2nd Sunday of Christmas
Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18
“The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).” And these are the truths John wishes for us to know in the opening lines of his gospel: Jesus is the light of “all people” (4) and the full revelation of who God is and how God relates to the Christian believer (18) – that is, bestowing upon us grace upon grace (16). The cumulative effect of this abundant and forgiving love gives all who believe the power to be called children of God (12) and to testify to the light instead of surrendering to the oppressing forces working to separate us from God and one another. These forces cannot overcome those who stay with the Word (1-5). Not in a way the world understands.
Paul extended this notion to the church in Ephesus. It was God’s will and pleasure to destine us, gentiles, to be adopted into God’s people, Israel (Jeremiah 31:7), the plan for the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:5, 10, 14). Through the Christ event, we obtained the inheritance (7), the lavish grace freely bestowed upon us (6).
Through the words of Jeremiah, God promises to restore out of perceived scarcity. The “remnant” (Jeremiahn 31:7-8), including the blind, the lame, those weeping, all children, all nations, will be restored “by brooks of water and straight paths” into one flock (9-10). Their mourning will be transformed into joy (13).
The Psalmist testifies:
“[God] gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs—
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word and melts them;
he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow (Psalm 147:16–18, NRSVue).”
Bridging Faith 