St Stephen’s Day – St Oswald’s 26th December 2021
Luke 2: 41 - end
One Christmass I found myself in a manager in a stable and I wasn’t a baby in a Nativity Play. I was three years older than Jesus in the story we have just heard. It was Christmass 1966 and that summer I had travelled down to Newmarket and signed on as an Apprentice Jockey with Bruce Hobbs. I had never ridden a horse in my life, had no previous love or liking of horses and never been anywhere near a stable. (Why I decided upon this career is a story for another time)
With zero experience, looking
after expensive thoroughbreds was a steep learning curve. One of the lessons to
learn is how to take off a stable rug. Most rugs have a strap across the chest
and then two under the belly, girth straps. The trick is when taking off a rug
to start at the back and work forward. When putting it on the procedure is reversed.
This is because if you get a strap caught around the horse’s belly and back
legs, they will most likely kick and buck. In fact, it is a strap like this
that is used to encourage horses to buck in rodeos.
I don’t know what happened
but obviously I had not undone the straps properly one morning. The horse went
mad, kicking, rearing, and snorting. I was trapped and couldn’t get out the
door. So, I climbed into the manager to try and keep out of the way.
Fortunately, the Head Lad heard the commotion, came in, sorted out the horse
and rescued me.
It was a memorable Christmass
- and my first one away from home. There was no thought of going home which was
200 miles away in Oldham because we only had one day off.
We did however have the
choice of which day off we could take, either on the 25th or the 26th.
A lot of lads went for the 26th
because of the sports. I wasn’t that much into sports and so usually went for
the 25th. I have no idea what I did, but I do know going to Church
would not have been on the agenda. We did have a Christmass meal cooked for
us. All the Apprentices lived in rooms
above the stables and had our meals together in the canteen. I do remember once
the meal was cooked the Governor and his wife used to serve everyone.
And today, 26th December,
where you live will determine what you call this day. Most of us will probably
refer to it as Boxing Day whereas in Southern Ireland and Italy it is better
know as Stephen’s Day.
As for Boxing Day historians
disagree about how it and where it originated.
One thought is that it grew out
of longstanding British traditions of charitable giving and goodwill.
There are several theories as
to how that charitable tradition became known as “boxing.” Some historians tie
the use of the term to boxes of donations that were installed in
churches during the pre-Christmas season of Advent in the early days of Christianity during
the second and third centuries A.D. The day after Christmass, the boxes were
opened, and the money distributed to the poor.
Another theory is tied to a
practice that arose around the 16th century. Working-class
people would spend December 26th seeking out Christmass “boxes,” or
tips, from the people they had served throughout the year.
I remember as a Paper Lad
going around asking for a Christmass box.
And it was a regular custom
to give a ‘box’ to the postman and the dustbin men.
Another possible origin story
for Boxing Day has to do with a tradition that evolved in socially stratified
19th century Victorian England, where servants sacrificed time
with their own families to cater to their aristocratic employers on Christmass.
On the day after Christmass, employers would give the servants a rare day off
and send them home with leftovers from the family’s Christmass feast, plus
gifts and tips.
But these charitable
practises may have an origin way further back, to around 36AD.
We meet St Stephen’s Day in
the carol “Good King Wenceslas.” You may recall that the king tramps through
deep snow in a bid to give alms to a poor peasant. The king was a real
figure: Saint Wenceslas, a 10th-century Bohemian
duke who, according to legend, did noble deeds “on the feast of Stephen.”
One of the first deacons of
the Christian church, St Stephen was killed for his
beliefs around A.D 36 and is considered Christianity’s first martyr. Known for
serving the poor, Saint Stephen is traditionally celebrated with charity and
the distribution of alms.
We read an account of his
martyrdom in the Acts of the Apostle’s chapters 6 and 7.
In this dramatic and
fascinating account, I am always drawn by chapter 7 verse 56. Just before the
angry mob are about to drag Stephen off and stone him to death - we read…
‘Look,’ he said (that is
Stephen) ‘I see the heaven’s opened and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God!’
The Son of Man standing by
the right hand of God. Not seated but standing as if to welcome home the first
witness to pay the ultimate cost of being a disciple of Jesus.
But wait a minute. How on
earth have we got from celebrating the birth of baby Jesus to reflecting upon
the death of Stephen the following day?
Because the baby Jesus became
the toddler Jesus, who became the child Jesus who as we heard in our Gospel ‘grew
in wisdom and stature.’
And this Jesus, as a man,
said, ‘whoever would be my disciple must take up their cross and follow me.’
The Boy You Were
(I picked up this poem some
years ago and have no note of the author)
I stand at the foot
Of the Calvary Cross,
Eyes fixed,
transfixed,
on the broken
shadow of my child:
and all I see
is the son you
were,
the one who tumbled
and laughed
through childhood
years:
what have they done
to you now?
and the frantic
three-day search we had
until you were
found in the temple,
discussing issues
beyond your years:
I see you hanging
on the cross
learning his
father’s trade,
fashioning useful
things from wood,
the grain of timber
under your hands,
powdery sawdust
in your hair,
loving the wood you
worked with.
Wood gets under your skin,
you’d say,
and now you’re close
to it still
as you labour to
draw your final breath.
Where is my carpenter now?
Did it have to end like this?
Some see a radical revolutionary
tortured by those
who feared their
power base undermined
but me, I see my
child:
I see the boy you were.
Mary’s thoughts tumbling back over the years. What was it the aged and Godly Simeon had said all those years ago? ‘A sword will pierce your own soul.’
Remembering another Passover Pilgrimage to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. Thinking he was among their relatives and friends and then the frantic three-day search and finding him in the Temple talking and discussing with the teachers and elders. But why did it all have to end this way?
Luke will tell another story at the end of his Gospel account. About another couple this time going away from Jerusalem because they thought they had lost Jesus. Lost Jesus to death, shunned by the Jewish authorities and crucified by the Romans. They were on their way home to Emmaus and a stranger joins them. They speak of Jesus, of their hopes and dreams, and then – ‘besides all of this it is three days since these things took place.’
Jesus then begins to open up
the Scriptures and reveals Messiah Jesus who had been hiding in plain sight in
the Hebrew Scriptures.
They find Jesus, but a
different Jesus, a Jesus who is the true fulfilment of all that was spoken
about by the Prophets and the Writings.
Luke invites his readers to make other connections as well.
Where was Jesus found by Mary
and Joseph – in the Temple. Years later he was to return and denounce the
corruption of the Temple, saying it had been turned into a den of thieves. He
was to prophecy that the Temple would be utterly destroyed within a generation.
(Which came to pass in 70AD.) And Jesus also
said, ‘destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up.’ Referring to his body. Jesus was and is the
embodiment of the Temple.
Why was Jesus and his family
in Jerusalem – to celebrate the Passover.
When was Jesus crucified –
during the Festival of Passover?
How old was Jesus – twelve
years. A year before he was to become an
adult and go through a ceremony, possibly something akin to a Bar Mitzvah today,
and become a man.
Another story Luke recalls is
that of healing Jairus twelve-year-old daughter. Jairus was a synagogue leader
who begged Jesus to help him.
And on his way to restore
Jairus’ daughter Jesus encounters a woman who had suffered a condition of
constant haemorrhaging that would have made her unclean. She suffered such a condition
for twelve years.
Those twelve years may not be
significant, but it is important we notice them and ask the question.
And in this story, peculiar
to Luke, we get our only Scriptural account into the hidden years of Jesus’
childhood.
There have been plenty
fanciful attempts to fill in the gaps over the years.
One of the most sympathetic
is a modern book called ‘Lamb’ by Christopher Moore. It is very much tongue in cheek but none the
less a good read as a work of fiction.
Thus, in our reflecting we
have moved from baby Jesus to twelve years old Jesus and now to Stephen, a
disciple of Jesus.
And for whatever reason the
Feast Day of Stephen falls today, I think it is the perfect place.
One of the common features of the 26th of December is people going for a walk, or swimming in cold water. Getting out for some fresh air.
And remembering the Stoning
of Stephen acts in a similar way.
Like stepping out of the
sauna and jumping in the cold plunge or shower, it takes our breath away and is
a bit of shock to the system.
We are faced with the stark
reality of Jesus the man, risen from death. Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Son of
Man, Jesus as Lord and King of All – Jesus through whom the Kingdom of God upon
earth has been inaugurated, a realized Lord’s Prayer coming to pass.
Sadly, this reality is too
much for some people.
Sadly, many people who
celebrate Christmass will put Jesus away along with all the other decorations
and fripperies of Christmass.
Sadly, not many people bother
to ask the question, ‘I wonder what Jesus did when he grew up.’
Sadly, not many people will
make the journey to Jerusalem for the Passover and watch as the baby Jesus, now
a man, is cruelly put to death.
Sadly, not too many people
will make the connection between Christmass and Easter.
It is all too much, too
demanding, to bloody, best not to think about it too much.
Best if we just get on with
life and wait until next Christmass when we can celebrate once more with the
Baby Jesus because the adult Jesus is simply too demanding and disturbing and
makes us uncomfortable by the things he said and did.
Things like, love your
enemies, forgive people, care for the poor, feed the hungry, pray for the sick
and visit those in prison.
But let us remember Jesus
also said, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I came that
they may have life and have it abundantly.’
Seems to me on this St
Stephen’s Day there is a decision to make.
Are we going to heed that
call as did Stephen when Jesus says follow me?
Are we going to acknowledge
that this helpless babe become the Servant King who calls us now to follow
him?’
We need to think carefully
and choose wisely because it is the most important decision we will ever make.
From heaven you came helpless
babe…
A recording of this sermon can
be viewed in context of Morning Worship on the St Matthew and St Oswald’s
website.
