Lectionary blog for Jan. 3, 2016
Second Sunday of Christmas
Text: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20;
Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:10-18
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:16-17).
A possibly apocryphal story comes out of the 1960s war between Malaysia, a part of the British Commonwealth, and Indonesia. A group of Gurkha tribesmen from Nepal were asked if they would be willing to jump from transport planes into combat against the Indonesians.
The Gurkhas usually agreed to anything, but this time they originally rejected the plan. The next day one of their officers went to see the British officer who made the request and said they had thought about it and discussed it and would make the jump under certain conditions.
1) The land has to be soft or marshy with no rocks.
2) The plane had to fly as slowly as possible and only 100 feet above the ground.
The British officer said the soft landing would be no problem, and they always flew as slowly as possible when troops were jumping, but that 100 feet was too low. The parachute wouldn’t have time to open. The Gurkha officer smiled and said, “Oh, that’s all right then. We’ll jump with parachutes anywhere. You never said anything about parachutes.”
Many of us seem to be trying to live our Christian lives without parachutes. We are trying to live up to God’s will and way without using the gifts God has given us. We’re trying to go it alone. We’re trying to lower the standards so that we can meet them; we’re trying to be good enough for God on our own – and it is simply not possible. And, like the Gurkhas, we have not realized that we do not have to.
The last few Sundays have been a celebration of the gifts of God’s grace. Throughout Advent we heard the promise of the coming Messiah. On Christmas Day the promise was fulfilled – Christ came, the Prince of Peace is here. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” “Go tell it on the mountain.”
And then, in a few weeks, or a few days, or even a few minutes – we forget about the gifts, and our lives return to the same old, same old, as if nothing of any consequence had happened, as if nothing had changed. But if the story the Bible tells is true, everything is different, everything has changed, something of truly monumental importance has happened.
John 1:18 says clearly and simply, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”
Some years ago I heard a story about a Sunday school teacher who put her first graders to work drawing pictures of their favorite Bible story. There were lots of pictures of arks and animals. There were quite a few of David with a slingshot and a Goliath who greatly resembled either King Kong or a Macy’s parade float. There was even a picture of Mary and Joseph and a donkey in front of what was quite definitely a Holiday Inn.
One little girl had drawn a sweet-faced person wearing long robes, seated on cushions and eating grapes and drinking from a goblet. The teacher asked, “Who is that?” The girl answered “That’s God.” The teacher hesitated a moment and then said, “Well dear, it’s very nice, but you know no one knows what God looks like.” The little girl put down her coloring pencil, crossed her arms and said firmly, “They do now.”
In Christ we have seen God. No, we have not just seen God, we have known God. Knowing is more than seeing; knowing is comprehending, understanding, being intimate with. To know God is to know the riches of God’s grace that have been lavished upon us (Ephesians 1:7-8). To know God is to know that God’s loving generosity has bestowed upon us not only the gift of being loved, but also the gift of being able to love others in the name and way of Christ.
We are invited as those “who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:12) We are invited to show the world what God looks like. We are invited to receive the gift and in turn to share the gift with others, in the name of Christ.
Amen and amen.
