Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day! No, this is not a day in which you have permission to punch your neighbor in the nose.

In fact, in some ways, it is just the opposite. Boxing Day (December 26), originated as a day to give gifts to the poor. Following the extravagance of Christmas, it was a reminder that there were those who were less fortunate, and it was an opportunity to bless them.

As Christ followers, this is not to be a once-a-year thing for us, but an opportunity - and responsibility - we have set before us every day of the year.

Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of delivering our church’s online Christmas message. I talked about each of the characters in the Nativity Scene and what we could learn from them.

The Shepherds are an intriguing group. While romanticized in painting and literature, their lifestyle was anything but romantic. They were nomads, traveling from pasture to pasture to feed and care for the sheep. Their lifestyle made it impossible for them to observe the strict Jewish laws, which led to people shunning them and declaring them unclean and unlearned. They were basically outcasts.

Yet, God chose to use them in the Christmas story, which turned social norms upside down. Jesus did not appear to kings in a royal court, but to lowly, dirty shepherds out in the pasture watching their flocks by night.

This act of God set the example for the type of ministry Jesus would have, and the type of ministry we are to have.

Like Jesus, we are to minister to the lowly and downtrodden, the shunned and forgotten.

As Jesus said in Matthew 25,

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

-  Jesus, Matthew 25:34-40

So, I wish you a Happy Boxing Day. May it serve as a reminder to us to live it out each day, caring for the poor, the hungry, the sick and the forgotten of our community…

for it is the least of these for whom Jesus came from Heaven to earth, not only to offer salvation, but to show us how to bring a little of up there down here.

Pastor Ken

‍