Second Sunday After Christmas
This weekend we celebrate the second Sunday after Christmas and it gives us the opportunity at the beginning of the new year to reflect and look back at 2020. For all of us it has been hard going as a result of the COVID19 pandemic with many people losing their lives and so many others feeling the pressure that the pandemic has brought to the world at large in so many different ways. It has been a strange time but it has also been a time when many people went out of their comfort zones to look after the people who needed help and we pray a prayer of thanksgiving that we have come through to this point as we look to the future.
Johns Gospel opens with a statement about the origins of Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God.” It goes on to affirm that the Word became flesh for us. By becoming one of ourselves we might expect the Incarnate Word of God to share the same emotions as ourselves, and indeed he did. We read how Jesus showed his love to various people, to Martha, Mary and Lazarus, to his disciple John and to the rich young man who wanted to follow him. Equally, he shared their experience of distress as he shares ours now.
He could shed tears at times of loss and crisis, such as when his friend Lazarus died and before he publicly entered Jerusalem, knowing that the city would reject and execute him. The Gospels also tell how Jesus enjoyed social occasions and was a guest at so many dinners that his critics called him a glutton and a drunkard. He felt a strong empathy for people who suffered, and when they were hungry he provided the food that they needed. He felt intense fear just before his passion, and openly admitted to his followers how troubled he felt in his soul. In his agony he prayed “Father let his cup pass me by.” When the Word became flesh, he joined us on so many levels. He dwelt among us, fully, passionately. He didn’t just come to live a quiet life. He “pitched his tent among us” and shared the full range of our human experience, in order to draw us near to God. Over the years Jesus has shown that he is with us in so many different ways and through many different people. In 2020 we have seen the love of god shine out through so many people in the face of the COVID19 pandemic. Those who are caring for the sick in the nursing homes, hospitals and other care settings. Those who are following the regulations and doing what they have to do for the good of everyone even though they do not like the restrictions and none of us like restrictions if we are telling the truth.
All those who have made donations to the various aid organisations especially the food banks that have become a necessity for so many. These are just a few examples of what has gone on in terms of people caring for others during 2020. As well as all the goodness and thoughtfulness there has been so much heartbreak with families loosing much loved family members as a result of this pandemic and we pray for them and their families in a special way. Our God is the God who gave us Jesus his Son who is with us throughout our lives in happy and sad times. We remember that we celebrate Emmanuel at Christmas time and that means God is with us and it also means that in all the trials that we will go through he is with us in our lives where we are as we go through 2021 with the challenges it will certainly bring we will go far remembering that our god with us as a friend who will help us to get through the difficulties whatever they might be..
Fullerton T 