Second Sunday of Christmas Year B 3rd January 2021
Lectionary readings:
Jeremiah 31 v7-14 Israel will return to its own land.
Psalm 147 Sing and praise the Lord.
Ephesians 1 v3-14 Christ brings spiritual blessings.
John 1 v1-18. The Word of life.
The ‘Ultimate Blessing’.
Jeremiah foretells of a time when God’s people will celebrate and their faces will glow because of God’s blessings to them.
John’s gospel opens with confirmation that God has blessed us with his ‘Word’, the ultimate blessing.
“In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God.”
John goes on the explain that “The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all kindness and all the truth of God has come down to us.” (v14)
God’s ‘undeserved kindness’ mentioned in verse 17, is translated as ‘grace’ in older translations. God’s ‘grace’ is made real for us in the teachings and example of Jesus.
Jesus came to help us with our thinking, to show us how we can be truly human, (the ‘image of God’ as mentioned in the book of Genesis), and better able to represent God to others.
All of this is part of God’s plan for us, as noted in the letter to the Ephesians;
“Then when the time is right, God will do all that he has planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and earth.” (v10).
The writer goes on to say, “You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show that you belong to God”. (v13). We can demonstrate this today, in the way we care for others, the planet and for all of God’s creation.
We are truly blessed, as John explains in the final three verses of today’s gospel reading.
“Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another.
The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth.
No one has ever seen God. The only Son who is truly God and is the closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.” (v16-18)
“Shout praises to the Lord! Our God is kind, and it is right and good to sing praises to him.” (Psalm 147 v1).
Thank you Lord for Jesus, our ultimate blessing.Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version