Christmas 1 (NL 3) John B. Valentine
Luke 2:21-38 December 29. 2024

“GOD’S LEFTOVERS”

Anybody remember “good news / bad news” jokes?

Do they even tell “Good news / Bad news” jokes anymore?

Like the one about how there were two 90-year-old women ... Rose and Barb ... who’d been friends all of their lives.

And ... when it was clear that Rose was dying ... Barb visited her every day.

One day Barb said ... ‘Rose ... we both loved playing softball all our lives ... and we played all through High School. Please do me one favor: when you get to Heaven ... somehow you must let me know if there’s softball there.’

Rose looked up at Barb from her death bed and said ... ‘Barb ... you’ve been my best friend for many years. If it’s at all possible ... I’ll do this favor for you.’

And shortly after that conversation ... Rose passed away.

Anyhow ... at midnight the following Friday ... Barb was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to her ... ‘Barb ... Barb.’

‘Who is it?’ asked Barb ... sitting up suddenly. ‘Who is it?’

‘Barb ... it’s me ... Rose.’

‘You’re not Rose. Rose just died.’

‘I’m telling you ... it’s me ... Rose’ ... insisted the voice.

‘Rose! Where are you?’

‘In Heaven ...’ replied Rose. ‘I have some really good news and a little bad news.’

‘Tell me the good news first ...’ said Barb.

‘The good news ...’ Rose said ... ‘is that there’s softball in Heaven. Better yet ... all of our old buddies who died before us are here ... too. Better than that ... we’re all young again. Better still ... it’s always springtime ... and it never rains or snows. And best of all ... we can play softball all we want ... and we never get tired.’

‘That’s fantastic ...’ said Barb. ‘It’s beyond my wildest dreams! So what’s the bad news???’

‘You’re pitching Tuesday.’

That’s life ... isn’t it?? Where the good news and the bad news seem to come together.

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I’ve got some good news for you today ... folks.

Christmas is OVER ... you can FINALLY relax!

• You don’t need to worry about baking any more cookies ....
• You don’t need to worry whether or not that gift you ordered is going to arrive on time ...
• You don’t need to worry about decorating the tree anymore ....
• You don’t need to worry about wrapping packages anymore ....
• You don’t need to worry about the meals anymore ....

The Christmas holiday ... at least to our American mindset ... is OVER.

But there’s some “bad news” too.

The dreaded “Christmas leftovers”.

No ... I’m not talking about the leftovers that are cluttering up your refrigerator ... no ... those can be tasty leftovers.

I’m talking about the REAL Christmas “leftovers” ... like:

• The decorations that need to be put away ...
• The tree that needs to be taken down ...
• The wrapping paper that needs to be stowed away ...
• The gifts that need to be returned ...
• The recently acquired pounds that need to be lost ...
• Maybe for some of you the long drive or flight “back home” ...
• And the bills for it all that are about to come due.

Those “leftovers” ... the ‘undoing of Christmas’ ... that are an inevitable part of the celebration which we’ve just shared.

Not our ‘favorite part’ ... but an ‘essential part’ nonetheless.

They’re the ‘bad news’ part of the good news / bad news of the season.

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But I guess it’s only fitting that ... amid this week of “leftovers” ...

That our Gospel lesson for today is that text from Luke which we just read.

You see ... this morning’s gospel lesson is kind of a “leftovers from Christmas” sort of a story.

It starts out with Mary and Joseph having to trek from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to make a thankoffering in the Temple on behalf of their firstborn son.

It’s kind of a first-century version of filling out the forms and getting a birth certificate and a social security card for your baby ...

Or maybe like the first of those “well-check” visits that nowadays new parents make to the pediatrician.

Sure ... we could try and make that journey sound exciting ...

But really its just Mary and Joseph having to deal with their own “leftover responsibilities” from Christmas.

But on the way to the Temple ... Mary and Joseph encounter what one author who’s far more erudite than I am called “the original Christmas leftovers” ...

A couple of elderly folks ... one named Simeon and the other named Anna.

You see .... Simeon and Anna are leftover from the meal of life ...

Their wrinkled, tired old bodies appear like so much wrinkled, crumpled wrapping paper which has been torn off the packages and left lying on the floor ...

Their time is passed. Their skin is worn. Their best days are behind them ...

But this story from Luke 2 hints at the fact that sometimesthe leftovers can be good and delicious as the main meal ... and this was the case with the couple in wrinkled wrappings.

For they saw something ... 40 days after Christmas ... which nobody up to that time had seen.

• The shepherds hadn’t seen it.

• The religious ruler who heard rumors of his birth hadn’t seen it.

• His own father and mother hadn’t seen it.

The only ones who recognized the Messiah in the man-child ... God in Jesus ... were these two tired ... wrinkle-wrapped ... left-over people. Simeon and Anna.

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Simeon and Anna

• they saw and they believed ...

• they saw and worshipped ...

• they saw and lived in that grace they experienced from that child ...

• they saw and continued to serve God through others.

This marvelous “wrinkled-wrapped man and woman” get it right ...

And they become this potent reminder of how God continues to reveal Himself to the leftovers and utilize the leftovers ... the “wrinkle-wrapped people” of life ... for his place and his purposes.

You see ... this story of Simeon and Anna reminds us:

That God came to earth for the leftovers ... for all those who acknowledge they cannot handle life alone ... for those who have not measured up by earthly standards.

That God came for the poor ... for the sick ... for the chronically ill ... for the despised ... the broken ... those living in and living through broken relationships.

That God came to make feast out of leftovers ... and make a feast for the leftovers ... and make such a such that those who would never deign to dine on “leftovers” could never understand.

This story of Anna and Simeon declares ... in no uncertain terms ... that ... though they might be leftovers ... they are God’s leftovers ... leftovers which form the foundation of a feast.

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Then again ... what about us?

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we’re not shouting, “We’ve been saved!”

We’re whispering, “We get lost! That’s why we chose this way”

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we’re not speaking with human pride

We’re confessing that we stumble and need God to be our guide

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we’re not trying to be strong

We’re professing that we’re weak and ask for strength to carry on

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we’re not bragging of success

We’re admitting that we’ve failed and cannot ever pay the debt

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we don’t think we know it all

We’re owning up to our confusion and asking humbly to be taught

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we’re not claiming to be perfect

Our flaws are far too visible but God believes we’re worth it

When we say “We’re Christians” ... we ought not wish to judge

We have no such authority but only know we’re loved

For ... remember ... folks ... we might be leftovers ... but we are God’s leftovers.

Amen!