CHRISTMAS 2
Worship
Scripture Notes
For use with Common, Lutheran and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
The most significant concept within these texts is probably the concept of the word of God objectified as Yahweh's word in Psalm 147:12-20 and personified as the pre-existent Word made flesh in the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel. Sirach 24:1-2, 8-12 provides the additional model of Wisdom personified.
Common, Lutheran: Psalm 147:12-20
Roman Catholic: Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
As in so many of the songs in the Psalter, praise of Yahweh is the dominant theme here. It is possible that there are three extended "verses" (1-6, 7-11, 12-20) in this psalm, somewhat as in our hymns today. Perhaps the third "verse" used here (12-20) was at one time separate from the rest, as in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate versions. The emphasis in 12-20 on Yahweh's sending out Yahweh's word (18), declaring Yahweh's word to Jacob (19), and the statement that Yahweh's word runs swiftly (15) provide the reason for the selection of this portion of Psalm 147 to be read or sung in connection with the John 1:1-18 Prologue in which the word hypostasis of Yahweh is said to have been personified in Jesus, the pre-existent Logos who became flesh and camped among us full of grace and truth.
Common:
Jeremiah 31:7-14
This thoroughly optimistic tradition is a reminder to us that the concept "salvation" is in the Old Testament primarily corporate and this-worldly and in the New Testament primarily individualistic and other-worldly. By accepting both the Old Testament and the New as its canon of faith, the early Church assured itself of a well-balanced and well-rounded salvation concept. Our preaching and our teaching, therefore, should include both aspects of salvation. The history of the Israelite people amply illustrates the search for corporate salvation. The story of the Church provides countless examples of the individual longing for fulfillment beyond the limits of this life. Whether it is corporate and this-worldly or individualistic and otherworldly, salvation for us is a gift from God. Life is a gift, as we should be fully aware during this Christmas Season. The individual is one among many within the religious community. This world is intensely valuable in itself, as well as being a "foretaste of the world to come." In the words of John 1:16, it is "grace piled upon grace" that we receive from God in the pre-existent Word made incarnate among us. Certainly this should be our emphasis throughout the Christmas Season.
Lutheran: Isaiah 61:10--62:3
The life situation of these Isaiah traditions is probably Restoration Period Jerusalem (521-350 B.C.E.). The context suggests that Jerusalem is still basically desolate and its people in need of strong encouragement. The emphasis on Jerusalem links this reading to the Psalm 147:12-20 segment. From the New Testament standpoint, the salvation of Jerusalem proclaimed here was accomplished only with the coming of Jesus as Savior-designate of all nations. Perhaps we should say that the fulfillment of the salvation of Jerusalem has not yet been fully accomplished, that it is in many respects still to come, for both Christians and Jews.
Roman Catholic: Sirach 24:1-2, 8-12
In this text the Wisdom of God is said to have been sent to dwell in a tent among the people of God just as in John 1:1-18 the Word of God is said to have been sent. Wisdom, like the Word, is said to have been present in the beginning. The Word in John 1:1-18 is raised somewhat higher than Wisdom is raised in this text, since unlike Wisdom here, the Word is not said to have been created even in the beginning. As they are linked together in the text selections for this day, the Word and Wisdom hypostases supply for us both male and female figures of God active in this world.
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18
The key words that link this text from the "Blessing" portion of Ephesians to the Johannine Prologue with which it is associated on this day are "his grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved One" (6) and "the word of truth" (13). If those who selected Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 for this lectionary had seen this more clearly, they would most likely have assigned Ephesians 1:3-14 rather than the divided reading 1:3-6, 15-18.
John 1:1-18
Since the references to the witness of John the Baptizer interrupt the flow of the Prologue, even though they link the Prologue in its canonical form to the main body of the Fourth Gospel, on this occasion we should probably consider the Prologue apart from the reference to John in 1:6-8, 15. Here in John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18, along with Colossians 1:15-20, are the highest Christologies within the New Testament.
We cannot fail to notice how different these John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18 and Colossians 1:15-20 Christ hymns are in genre from the Lukan writer's literary drama scenes in Luke 1-2. Who would ever try to portray the John 1:1-18 Christ Hymn in a Sunday School Christmas pageant? Here in the Johannine Prologue the Christology is high, by canonical New Testament standards, and within the early church contentious. Its polemic is waged on two theological fronts. On the one front it is directed subtly against groups of followers of Jesus who, like the Apostle Paul, perceived Lordship to have been bestowed on Jesus by God the Father during Jesus' death and resurrection, or like the Markan community during Jesus' baptism, or like the Matthean and Lukan traditions during the conception of Jesus within Mary. On the other, more bitterly contested, theological front the polemic of the Johannine Prologue is aimed as a frontal assault against gnosticizing
Christians who denied that the Logos had ever become flesh. Only secondarily is the polemic of the Johannine Prologue anti-Jewish, and where it is in 1:11 and in 1:17, it is not defamatory. It is only supersessionistic, in its claim that "the Torah was given through Moses, but grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ." In Jesus, the pre-existent Logos of God, it is said that divine grace is so abundant that it is literally grace piled on top of grace. Here the only-begotten God the Son, who is in the close presence of God the Father, has "exegeted" God, has brought out for others to see the meaning of God, of God whom no human has ever seen at any time.
Particularly if we have used John 1:1-14 as a text on Christmas Day, perhaps we should put our emphasis on 1:16-18 on Christmas 2. A biblically-based message on John 1:16-18 would, therefore, demonstrate from the Jesus known to us in the New Testament and from our Christian experience what it means to receive "grace piled on top of grace." We shall want to depict how the Jesus of history brought out the meaning of God whom no human has ever seen at any time. With our lives and in our words we shall want to proclaim God as Jesus did. Our words will be effective if they are consistent with our actions, as Jesus' were.
Common, Lutheran: Psalm 147:12-20
Roman Catholic: Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
As in so many of the songs in the Psalter, praise of Yahweh is the dominant theme here. It is possible that there are three extended "verses" (1-6, 7-11, 12-20) in this psalm, somewhat as in our hymns today. Perhaps the third "verse" used here (12-20) was at one time separate from the rest, as in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate versions. The emphasis in 12-20 on Yahweh's sending out Yahweh's word (18), declaring Yahweh's word to Jacob (19), and the statement that Yahweh's word runs swiftly (15) provide the reason for the selection of this portion of Psalm 147 to be read or sung in connection with the John 1:1-18 Prologue in which the word hypostasis of Yahweh is said to have been personified in Jesus, the pre-existent Logos who became flesh and camped among us full of grace and truth.
Common:
Jeremiah 31:7-14
This thoroughly optimistic tradition is a reminder to us that the concept "salvation" is in the Old Testament primarily corporate and this-worldly and in the New Testament primarily individualistic and other-worldly. By accepting both the Old Testament and the New as its canon of faith, the early Church assured itself of a well-balanced and well-rounded salvation concept. Our preaching and our teaching, therefore, should include both aspects of salvation. The history of the Israelite people amply illustrates the search for corporate salvation. The story of the Church provides countless examples of the individual longing for fulfillment beyond the limits of this life. Whether it is corporate and this-worldly or individualistic and otherworldly, salvation for us is a gift from God. Life is a gift, as we should be fully aware during this Christmas Season. The individual is one among many within the religious community. This world is intensely valuable in itself, as well as being a "foretaste of the world to come." In the words of John 1:16, it is "grace piled upon grace" that we receive from God in the pre-existent Word made incarnate among us. Certainly this should be our emphasis throughout the Christmas Season.
Lutheran: Isaiah 61:10--62:3
The life situation of these Isaiah traditions is probably Restoration Period Jerusalem (521-350 B.C.E.). The context suggests that Jerusalem is still basically desolate and its people in need of strong encouragement. The emphasis on Jerusalem links this reading to the Psalm 147:12-20 segment. From the New Testament standpoint, the salvation of Jerusalem proclaimed here was accomplished only with the coming of Jesus as Savior-designate of all nations. Perhaps we should say that the fulfillment of the salvation of Jerusalem has not yet been fully accomplished, that it is in many respects still to come, for both Christians and Jews.
Roman Catholic: Sirach 24:1-2, 8-12
In this text the Wisdom of God is said to have been sent to dwell in a tent among the people of God just as in John 1:1-18 the Word of God is said to have been sent. Wisdom, like the Word, is said to have been present in the beginning. The Word in John 1:1-18 is raised somewhat higher than Wisdom is raised in this text, since unlike Wisdom here, the Word is not said to have been created even in the beginning. As they are linked together in the text selections for this day, the Word and Wisdom hypostases supply for us both male and female figures of God active in this world.
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18
The key words that link this text from the "Blessing" portion of Ephesians to the Johannine Prologue with which it is associated on this day are "his grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved One" (6) and "the word of truth" (13). If those who selected Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 for this lectionary had seen this more clearly, they would most likely have assigned Ephesians 1:3-14 rather than the divided reading 1:3-6, 15-18.
John 1:1-18
Since the references to the witness of John the Baptizer interrupt the flow of the Prologue, even though they link the Prologue in its canonical form to the main body of the Fourth Gospel, on this occasion we should probably consider the Prologue apart from the reference to John in 1:6-8, 15. Here in John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18, along with Colossians 1:15-20, are the highest Christologies within the New Testament.
We cannot fail to notice how different these John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18 and Colossians 1:15-20 Christ hymns are in genre from the Lukan writer's literary drama scenes in Luke 1-2. Who would ever try to portray the John 1:1-18 Christ Hymn in a Sunday School Christmas pageant? Here in the Johannine Prologue the Christology is high, by canonical New Testament standards, and within the early church contentious. Its polemic is waged on two theological fronts. On the one front it is directed subtly against groups of followers of Jesus who, like the Apostle Paul, perceived Lordship to have been bestowed on Jesus by God the Father during Jesus' death and resurrection, or like the Markan community during Jesus' baptism, or like the Matthean and Lukan traditions during the conception of Jesus within Mary. On the other, more bitterly contested, theological front the polemic of the Johannine Prologue is aimed as a frontal assault against gnosticizing
Christians who denied that the Logos had ever become flesh. Only secondarily is the polemic of the Johannine Prologue anti-Jewish, and where it is in 1:11 and in 1:17, it is not defamatory. It is only supersessionistic, in its claim that "the Torah was given through Moses, but grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ." In Jesus, the pre-existent Logos of God, it is said that divine grace is so abundant that it is literally grace piled on top of grace. Here the only-begotten God the Son, who is in the close presence of God the Father, has "exegeted" God, has brought out for others to see the meaning of God, of God whom no human has ever seen at any time.
Particularly if we have used John 1:1-14 as a text on Christmas Day, perhaps we should put our emphasis on 1:16-18 on Christmas 2. A biblically-based message on John 1:16-18 would, therefore, demonstrate from the Jesus known to us in the New Testament and from our Christian experience what it means to receive "grace piled on top of grace." We shall want to depict how the Jesus of history brought out the meaning of God whom no human has ever seen at any time. With our lives and in our words we shall want to proclaim God as Jesus did. Our words will be effective if they are consistent with our actions, as Jesus' were.
