Revised Common Lectionary - Second Sunday after Christmas Day, 5 January 2014

Revised Common Lectionary - Second Sunday after Christmas Day,

5 January 2014

PRAYER: Thematic

O Holy One,

heavenly angels spoke to earthly shepherds

and eternity entered time in the child of Bethlehem.

Through the telling of the Christmas story,

let our temporal lives be caught up in the eternal

in that same child,

that we might join shepherds and all the heavenly host

in praising the coming of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

OR

God of glory,

your splendor shines from a manger in Bethlehem,

where the Light of the world is humbly born

into the darkness of human night.

Open our eyes to Christ's presence in the shadows of our world,

so that we, like him, may become beacons of your justice,

and defenders of all for whom there is no room. Amen.

OR

Light of life, you came in flesh,

born into human pain and joy,

and gave us power to be your children.

Grant us faith, O Christ, to see your presence among us,

so that all of creation may sing new songs of gladness

and walk in the way of peace. Amen.

OR

We bless you, Abba, Father,

for you have visited your people

in one like us in all things but sin,

and in human fragility you have revealed

the face of divinity.

Gather into your arms

all the peoples of the world,

so that in your embrace

we may find blessing, peace,

and the fullness of our inheritance

as your daughters and sons. Amen.

Intercessory

God has blessed creation with a great variety of gifts

and gathered all people into one family,

so that in sharing, we might strengthen

and be strengthened by one another.

We gather into our hearts and minds

the universe entrusted to us,

remembering its needs before God and this company.

Prayers of the People, concluding with:

Grant that these prayers, O God,

may be enfleshed by our commitment not only to pray them,

but to live them in your Son's name. Amen.

Scripture

Gracious God,

you have redeemed us through Jesus Christ,

the first-born of all creation,

whose birth we celebrate as the child of Bethlehem.

Bless us with every spiritual blessing,

that we may live as your adopted children

and witness to your glory

with unending praise and thanksgiving. Amen.

Jeremiah 31: 7 For thus says the Lord:

Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

    and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;

proclaim, give praise, and say,

    “Save, O Lord, your people,

    the remnant of Israel.”

8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,

    and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,

among them the blind and the lame,

    those with child and those in labor, together;

    a great company, they shall return here.

9 With weeping they shall come,

    and with consolations[a] I will lead them back,

I will let them walk by brooks of water,

    in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;

for I have become a father to Israel,

    and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

    and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,

    and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”

11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,

    and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

12 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.

13 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.

14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,

    and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,

says the Lord.

Footnotes:

a. Jeremiah 31:9 Gk Compare Vg Tg: Heb supplications

Sirach The Praise of Wisdom[a]

24: Wisdom praises herself,

    and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.

2 In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,

    and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:

3 “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,

    and covered the earth like a mist.

4 I dwelt in the highest heavens,

    and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.

5 Alone I compassed the vault of heaven

    and traversed the depths of the abyss.

6 Over waves of the sea, over all the earth,

    and over every people and nation I have held sway.[b]

7 Among all these I sought a resting place;

    in whose territory should I abide?

8 “Then the Creator of all things gave me a command,

    and my Creator chose the place for my tent.

He said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob,

    and in Israel receive your inheritance.’

9 Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me,

    and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.

10 In the holy tent I ministered before him,

    and so I was established in Zion.

11 Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place,

    and in Jerusalem was my domain.

12 I took root in an honored people,

    in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.

Footnotes:

a. Sirach 24:1 This heading is included in the Gk text.

b. Sirach 24:6 Other ancient authorities read I have acquired a possession

Psalm 147: 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

    Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

    he blesses your children within you.

14 He grants peace[a] within your borders;

    he fills you with the finest of wheat.

15 He sends out his command to the earth;

    his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool;

    he scatters frost like ashes.

17 He hurls down hail like crumbs—

    who can stand before his cold?

18 He sends out his word, and melts them;

    he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.

19 He declares his word to Jacob,

    his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

    they do not know his ordinances.

Praise the Lord!

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 147:14 Or prosperity

Wisdom of Solomon 10: Wisdom Led the Israelites out of Egypt

15 A holy people and blameless race

wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors.

16 She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,

and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.

17 She gave to holy people the reward of their labors;

she guided them along a marvelous way,

and became a shelter to them by day,

and a starry flame through the night.

18 She brought them over the Red Sea,

and led them through deep waters;

19 but she drowned their enemies,

and cast them up from the depth of the sea.

20 Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;

they sang hymns, O Lord, to your holy name,

and praised with one accord your defending hand;

21 for wisdom opened the mouths of those who were mute,

and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.

Ephesians 1: Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ[a] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,[b] having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this[c] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Footnotes:

a. Ephesians 1:4 Gk in him

b. Ephesians 1:11 Or been made a heritage

c. Ephesians 1:14 Other ancient authorities read who

John 1: The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[b]

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[e] who is close to the Father’s heart,[f] who has made him known.

Footnotes:

a. John 1:4 Or 3 through him. And without him not one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In him was life

b. John 1:9 Or He was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into the world

c. John 1:11 Or to his own home

d. John 1:14 Or the Father’s only Son

e. John 1:18 Other ancient authorities read It is an only Son, God, or It is the only Son

f. John 1:18 Gk bosom

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John Wesley’s Notes-Commentary:

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Verse 9. With weeping - Some think that it had been better translated, they went weeping; for though the verb be the future tense in the Hebrew, yet that tense has often the signification of the preterperfect tense, thus it answereth, Psalm 1xxvi, 5, 6. He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shalt doubtless come again rejoicing. There is a weeping for joy, as well as for sorrow, and thus the text corresponds with that, Zech xii, 10. I will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn. By rivers - And they shall have no want as they had when they came out of Egypt, through the wilderness, where they often wanted water.

Verse 11. Hath redeemed - God will as certainly do it, as if he had already done it. In their deliverance as well from Babylon as Egypt, they were types of the deliverance of God's people, by Christ; as well as in their entering into Canaan, they were types of the saints, entering into heaven.

Verse 12. And sing - All the phrases in this verse signify one thing, the happy state of the Jews, after their return from captivity. The height of Zion means the temple. A watered garden - They shall be a beautiful, flourishing, and growing people. Soul seems here to be taken for the whole man. Not sorrow - In that manner they have been. But under these expressions is also promised the spiritual joy which the true Israel of God will have under the gospel, and the eternal joy they shall have in heaven.

Sirach 24:1-12

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Psalm 147:12-20

Verse 13. Thy gates - Thy strength consists not in thy walls, and gates, and bars, but in his protection.

Verse 14. Borders - In all thy land, even to its utmost borders.

Verse 15. Commandment - Which is sufficient without any instruments to execute whatsoever pleaseth him. Swiftly - The thing is done without delay.

Verse 16. Like wool - Not only in colour and shape, and softness, but also in use, keeping the fruits of the earth warm. Ashes - In colour and smallness of parts, as also in its burning quality.

Verse 17. Ice - Great hail-stones, which are of an icy nature, and are cast forth out of the clouds, like morsels or fragments

Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21

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Ephesians 1:3-14

Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us - God's blessing us is his bestowing all spiritual and heavenly blessings upon us. Our blessing God is the paying him our solemn and grateful acknowledgments, both on account of his own essential blessedness, and of the blessings which he bestows upon us. He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, as man and Mediator: he is his Father, primarily, with respect to his divine nature, as his only begotten Son; and, secondarily, with respect to his human nature, as that is personally united to the divine. With all spiritual blessings in heavenly things - With all manner of spiritual blessings, which are heavenly in their nature, original, and tendency, and shall be completed in heaven: far different from the external privileges of the Jews, and the earthly blessings they expected from the Messiah.

Verse 4. As he hath chosen us - Both Jews and gentiles, whom he foreknew as believing in Christ, 1 Pet. i, 2.

Verse 5. Having predestinated us to the adoption of sons - Having foreordained that all who afterwards believed should enjoy the dignity of being sons of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. According to the good pleasure of his will - According to his free, fixed, unalterable purpose to confer this blessing on all those who should believe in Christ, and those only.

Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace - His glorious, free love without any desert on our part.

Verse 7. By whom we - Who believe. Have - From the moment we believe. Redemption - From the guilt and power of sin. Through his blood - Through what he hath done and suffered for us. According to the riches of his grace - According to the abundant overflowings of his free mercy and favour.

Verse 8. In all wisdom - Manifested by God in the whole scheme of our salvation. And prudence - Which be hath wrought in us, that we may know and do all his acceptable and perfect will.

Verse 9. Having made known to us - By his word and by his Spirit. The mystery of his will - The gracious scheme of salvation by faith, which depends on his own sovereign will alone. This was but darkly discovered under the law; is now totally hid from unbelievers; and has heights and depths which surpass all the knowledge even of true believers.

Verse 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times - In this last administration of God's fullest grace, which took place when the time appointed was fully come. He might gather together into one in Christ - Might recapitulate, re-unite, and place in order again under Christ, their common Head. All things which are in heaven, and on earth - All angels and men, whether living or dead, in the Lord.

Verse 11. Through whom we - Jews. Also have obtained an inheritance - The glorious inheritance of the heavenly Canaan, to which, when believers, we were predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will - The unalterable decree, "He that believeth shall be delivered;" which will is not an arbitrary will, but flowing from the rectitude of his nature, else, what security would there be that it would be his will to keep his word even with the elect?

Verse 12. That we - Jews. Who first believed - Before the gentiles. So did some of them in every place. Here is another branch of the true gospel predestination: he that believes is not only elected to salvation, (if he endures to the end,) but is fore-appointed of God to walk in holiness, to the praise of his glory.

Verse 13. In whom ye - Gentiles. Likewise believed, after ye had heard the gospel - Which God made the means of your salvation; in whom after ye had believed - Probably some time after their first believing. Ye were sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise - Holy both in his nature and in his operations, and promised to all the children of God. The sealing seems to imply,

1. A full impression of the image of God on their souls.

2. A full assurance of receiving all the promises, whether relating to time or eternity.

14. Who, thus sealing us, is an earnest - Both a pledge and a foretaste of our inheritance. Till the redemption of the purchased possession - Till the church, which he has purchased with his own blood, shall be fully delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to everlasting glory. To the praise of his glory - Of his glorious wisdom, power, and mercy.

John 1:1-18

Verse 1. In the beginning - (Referring to Gen. i, 1, and Prov. viii, 23.) When all things began to be made by the Word: in the beginning of heaven and earth, and this whole frame of created beings, the Word existed, without any beginning. He was when all things began to be, whatsoever had a beginning. The Word - So termed Psalm xxxiii, 6, and frequently by the seventy, and in the Chaldee paraphrase. So that St. John did not borrow this expression from Philo, or any heathen writer. He was not yet named Jesus, or Christ. He is the Word whom the Father begat or spoke from eternity; by whom the Father speaking, maketh all things; who speaketh the Father to us. We have, in the 18th verse, both a real description of the Word, and the reason why he is so called. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father, and hath declared him. And the Word was with God - Therefore distinct from God the Father. The word rendered with, denotes a perpetual tendency as it were of the Son to the Father, in unity of essence. He was with God alone; because nothing beside God had then any being. And the Word was God - Supreme, eternal, independent. There was no creature, in respect of which he could be styled God in a relative sense. Therefore he is styled so in the absolute sense. The Godhead of the Messiah being clearly revealed in the Old Testament, (Jer. xxiii, 7; Hosea i, 6; Psalm xxiii, 1, ) the other evangelists aim at this, to prove that Jesus, a true man, was the Messiah. But when, at length, some from hence began to doubt of his Godhead, then St. John expressly asserted it, and wrote in this book as it were a supplement to the Gospels, as in the Revelation to the prophets.

Verse 2. The same was in the beginning with God - This verse repeats and contracts into one the three points mentioned before. As if he had said, This Word, who was God, was in the beginning, and was with God.

Verse 3. All things beside God were made, and all things which were made, were made by the Word. In the first and second verse is described the state of things before the creation: verse 3, In the creation: verse 4, In the time of man's innocency: verse 5, In the time of man's corruption.

4. In him was life - He was the foundation of life to every living thing, as well as of being to all that is. And the life was the light of men - He who is essential life, and the giver of life to all that liveth, was also the light of men; the fountain of wisdom, holiness, and happiness, to man in his original state.

Verse 5. And the light shineth in darkness - Shines even on fallen man; but the darkness - Dark, sinful man, perceiveth it not.

Verse 6. There was a man - The evangelist now proceeds to him who testified of the light, which he had spoken of in the five preceding verses.

Verse 7. The same came for (that is, in order to give) a testimony - The evangelist, with the most strong and tender affection, interweaves his own testimony with that of John, by noble digressions, wherein he explains the office of the Baptist; partly premises and partly subjoins a farther explication to his short sentences. What St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke term the Gospel, in respect of the promise going before, St. John usually terms the testimony, intimating the certain knowledge of the relator; to testify of the light - Of Christ.

Verse 9. Who lighteth every man - By what is vulgarly termed natural conscience, pointing out at least the general lines of good and evil. And this light, if man did not hinder, would shine more and more to the perfect day.

Verse 10. He was in the world - Even from the creation.

Verse 11. He came - In the fulness of time, to his own - Country, city, temple: And his own - People, received him not.

Verse 12. But as many as received him - Jews or Gentiles; that believe on his name - That is, on him. The moment they believe, they are sons; and because they are sons, God sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Verse 13. Who were born - Who became the sons of God, not of blood - Not by descent from Abraham, nor by the will of the flesh - By natural generation, nor by the will of man - Adopting them, but of God - By his Spirit.

Verse 14. Flesh sometimes signifies corrupt nature; sometimes the body; sometimes, as here, the whole man. We beheld his glory - We his apostles, particularly Peter, James, and John, Luke ix, 32. Grace and truth - We are all by nature liars and children of wrath, to whom both grace and truth are unknown. But we are made partakers of them, when we are accepted through the Beloved. The whole verse might be paraphrased thus: And in order to raise us to this dignity and happiness, the eternal Word, by a most amazing condescension, was made flesh, united himself to our miserable nature, with all its innocent infirmities. And he did not make us a transient visit, but tabernacled among us on earth, displaying his glory in a more eminent manner, than even of old in the tabernacle of Moses. And we who are now recording these things beheld his glory with so strict an attention, that we can testify, it was in every respect such a glory as became the only begotten of the Father. For it shone forth not only in his transfiguration, and in his continual miracles, but in all his tempers, ministrations, and conduct through the whole series of his life. In all he appeared full of grace and truth: he was himself most benevolent and upright; made those ample discoveries of pardon to sinners, which the Mosaic dispensation could not do: and really exhibited the most substantial blessings, whereas that was but a shadow of good things to come.

Verse 15. John cried - With joy and confidence; This is he of whom I said - John had said this before our Lord's baptism, although he then knew him not in person: he knew him first at his baptism, and afterward cried, This is he of whom I said. &c. He is preferred before me - in his office: for he was before me - in his nature.

Verse 16. And - Here the apostle confirms the Baptist's words: as if he had said, He is indeed preferred before thee: so we have experienced: We all - That believe: have received - All that we enjoy out of his fulness: and in the particular, grace upon grace - One blessing upon another, immeasurable grace and love.

Verse 17. The law - Working wrath and containing shadows: was given - No philosopher, poet, or orator, ever chose his words so accurately as St. John. The law, saith he, was given by Moses: grace was by Jesus Christ. Observe the reason for placing each word thus: The law of Moses was not his own. The grace of Christ was. His grace was opposite to the wrath, his truth to the shadowy ceremonies of the law. Jesus - St. John having once mentioned the incarnation (ver. 14,) no more uses that name, the Word, in all his book.

Verse 18. No man hath seen God - With bodily eyes: yet believers see him with the eye of faith. Who is in the bosom of the Father - The expression denotes the highest unity, and the most intimate knowledge.

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