Christmas 2

Jeremiah 31:7-14

This thoroughly optimistic text is a reminder to us that the concept “salvation” in much of the Older Testament is primarily corporate and this-worldly and in most of the Newer Testament is primarily individualistic and is often otherworldly. By accepting both the Older and the Newer as its biblical canon, the early Church assured itself of a well-balanced and well-rounded salvation concept. Our teaching and our proclamation should reflect this balance, not overemphasizing the individualistic and otherworldly. When the corporate and this-worldly aspects of salvation are underemphasized and neglected, as they have been for so many centuries in most of the Church and still are in significant segments of it, oppression inevitably results and social justice is neither valued nor considered to be important for the Church. Instead, the Church offers only “pie in the sky by and by” and persons and groups of people who understand the necessity for social justice look with contempt upon the Church or at least consider it to be irrelevant.

Both corporate and this-worldly and individualistic and otherworldly, salvation is a gift from God for us. Life is itself a gift from God. Although we are individuals, we are members of the Church, the corporate body of Christ.

Sirach 24:1-12

This extensive personification and praise of Wisdom introduces the second half of the document known and used in major portions of the Christian Church as “The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach,” “Ecclesiasticus” (the Church’s book), or simply as “Sirach.” After emanating from the “mouth of the Most High,” Wisdom is said in this text to have permeated the world before being commanded by the Creator to dwell in Israel.

Psalm 147:12-20

As in so many of the songs in the Psalter, praise of the Lord (Adonai) is the dominant theme here. It is possible that there are three extended “verses” (1-6, 7-11, and 12-20) in this psalm as we have it today, much as we may have hymns with three verses in our hymnals. The third verse selected here (12-20) was probably at one time separate from verses 1-6 and 7-11, as it is the Septuagint (Greek) and in the Vulgate (Latin) major translations of the Hebrew Bible. The emphasis in verses 12-20 on the Lord sending out the Word of the Lord (verse 18), declaring the Word of the Lord to Jacob (19), and the statement that the Word of the Lord runs swiftly (15) explains the reason for the selection of this portion to be placed between the personification of Wisdom in Sirach 24:1-12 and the personification of the Word of the Lord in Jesus perceived as the Christ in John 1:1-18, the pre-existent Logos (Word) who became flesh and “camped” among us full of grace and truth.

Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21

In this other major wisdom document that, together with Sirach, is sacred Scripture for most Christians, Wisdom is personified and acclaimed throughout its first ten chapters. In this segment, as in the portion from Sirach 24:1-12, Wisdom is said to have provided guidance for and become a blessing for Israel. It is written that Wisdom entered into Moses and led the former slaves through the Red Sea to freedom. We can believe that just as God via Wisdom provided salvation for Israel, God via the Word (the Logos) Jesus the Christ, provided salvation for the members of the Johannine community and offers salvation to the world.

Ephesians 1:3-14

The key words that connect this text selected from the “blessing” portion of this epistle to the Johannine Prologue (1:1-18) are Grace in verse 6 and the Word of Truth in verse 13. It should be noted that in Greek the entire “blessing” section of this epistle (verses 3-14) are one extended sentence. When we translate this sentence into the English language for readers of modern English, we have to divide it into at least six sentences. Greek readers from the period of classical Greek and from what is for us the “biblical” period enjoyed well-constructed, “edifice” sentences; most modern readers of English want their sentences in simple, small bites.

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Since the references to the witness of John the Baptizer interrupt the flow of thought of the Prologue even though they link the Prologue to the materials in the Gospel proper that begin with 1:19, on this particular occasion on the Second Sunday after Christmas Day when the Word, the Logos is emphasized, it would be appropriate to focus our attention on the portions of the Prologue (1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18) apart from the references to John the Baptizer that we see in 1:6-8 and 15. The main and perhaps original portions of the Prologue (1:1-5, 9-14, and 16-18) express one of the highest Christologies that were included within the New Testament canon.

Here in Jesus, the pre-existent Logos, divine grace is said to be 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” (from the final verb in verse 18) God, has brought God out so that those who follow him will be able to see the meaning of God, God whom no human has ever seen at any time.

Particularly if we have used John 1:1-14 as the Gospel text on Christmas Day, we should put our emphasis on 1:16-18 on this present occasion. A biblically based message from this text on the Second Sunday after Christmas Day will demonstrate from Jesus as Jesus is revealed to us in the New Testament and from our experiences within the Church as it should be as the “Body of Christ” what it means to us to receive God’s “grace piled on top of God’s grace.” Our message will also show how the Jesus of history in his life brought out for others to see the meaning of God whom no human being has ever seen at any time. It will be God who graciously forgives and Jesus who goes to the cross for us whom we, therefore, will proclaim and will depict with our lives. This will mean offering ourselves for others. It will mean giving up our life by trusting and believing in God who is the one who gives “grace piled on top of grace.” Our words will be effective if our lives demonstrate these things.