In Italy, Santa Claus is not a part of their Christmas celebrations.
The children look forward, instead, to the visitation of the three kings. These are the same folk we call the Magi or the Three Wise Men. The children try to keep awake at night to catch a glimpse of the Three Royal Visitors. They listen for the cadence of their song in the distance, the sound of the camels’ hooves crushing the frozen snow, and the tinkling of their silver bridles. That's right: not reindeer, camels. Italy's children send their toy requests to the three kings. Anticipating their arrival, they leave water and snacks for them and their camels to help sustain them on their long journey.
Does a lot of this sound familiar to you?
Apparently, there is a certain universality to what happens in the Christmas season, regardless of where you live. Even if there is no Santa there. And that is our connection to this week's scriptures. They reference the universality of the Gospel: Jesus came for us all. This is so clear in the selection from John where, upon seeing Jesus again, John declares to his own disciples "Behold the lamb of God" who was, even as John spoke, "taking away the sin of the world."
Did you see that? The sin of the world, not just of the Jews. Many of God’s people couldn't quite wrap their heads around it—that their Messiah would somehow belong to non-Jews, as well. I suspect their thinking may have been a bit Israel-centric, much like ours is in our own countries. Well, that was never the way God saw it. God always pictured an entire world rejoined in harmony, a people who chose God just as God had chosen them.
This week's Isaiah passage tells of how the restoration of Israel to God is, by itself, too easy a thing for the Savior. He would also be a light to the nations so salvation would reach to the very ends of the earth. It's there in this week's Psalm where the Psalmist declares he has proclaimed God's faithfulness and salvation to the “great congregation.” We see it in 1 Corinthians where Paul greets them “along with everyone else, in every place” who claims the name of Jesus.
Jesus comes not just to one town, but to every village, town, city, and metropolis. Jesus comes to every farm, every vessel on the waters, every mountaintop, every valley, and every crevice. Jesus comes not just to our country, but to every country, to every person in China, in Europe, in Russia, in Australia, even to each of the very few people residing in the Antarctic. Jesus is universal. He comes not just to one person, but to all persons.
Every one in every place.
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PHOTO:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/885/earth-from-space
Epiphany continues. We'll be in this season until Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday falls on February 21st, this year). Join us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast as we continue to marvel at how God planned for our salvation. Find us at Our Breakfast Place and on Zoom.** Gather with us at 8:00 to peruse the menu, eat, pray, read the Bible, and kick around what we discover there. Find us in the back function room.
Blessings,
Steve
**Contact me for the Zoom link
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=14
Print them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_SecondSundayafterEpiphany.pdf
Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Second Sunday After the Epiphany (January 15, 2023)
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