Second Sunday after Christmas (C) January 2, 2022
Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; and John 1:1-18
How ironic to have one of our readings for this Sunday be a part of the creation story… No, we’re not reading from Genesis – we’re reading from the gospel of John. On this first Sunday of the new year, we hear these familiar words, “In the beginning…” Except this story doesn’t talk about the acts of creation – it speaks of the fullness of creation before anything finite was ever created. “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here, in John 1, before we had a formal doctrine of the Trinity, our gospel writer wants to make sure we know that Jesus wasn’t an afterthought or second-hand plan. Jesus was there from the beginning. And he wasn’t just present – he participated in everything that was to come.
There are hundreds of sermons to be preached from these first 18 verses of John, and hundreds more books to be written, but I promise I won’t go there today. Instead, I’d like to focus on the parts of this passage that are especially important to where we are in the Christian year, as we celebrate the second Sunday of this Christmas season. So, while it was important for us to hear the whole prologue, we’re going to focus on the second half of the, especially verses 10-14.
And as weird as this might seem, I’m going to start at the end with verse 14: John writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
One of the keywords for the Christmas season is the word “incarnation.” It is reflected in one of our best-known Advent hymns – O Come, O come, Emmanuel – Emmanuel translates as “God with us.” So, when we think about the “Word of God Incarnate,” we are addressing two different things from our John reading. Jesus is the Word – God speaks the universe into being - and Jesus participates in all of it.
When we take verse 14 down to its roots, we find something interesting. The Greek verb for “lived” used here is skenoo, which gives us this word picture – God “pitched his tent” with us. Think of the Israelites wandering in the desert, wondering why God had brought them to this place. And then, God instructed them to make a “tent of meeting,” a place where they could get closer to God. Yes, God was with them on the journey, but God’s bigness was being diluted by the vastness of the wilderness around them. When Jesus came into the world as a human, John reminds us that God has chosen to “tabernacle” among us in an even more radical way, as the Word embodied in human flesh.
Today, we have an almost unlimited number of ways to communicate with one another, but the best way to give important news is to do it in person. Whether it is saying something difficult or sharing impossibly great news, being face-to-face with others carries with it tremendous benefits and responsibilities. Our almost two-year adventure with COVID-19 reminds us of how much we want to be present with other people. At our best, we are caught between a rock and a hard place deciding how much risk we are willing to take to be with other people. I, for one, am grateful for measures like testing, vaccines, verification apps, and rules which help give environments some level of safety as long as I do my part, too.
We went to the movies on the economy over the holidays to see the new Spiderman movie (which I’m sure I’ll be talking about during Lent – it has numerous theological themes running from beginning to the end.) And we felt like it was a safe enough space because of the multiple levels of care given to making it so. Sure, it will eventually be on a streaming service that will allow me to see it again and again, but seeing it in person and bigger than life, it felt like that was a risk worth taking.
The God who created the universe and everything in it
understands this need to be present with others… that is why we have that first
beautiful garden and its inhabitants. But the Hebrew Bible story can often be remembered
more for its scenes of disaster and destruction, not for the overarching sense
of God’s benevolent presence with humankind. Some stories are told from the
perspective of a defeated people. Prophets who want people to come back to God
not only speak of the need for justice and righteousness but God’s
disappointment and judgment when we do not take God’s call seriously. As a
result, many who read the Bible come away with the idea that the God we see
there is not to be trusted.
When we turn to a new chapter, we see God putting all the cards on the table… this is the best I have to give. God doesn’t want to be afraid or lost in confusion or distance. What is better news than this: We are not alone. Jesus came to redefine what it means for us to be in relationship with God. Ultimately, God comes to us, not first as unknown prophets walking in from the mist, but as a baby, innocent and non-threatening, and in need of comfort. It is not lost on us, as we look forward to Epiphany on January 6th (Three Kings Day here in Germany), we will see how intimidating this little baby was, even when he presented no personal threat to Herod or his court. After the Magi worshiped at the baby’s side and left gifts for him that might have provided the means for the family to escape, they went home by another way, fearing the destruction that Herod had in mind.
Martin Luther wrote that Jesus came as a baby perhaps because we are not capable of bearing the burden of God’s majesty and divinity as our first understanding of who God is. When Christ took on our humanity, he did it in such a way that we would not be terrified, but comforted and consoled by his presence, because who among us doesn’t love a baby? Emmanuel – Jesus with us – he has come into the world, not to condemn us but to save us, from the world and from ourselves.[I]
So, when we look back to verses 10-13, we see in this creation story a foreshadowing of how this will play out. Jesus came, but everyone did not know or recognize him. Some rejected him. Some plotted and succeeded in killing him, thinking that would take care of their problem. But it didn’t, because he wasn’t just like everyone else. And in the miracle of his death and resurrection, a new body of believers came together… not just followers, but brothers and sisters in faith, and children of God, not just in body, but in spirit and the truthfulness of their living. That’s what Paul writes to the Ephesians about. Jesus coming changed everything.
If you have the chance to travel to Ephesus in Turkey, you get an immediate feel for the city. Ephesus was remarkably modern for its day. It was a waypoint for travelers going from Asia to the Middle East by ship. Found in the 11th century BC, for over 14 centuries it was considered one of the most important cities in the ancient world. In the first century BC, the city came under Roman control and had its biggest revival. People came from far and wide to worship at the large temple to the goddess of fertility, Artemis. In the book of Acts, we see Paul in Ephesus, bringing people into the Christian faith. It is reported the apostle John brought Jesus’ mother Mary here to live out her last days. Paul later wrote a letter of encouragement and teaching to them.
Paul opens this letter with a blessing, and then a reminder that God chose them as children (and us) as a part of the overarching plan for creation. We are called to be holy and blameless before him in love – not because we have done something special to deserve it, but because we are his chosen and adopted children. No longer is it necessary to be born into a particular bloodline. We gain entry into the family because of the richness of God’s grace. And our inheritance is not earned by the good things we have done in the past, but in how we respond to this amazing gift, now and in the future. We are called to set our hope on Christ and to live out our lives in love.[ii]
This kind of language can be confusing. Some scholars think that Paul used the framework of adoption because of the long history of Roman rulers adopting other family members as children to pass on their inheritance and rights to rule. As inheritors of God’s grace, we are given both redemption and forgiveness… our sins and debts will not be held against us. This was God’s plan… it was always God’s plan – from the very beginning. We will see later in Ephesians that Paul works hard to hold the Jewish and Gentile Christians into a cohesive community. The language about adoption works there, too. This action doesn’t just to explain the depth of God’s love for us, but how much we are connected to everyone else – as God’s children together – because of that love.[iii]
So how do these two passages work together on this particular Sunday? In sorting through emails from last year, I ran across this interesting quote which helped me form a message for today. Father Richard Rohr, Franciscan monk, and Christian mystic wrote this:
“Incarnation is the overcoming of the gap between God and everything visible and concrete. It is the synthesis of matter and spirit. Without incarnation, God remains separate from us and from creation. Because of incarnation, we can say, ‘God is with us!’ In fact, God is in us, and in everything else God has created. We all have the divine DNA. Everything bears the divine fingerprint, including, of course, the mystery of embodiment.
He goes on to say: “The belief that God is ‘out there’ is the basic dualism that is tearing us all apart. Our view of God as separate and distant has harmed our relationship to food, possessions, and money, to animals, nature, and our own bodies. This loss is foundational to why we live such distraught and divided lives….”[iv]
Here, Rohr is saying that Jesus’ incarnation is not just about saving people for sin and getting us ready for heaven. It’s much more important than that. Incarnation is the glue that holds us all together. It is what shapes our spirits and our behaviors. It is a reminder that we don’t do good things to gain eternal life. We do good things to say thank you for the eternal life we have already been given. In short, when we wonder how we are supposed to live, love is always the answer to all the questions.
Thank goodness we are not meant to do that alone. We are called to community – to be the church – because together we can do so much more than we can individually. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”[v]
For some, the new year offers opportunities to make changes, to bring order back into disorder, to rearrange our lives. Overnight, I worried that this sermon might lack a practical dimension. And then I realized that faith lived is not always practical. In fact, it often calls us to live in ways that the world deems crazy. Seeing and believing ourselves to be beloved children of God – you can’t work yourself into that state of being. It requires a change of heart. The greatest commandment asks us to love God and love our neighbor, but we often forget an integral piece… loving ourselves is often the missing link. And that’s where our lessons take us today.
The love that God shows us is not just personal and not just communal – it is both. So, accept the love of God, the presence of Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that supported, mentored, encouraged, and challenged, we can grow together in love. And know that this was God’s plan all along.
Thanks be to God!
Peace, Deb
(c) Deb Luther Teagan, January 2022
[i]
Elizabeth Johnson, Commentary on John 1:1-18, January 2, 2022, Working
Preacher.com https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-christmas-3/commentary-on-john-11-9-10-18-9
[ii]
Edward Pillar, Commentary on Ephesians 1:3-14, January 2, 2022,
workingpreacher.com
[iii]
Will Willimon, Blest to Be a Blessing, Pulpit Resource, January 2, 2022.
Ministrymatters.com
[iv]
Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations – Sunday, June 6, 2021, https://incarnationpianity.com/rohr-on-incarnation/
[v]
Sue Bird, Love is Our Foundation – December 28, 2021, Companions on the way https://www.companionsontheway.com/post/love-is-our-foundation
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