Today is the fifth day of Christmas, and I hope you’re still going strong with the holy days now that the holidays are behind us. It makes me sad to see the Christmas trees already curbed for the trash man. It’s like baseball fans who go home in the sixth inning to beat the traffic and miss the best part of the ball game. There’s plenty more left to Christmas, so don’t give up yet. We’ve even kept the candles burning to keep you in the mood.

Before there’s a birth, there has to be a conception. Nine months usually, give or take a few weeks. That’s why this morning’s Gospel is traditionally read on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, the day Mary heard the Word of God through the angel and conceived the Son of God, our Savior Jesus. That’s also why the Christmas tree isn’t up yet. There’s still one more candle to burn on the Advent wreath. Having a Christmas tree today would be like having a birthday cake at a baby shower. Too soon. The baby’s now here yet. And so this morning, on the threshold of Christmas, with Advent fully pregnant with the Promise of God, we hear again the angel Gabriel and his startling announcement to Mary - “You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.”

Witness. What comes to your mind when you hear that word “witness”? The courtroom, perhaps. You think of that person sitting on the witness stand who is under oath to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” A witness is someone who speaks about what he or she has seen or heard. If you are a witness to an accident, you are called to testify to what you saw, what you heard. A witness isn’t there to talk about himself; a witness is only as good as his testimony. We have “eyewitness news” on television, claiming to tell and show the truth of what’s happening.

Preparation. The season of Advent is about preparation. Preparing for the holidays and the holy days of Christmas. Preparing for the end of all things and the coming of Jesus in glory. Preparing the way of parents expecting their first child prepare - with anticipation, excitement, fear, and joy all at the same time - preparing for the baby’s arrival. In fact, Advent is like a pregnancy. Time is pregnant with the Promise of God. Christ is near. It’s time to get ready.

Today’s Gospel is about Jesus’ cleansing of the temple. It’s not the kind of Jesus we like to hear about, this Jesus who takes a bunch of cords and turns them into a whip and drives out the sheep and the oxen and those who were selling them and turns over the tables of the temple moneychangers.. We’d prefer to hear about gentle and kind Jesus, who makes 180 gallons of really great wine for a wedding reception. Fun Jesus. But not this Jesus, with face flush with anger, and veins sticking out of his neck, consumed by zeal for his Father’s house.