could re-enter the Temple. Since she had a boy, she only needed to count 40 days before coming back to the Temple.
According to God’s law in Leviticus, when a woman has given birth, she was set apart—not because she was bad but because there was a prescribed period of recovery before she could touch holy things at home or go back to the synagogue on the Sabbath.
It all had to do with blood because it is the substance of life. A mother’s time apart was called her time of “blood purification.” But before she can rejoin the life of her community, there were specific things she had to do.
She had to take a lamb in its first year and a pigeon or a turtledove to a priest, who would offer them to God on her behalf. After that, she would be clean again. And if she didn’t have enough money to buy a lamb, the law had a poverty clause. She could substitute another bird for the lamb, and the result would be the same. Mary presented two turtledoves to the priest.
The ceremony went as planned. Jesus may have been the fifth baby dedicated that day or he may have been the fiftieth, and apparently there were no surprises. Mary and Joseph handed over the two turtledoves. They handed over the baby. The priest performed the rite and handed back their baby. It was all over except Nancy Yee coming around to take the photographs. But suddenly, Simeon stepped into the picture.
Simeon
Even though Luke doesn’t say Simeon was old, we have imagined him as an old man with a long white beard and dark eyes clouded with cataracts. He was a righteous and devout man. The Holy Spirit promised him that he would not see death until he laid eyes on the Messiah.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, Simeon made his way to the temple that day. According to Luke, going to the temple had not been on Simeon’s list of things to do that day, the way it had been on Mary and Joseph’s. But for some reason, Simeon felt the Holy Spirit calling him to the temple that day and he went.
Just imagine it. This old man shuffles up to the young couple, held out his skinny arms and said, “Excuse me, may I hold your baby?” I can imagine Mary’s heart starting to beat pretty fast at this point, wondering who this stranger was. But when she checked him out some more, she realized that he was okay and she let her do it. Then Simeon took Jesus in his arms and said the most startling thing:
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your
word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in
the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for
glory to your people Israel.” (Lk.2:29-32)
With bills to pay and the difficulties to make ends meet, Mary and Joseph could only afford two turtledoves. But what Simeon saw in his arms was the Lamb of God. Whether or not the old man could see three feet ahead of him, he could read the child in his arms. This one had God written all over him. This one would light up the whole world. He knew that this child would be offered up to bring salvation to the world. When Simeon handed the baby back, he knew his long wait was over. He was dismissed in peace.
After he blessed Mary and Joseph, Simeon told Mary the rest of the truth. This must have been troubling for her. Remember on Wednesday night this week when the moon was so close to the earth that it cast shadows at night? Simeon was telling Mary that her baby’s life would be so bright that it will cast deep shadows. Just as many who will rejoice to learn who Jesus is, there will be many who would grind their teeth against him. He would force people to choose whether they really wanted to get close to God or not. He would expose those who did not, and they would do their best to get rid of him. Simeon saw the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sins. He warned Mary of the pain to come—like a sword piercing her own soul—even as she is holding him close to her body.
Anna
While Mary was still reeling over this message, she heard someone else talking out loud about her child. It was Anna the prophet who lived in the temple, praying and fasting around the clock. She was highly respected by people. Maybe after watching Simeon holding the Jesus, she went off like a car alarm telling everyone who would listen that God was right over there.
Looking for God
The day started off in a pretty routine fashion. But it ended up with a prophecy to be remembered! None of this would have happened if Mary and Joseph didn’t follow the law of Moses. None of it would have happened if the priest at the temple didn’t accept Mary’s two turtledoves. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for the community of faith.
What if Simeon had decided to stay home that day and practiced his righteousness and “devoutness” praying and writing in his journal? Or Mary and Joseph took lightly the dedication of baby Jesus? Or what if Anna decided to leave the temple after spending 60 years there?
If all of that happened, God would have had a more difficult time arranging a revelation to happen. Revelation requires people who are looking for God. And better yet, people who are looking for God together on some kind of regular basis. When all of us can come together like today and worship God from our various traditions and still sense God’s love and presence in our hearts, God is revealed. When we are singing the “Twelve Days of Christmas” together, it sounds better than if I sang it myself.
This does not mean we will like what other people show us, necessarily. I doubt that Mary liked what Simeon told her about Jesus at the end, any more than he liked telling her. But it was part of the picture, and God wanted them both to look at it.
Part of the continuing life of this story is that it tells us what is happening to our own temple attendance. Why do we come to church week after week? Some of us do come out of obedience to the law—remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Mary and Joseph came to the temple for that reason that day. Some of us come because we have been led by the Holy Spirit like Simeon. And then there are some of us who never seem to leave
the place, but always puttering around somewhere, cleaning out closets, arranging flowers. Anna was like that.
However we get here, God gives us to each other. God shapes us into a community capable of receiving revelation, and then God is present to us—in Scripture, in practices, in each other’s faces. We take turns saying what we see. Sometimes, like Anna, we get to announce that God is here. Sometimes, like Simeon, we get to hold God’s presence close to our hearts. Sometimes, like Mary and Joseph, we come to church and dedicate again and again our lives for the glory and plan for the kingdom of God.
Why do you think we have been so able to achieve the goals of the stewardship campaign and now engaged in the retrofit of our church home? Remember revelation requires people who are looking for God, and better yet, people who are looking for God together on a regular basis. We have been looking for God’s will for our church. With 120 years of vibrant ministry pushing us along, we wanted to know which way to go. Now he has shown us the way.
Whoever we are, whatever role we get to play, the point is to keep looking—together—so that we do not miss the light of Jesus Christ when it comes. Every time we come to church or open ourselves to inviting God into our lives, Jesus arranges our purification so that we can be close to God. Jesus goes on presenting us back to God bringing us to this altar with the necessary sacrifice in hand—not two turtledoves, not even a lamb and a bird, but himself. Jesus Christ—God’s precious baby boy keeps giving himself away for our love.
I use one of those big calendars to keep all my appointments in one place. Today it says 360thday, 5 days left in 1999. Or we can start counting that there’s 365 days before Christmas 2000. If we can keep looking for God’s revelation with the same intensity and hopefulness that we did before Christmas every day of the year, all year long, God will continue to empower us because the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ himself has given us new life.
So, whether it is the thirteenth day or fourteenth day of Christmas or any day of the new year, our true Lord sent to us many blessings counting,
Twelve months of ministering,
Eleven new members joining,
Ten deacons deaconing
Nine trustees trusting
Eight plus seven Christian educators
Seven new classrooms teaching
Six new bathrooms flushing
Five more months of construction before June
Four stops on the elevator
Three compassionate pastors
Two turtledoves
And One retrofitted church home on Waverly Place.
Let us pray.
Precious Lord, we give thanks for Christmas and what the meaning of the season has for our lives. Lead us to keep counting the number of days in life as one opportunity after another to praise you and to serve you in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Joy to the world, we pray. Amen.