Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 147, Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7, John 1:1-18
This week
our lectionary takes a break from the usual pattern of following the Revised
Common Lectionary, which is the lectionary shared by most mainline Christian
churches. The Episcopal Church takes a break from the regular lectionary
because it is important that we hear the beginning of the gospel of John again.
The very same story we heard on Christmas morning. There is of
course the temptation to dust off the sermon I offered on Christmas morning,
but I would be doing a disservice to those of you who were here on that
wonderful morning. There are some themes that I touched on before that I
would like to expound upon today.
While
this text may seem rather simple on the surface it is really much more complex.
It is packed with theological ideas and doctrinal statements that even
with two preaching opportunities I cannot cover them all. But today I
will offer you a few ideas about this complicated text. One aspect is
that rather than starting with the earthly birth of Jesus, John starts his
story in the very very beginning, before anything in the world was created.
John tells us that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.” John speaks in very poetic language, but his
message is clear.
From the very beginning of
everything Jesus has been with God and is God. John tells us this because
the focus of most of his gospel is about the divinity of Jesus.
