Prayer
May we welcome this mystery of your love and thus delight in the joy that will be ours as children and heirs of your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on John 1:1-18
"For an alternative approach, rather than helping our hearers to see the light of Christ shining in the darkness, preachers might help them to hear Jesus as God’s love song, singing life into the world’s babble, chaos, and voices of death."
Commentary, John 1:1-14, Craig a. Satterlee, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.
"The gospel message does not go forward without witnesses like John, and one of the tasks in this sermon is to help show what it looks like to point our fingers towards Jesus. In the age of talk of missional churches, how does that work out practically? How can we point towards Jesus in mission in such a way that others come to know him and come to know and love God?"
Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text
I like how Raymond E. Brown approaches this text. There is first the Word with God (1-2). The opening verses of this Christ hymn used to frame an entrance into the Johannine Gospel is brief and it is completely, or I should say “seemingly”, uninterested in a metaphysical conversation about the nature of God. It is however very clear that Salvation history begins with the relationship between God, revealed through the living Word, and Man. Quite simply God reveals God-self to us in the work of creation – and by John’s usage here; creation also reveals something about the salvation of man as well. Creation is by its very nature a revealing act. (John, vol. 1, 23, 24)
Secondly, there is the Word and Creation. “All creation bears the stamp of God’s Word,” Brown writes. (Brown, 25) Here we see the author reflecting and re-imagining the opening lines of Genesis. We can see that what is clearly of importance is that creation itself existed primarily for the glory of God and the revelation of who God is. The problem is that the creation is broken; it does not fulfill its purpose as God intended. It is not a sustainable creation. Instead, it is one where there is a constant battle to supplant the power and revelation of God. We can return to the creation story in Genesis, certainly, this seems on the author’s mind. However, it is not really that hard or difficult to see and imagine as we read the paper or watch television how humanity has created a non-sustainable kingdom for ourselves, and that we wrestle for power with God placing our needs above creations explicit purpose to glorify God.
The third portion of our Gospel selection is the portion where we are re-introduced to John the Baptist. I say reintroduced because we spend several Sunday’s reading passages from Matthew that dealt with him and his ministry. Yet here we get a slightly different attempt to speak about how John responded to the living Word, the Light in the world. How he was clearly not the one everybody was looking for, but that he dutifully gave witness to the revelation of God. Moreover, that John the Baptist called everyone to a time of preparation and repentance for the light itself, the living Word was entering the world.
We come to the final and fourth portion of our reading and we return to the relationship between God and humanity; specifically in how the community of God (God’s people) responds to the living Word. God is dwelling with his people. He has made a “tent”, he is incarnated, and he is present within the community. (Brown, 35) The images here in this last section return not to Genesis but play on our remembrances of the Exodus and the idea that God came and dwelt among the people as they made their way in the wilderness. Here too is an expressed intimacy between God and people. God is not simply outside, having wound the clock tight and is now letting it run. On the contrary just as God was intimately involved with the creation and the people of Israel, God also is involved in the new community post-resurrection. God has come and is dwelling with the people in wisdom and in truth. God is the living Word is making community within God’s tent and is revealing himself and the purpose of creation to all those who would call him by name: Jesus.
May we welcome this mystery of your love and thus delight in the joy that will be ours as children and heirs of your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on John 1:1-18
"For an alternative approach, rather than helping our hearers to see the light of Christ shining in the darkness, preachers might help them to hear Jesus as God’s love song, singing life into the world’s babble, chaos, and voices of death."
Commentary, John 1:1-14, Craig a. Satterlee, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.
"The gospel message does not go forward without witnesses like John, and one of the tasks in this sermon is to help show what it looks like to point our fingers towards Jesus. In the age of talk of missional churches, how does that work out practically? How can we point towards Jesus in mission in such a way that others come to know him and come to know and love God?"
Commentary, John 1:(1-9), 10-18 (Christmas 2), Ginger Barfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
"It would be truly horrendous to be in the hands of an all-intrusive God who never left us alone, and who, when it came time to send his messiah, sent one who ruled the earth like some heavenly Mussolini. In the very unobtrusiveness of the light of Christ, God honors our finite freedom."
"Penetrating the Darkness," Ronald Goetz, The Christian Century, 1988. At Religion Online.
"Penetrating the Darkness," Ronald Goetz, The Christian Century, 1988. At Religion Online.
I like how Raymond E. Brown approaches this text. There is first the Word with God (1-2). The opening verses of this Christ hymn used to frame an entrance into the Johannine Gospel is brief and it is completely, or I should say “seemingly”, uninterested in a metaphysical conversation about the nature of God. It is however very clear that Salvation history begins with the relationship between God, revealed through the living Word, and Man. Quite simply God reveals God-self to us in the work of creation – and by John’s usage here; creation also reveals something about the salvation of man as well. Creation is by its very nature a revealing act. (John, vol. 1, 23, 24)
Secondly, there is the Word and Creation. “All creation bears the stamp of God’s Word,” Brown writes. (Brown, 25) Here we see the author reflecting and re-imagining the opening lines of Genesis. We can see that what is clearly of importance is that creation itself existed primarily for the glory of God and the revelation of who God is. The problem is that the creation is broken; it does not fulfill its purpose as God intended. It is not a sustainable creation. Instead, it is one where there is a constant battle to supplant the power and revelation of God. We can return to the creation story in Genesis, certainly, this seems on the author’s mind. However, it is not really that hard or difficult to see and imagine as we read the paper or watch television how humanity has created a non-sustainable kingdom for ourselves, and that we wrestle for power with God placing our needs above creations explicit purpose to glorify God.
The third portion of our Gospel selection is the portion where we are re-introduced to John the Baptist. I say reintroduced because we spend several Sunday’s reading passages from Matthew that dealt with him and his ministry. Yet here we get a slightly different attempt to speak about how John responded to the living Word, the Light in the world. How he was clearly not the one everybody was looking for, but that he dutifully gave witness to the revelation of God. Moreover, that John the Baptist called everyone to a time of preparation and repentance for the light itself, the living Word was entering the world.
We come to the final and fourth portion of our reading and we return to the relationship between God and humanity; specifically in how the community of God (God’s people) responds to the living Word. God is dwelling with his people. He has made a “tent”, he is incarnated, and he is present within the community. (Brown, 35) The images here in this last section return not to Genesis but play on our remembrances of the Exodus and the idea that God came and dwelt among the people as they made their way in the wilderness. Here too is an expressed intimacy between God and people. God is not simply outside, having wound the clock tight and is now letting it run. On the contrary just as God was intimately involved with the creation and the people of Israel, God also is involved in the new community post-resurrection. God has come and is dwelling with the people in wisdom and in truth. God is the living Word is making community within God’s tent and is revealing himself and the purpose of creation to all those who would call him by name: Jesus.
Some Thoughts on Ephesians 1:1-14
"It signals a massive initiation of transformation — New Creation — most of all, for us. If we believe Paul in Romans 8, the children of God have a crucial role in leading the transformation of Creation. And the fulcrum in our transformation is the redemption of our religion, our spirituality. What leads the way is the renewal of our relationship with God. Once again, James Alison is amongst the best of guides to help us understand this process of transformation. If one chooses to preach on these themes, I highly recommend reading his discussion of “Creation in Christ” (excerpt from Raising Abel) on NT passages like John 1:1-3, as an excellent introduction to the shape of that transformation."
Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary, Christmas 2, by Paul Nuechterlein & Friends.
"Yet, it is worth trying to enter this stream for these verses set the tone of the letter and the tone of our lives in Christ the beloved one (verse 6). How does a contemporary preacher help a congregation hear poetry, catch the hymn, hear an echo from such a distant past?"
Sarah Hernick at Preaching This Week commentaries of RCL texts at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2015.
"No, in the end, you are going to have to face these words head-on, staking your sense of entitlement regarding the determination of your own destiny against twelve verses that insist most insistently that even your destiny--especially your destiny--has been in Christ's hands all along. In fact, if you were pressed to sum up these twelve verses in one sentence, you might try this: "Christ Jesus is in charge (and you are not)."
Hans Wiersma at Preaching This Week commentaries of RCL texts at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2019
Ephesians is about the Glory of God and the glorification of God. The reality is that God reaches out across the cosmos and enters our lives and becomes one of us and then even provides a path by which we may become sons and daughters of God. This is an amazing reality and as such we recognize that the greatest form of response is the glorification of God. In Ephesians, this is the first response to God's mighty act of deliverance. We are to glorify God and our speech and living word is to glorify God.
God has been about this work for a long time and before time. God's love is working its purpose out and the coming and incarnation of Christ is part of the manifestation of that love in creation. Christ's work is to be completed and that is the salvation and reconciliation of the world. HOWEVER, this is not for humanity or for the sake of humanity. Ephesians seems very intent on ensuring that we understand that God is about God's business and God's business flows from the relationship of Christ and Father and from before time. God's love is at work for the purpose of helping us to do the first thing: glorifying God.
All of this reveals to us the reality of God's heart and longing for humanity. It reveals God's pleasure in the work of Christ. So we labor together for this work and we celebrate the revelation of God.
God's work is not over though. This began in the past and continues in the present and future. God continues to reveal God's self and God's intentions. God is even now pouring more grace into the world and is about the work of reconciling all people to God's self. The Church, the community which follows Jesus, attempts to listen to that grace, be a witness to it, and work in tandem to bring all things into union with God.
This is truly a lovely passage and one of my favorites as I believe it reveals the holy trinity at its best!
Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 31:7-14
Commentary, Jeremiah 31:7-9, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.
"This beautiful melange of promise oracles asserts the power of the Lord to gather those Judeans who have experienced forced migration and captivity."
Commentary, Jeremiah 31:7-14, Carolyn J Sharp, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.
"With love for the lost, Jeremiah imagined his way into exile. With hope for life outside of the city, Jeremiah's willingness to be skeptical gave him the power to see forward."
Commentary, Jeremiah 31:7-14, Ingrid Lilly, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.
Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text
Let us remember that Jeremiah is writing, prophesying, to the people of the Southern Kingdom called Judah. That is except for this passage! Here he has turned his gaze to the people of the Northern Kingdom and most likely under control of the Assyrians. We are talking around 600 BCE.
He is offering hope that the people, even the blind and the lame, will return home. This will be amazing and the answer to many prayers. It will be a sight to behold and a sign of God's faithfulness to be with God's people in foreign lands of captivity and at home.
He goes further though, he imagines for the people a great image that moves him with tears and in his gut. It is God who brings them back. It is akin to the release of the people from Egypt and Jeremiah is careful to bring this into the picture he is casting.
When this happens it will be an occasion for great celebration. And as he writes:
"He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty"
This is indeed good news.
Interesting, it is here then that Matthew picks up the tale. The Gospel of Matthew will go on to the very next set of verses wherein there is grief for what is done to the people which we do not actually read in our lectionary. Matthew draws on this for his offering of the story of Herod's massacre of the children. Here Matthew moves us with the prophetic tie in at Matthew 2:17ff where he draws on the imagery from Jeremiah. The words are these, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children because they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15) (Richard B. Hays helps us make this connection in his text Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels - see page 115.) Yet what is not said may be as important as what is said.
We see the importance of playing both our passage today off of the passage in Matthew and in Jeremiah 31:15. It is God's faithfulness that will endure through - Jeremiah 31:7-14. It is God's hope. God will deliver God's people no matter how bad it is God is present with us. Even in the death of Children God is there. The metaphor of Rachel as all those who weep for the unnecessary death of children is that God will bring about peace and miraculous restoration. It has been true says Jeremiah since the time of Egypt. It is as if Matthew knows his audience will remember not only the cries of the people but that those first listeners will remember that God will, in the end, bring about resurrection - a raising of the dead and the living! This is the God who speaks form the universes beginning and shall speak at its end. This is the God who was present in the first days and who has been present ever since. This is the God who brings life out of the vacuum...hasn't it ever been so? Jeremiah reminds us that it has.
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