The Tenth Day of Christmas

 He shall defend the needy among the people . . . 

 -From Psalm 72

The Direction of the Gifts

By the time you get to the Tenth Day of Christmas, in modern Western society, it is hard to find any of the trappings, or the symbols, of Christmas.

People are proudly proclaiming that they have taken down their Christmas decorations. Maybe they have even declared themselves "tired" of hearing carols. 

Maybe this is one reason there are twelve days. How many have lasted this far into the journey? Have you?

Pastor Matt Hook, of Dexter United Methodist Church, will often begin his Christmas Eve sermon with the words: "We made it!" Because, the Advent season is one of waiting and preparation. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve is a crammed, busy, frantic period with a deadline that everybody scrambles to make. Well would we say "We made it!" At Christmas Eve, you can finally rest. At least, the stores are closed and you can't do any more shopping, anyway.

But there's more. 

In the Twelve Days . . . by Day Ten . . . there's not much left. There aren't even any college bowl games left to watch. (Not counting the Championship Game and All-American games).

In Scripture, the focus has now made a turn to practical things. We look ahead to the visit of the Wise Men, and of the Epiphany. We look forward now, to the revealing of the King of Kings, and the Son of Man. He will deliver us from death. But what else will He do?

Our attention turns to the warm promise of protection and justice, for the poor. That's right. On Judgment Day, you'll be better off if you lived as a poor person, than a rich one. 

God has given us the tools to solve all of the world's problems. It doesn't take many of us. 

One feature of Day Ten, may be the updates from friends and family that have been vacationing. They're returning home now. They've had a great time.

But Christ will rescue the poor.

We have had ample feasts, lots of great parties, plenty of food.

But Jesus will deliver the poor from their distress.

We'll be upgrading our homes to newer, better, more modern stuff.

But the Lion of Judah will have pity on the poor and lowly.

Sorry, but I had to go there. There need not be any poor on earth. I believe that. The Good News is actually the Passive Aggressive News: If we won't solve poverty, Christ will.

Not the government. Not the UN. Not the schools and not the politicians.

You. And Me.

On the Tenth Day, our focus goes to Christ's mission: Part Two.

Defend the poor.