- John 1:1-18 - Prologue to John
- Matthew 2:1-12 - El Día de los Reyes
Episode 44: Happy EpiphaNewYears! or Christmastide 2A
Opening Music: Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC
For Sunday, January 5
Episode 44
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, where two local pastors discuss the lectionary reading for the week. Our name's Pulpit Fiction with the mic in our han And we’re chilling and coolin' just like a snowman So open your eyes, lend us a ear, we want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This is episode 44 for Sunday January 5, the first Sunday of Christmastide. We will be discussing:
- John 1:1-18 - Prologue to John
- Matthew 2:1-12 - El Día de los Reyes
Check-in
- Christmastide - is it important?
- Virtual run to Bethlehem/Egypt - Herod hot on our tail- 254 out of 333 miles - 79 left!
- New Years/Epiphany
- Next week - might be a little late
Primary Scripture - John 1:1-18 - Prologue to John
- “The Gospel of John opens with one of the most challenging texts in the New Testament.” (Gail O’Day, New Interpreter’s Bible, v. IX, p. 516)
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- Just look at a few different versions of the Bible, and note the footnotes. There are a lot of “Or this could mean…” footnotes.
- Poetry - not easy to interpret. Open to many different ways to understand
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- Poetry is the language of Creation.
- Poetry is the language of Creation.
- Just look at a few different versions of the Bible, and note the footnotes. There are a lot of “Or this could mean…” footnotes.
- Overall movement of “The Prologue”
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- v. 1-5 God, The Word, and Light.
- v. 6-8 God, John, and Light.
- v. 9-13 Light, the World, God’s people, God’s new people.
- v. 14-18 The Word, the flesh, God’s new people.
- v. 1-5 God, The Word, and Light.
- A few things are made clear:
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- God, the Word, Light enjoy a close intimacy
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- The relationship between God, The Word, and The Light is a poetic relationship that is difficult to sort out.
- “In the beginning” is direct parallel to Genesis and the creation, which occurs by God speaking
- The relationship between God, The Word, and The Light is a poetic relationship that is difficult to sort out.
- John is not the Light
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- Knowledge of John’s ministry and life is a given to the author.
- John’s only role is to point to Jesus.
- John does not baptize Jesus, but merely sees “The Holy Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him” (John 1:31).
- Knowledge of John’s ministry and life is a given to the author.
- Something new, and yet eternal, is happening
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- Johannine community is claiming Jewish roots, but clearly the separation from the Synagogue is complete.
- Much of the polemic in the rest of the Gospel of John is rooted in v. 11. “God’s own people didn’t welcome him”
- The rejection of Jesus by “The Jews” is seen as the primary tragedy of human creation.
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- Historically, this has become the source of much evil.
- Historically, this has become the source of much evil.
- Rejection by “God’s people” forces a redefining of who God’s people are.
- No longer birthright, or by Covenant with the Law, but by belief in The Word.
- Following “The Word,” or seeing “The Light” is prerequisite to seeing God.
- Adoption as God’s people only happens by seeing God through Jesus.
- Johannine community is claiming Jewish roots, but clearly the separation from the Synagogue is complete.
- The Word is made flesh - The Incarnation
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- v. 14 “The Word became flesh and made his home among us.”
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- ‘made his home’ = ‘pitched his tent’
- Reminiscent of God in Exodus, residing in the Tabernacle.
- Implies deep intimacy, not just a passerby or temporary guest.
- At the same time, something different, and not fully native.
- ‘made his home’ = ‘pitched his tent’
- v. 18 “God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side.”
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- Reminiscent of the seating at the Passover (13:23) “One of his disciples, the one who Jesus loved, was at Jesus’ side.”
- Reminiscent of the seating at the Passover (13:23) “One of his disciples, the one who Jesus loved, was at Jesus’ side.”
- Jesus is flesh - not a gnostic rejection of flesh and the material world.
- v. 14 “The Word became flesh and made his home among us.”
- God, the Word, Light enjoy a close intimacy
- Sermon Thoughts and Questions:
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- We are invited into God’s eternal activity. Becoming adopted by God is not initiation into a club. It is joining in God’s eternal work to redeem Creation.
- On this, the first Sunday of the Year, what can be made new? How can we participate in the ongoing work of creation? How are we being created, even now?
- What does it mean to welcome God (v. 12)?
- How has the Word made its home among us? Where is the Incarnation today? It is in a manger in a stable, among shepherds. It is in a small village, with strange foreigners bearing gifts, amidst the tyranny of a jealous king. What other strange yet ordinary place is the Word made flesh?
- We are invited into God’s eternal activity. Becoming adopted by God is not initiation into a club. It is joining in God’s eternal work to redeem Creation.
Transition Music: We Three Kings by A Claymation Christmas
Secondary scripture - Matthew 2:1-12 - El Día de los Reyes
- Bible vs tradition:
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- Magi (magos in Greek) is the actual name of the visitors
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- not wise men or kings
- magi referred to the priestly caste of Zoastrianism who spent much of their time studying astrology
- Later changed as magic was seen as the work of the devil
- not wise men or kings
- Three? Never says there were three - simply Magi
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- Melchior the Persian, Caspar (Gaspar) the Indian and Balthazar the Arabian - all added 500 years after Jesus in Alexandria.
- Melchior the Persian, Caspar (Gaspar) the Indian and Balthazar the Arabian - all added 500 years after Jesus in Alexandria.
- Never says there they are from
- Magi (magos in Greek) is the actual name of the visitors
- Star
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- astronomical event
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- very difficult to pinpoint an actual event that it could have been.
- May have been the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn - but this would not have led the Magi west to Jerusalem or south to Bethlehem
- May have been a comet - but these were usually interpreted as bad omens- not signs of good things to come
- Could have been Uranus passing close to Saturn, but this would be barely visible to the naked eye
- Could have been a Supernova from a nearby galaxy - impossible to prove or disprove
- CONCLUSION - It may have happened or it might not have…
- very difficult to pinpoint an actual event that it could have been.
- astronomical event
- Gifts
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- Typical gifts given to a king
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- Myrrh - anointing oil, frankincense - luxury perfume and gold
- King Seleucus II Callinicus offered gold, frankincense and myrrh to Apollo at the Miletus temple in 243 BC
- Myrrh - anointing oil, frankincense - luxury perfume and gold
- Symbolic of who Jesus was and who he would be
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- Myrrh - an embalming oil and foreshadowing of his death
- Frankincense - Priestly incense used in rituals
- Gold - sign of kingship
- Origen in Contra Celsum: "gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God." (TY Wikipedia :) )
- Myrrh - an embalming oil and foreshadowing of his death
- Medicinal and symbols of healings/salvation
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- Myrrh- was used to help pregnant women who have excessive bleeding
- Frankincense was chewed and eaten to promote female health and healing wounds
- Gold - used by Joseph to pay for their flight to Egypt and back
- Myrrh- was used to help pregnant women who have excessive bleeding
- Typical gifts given to a king
- Separating Gospel from Pop-theology myth
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- This is not a story about wise men or stars or human Kings, but the Son of God, the Messiah, proclaimed by Jewish prophets being born
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- First, Matthew displays his ability to quote or echo Hebrew Scripture as a backdrop for preparing his listeners to understand that the child revealed is the Messiah. Texts quoted or alluded to in this pericope include Micah 5:2; 2 Samuel 5:2; Numbers 24:17; 1 Kings 10:1-10; Isaiah 60; Psalm 72; and the infancy story of Moses. - Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
- v 6 is a combination of Micah 5:2 and 2 Samuel 5:2
- First, Matthew displays his ability to quote or echo Hebrew Scripture as a backdrop for preparing his listeners to understand that the child revealed is the Messiah. Texts quoted or alluded to in this pericope include Micah 5:2; 2 Samuel 5:2; Numbers 24:17; 1 Kings 10:1-10; Isaiah 60; Psalm 72; and the infancy story of Moses. - Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
- Who is affected by this Epiphany?
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- the local town of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Israel, unknown country
- not just for one place, one tribe, or one people- but even the unknown gentiles in “their own country”
- the local town of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Israel, unknown country
- This is not a story about wise men or stars or human Kings, but the Son of God, the Messiah, proclaimed by Jewish prophets being born
- The work of God is proclaim in the heavens for all the world it is full of wonder, gratitude and joy, the work of human politicians happens in the shadows and is full of distrust and fear
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- Magi represent something new and foreign, yet are drawn to something which emerges out of the Jewish faith
- Magi represent something new and foreign, yet are drawn to something which emerges out of the Jewish faith
- “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer” by Walt Whitman
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- When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
- When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
- Sermon Thoughts and Questions:
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- What brings you here to Church? What is your response when you get here? What do you see, feel, encounter?
- What is emerging from our faith that threatens to make all things new, to change everything, yet is deeply embedded in our tradition?
- There are many ways to interpret the Magi’s gifts to Jesus - how do we interpret our gifts to God? Symbols of Jesus’ ministry? Elements of healing and salvation? Simple adoration?
- Are we willing to leave everything and follow the signs? In the midst of a world where school shootings, civil war, economic injustice and political divisiveness are the norm- where do we look for hope? What are the stars we are willing to follow and bring the good news back to our “own countries”.
- What brings you here to Church? What is your response when you get here? What do you see, feel, encounter?
Closing -
TY: listeners
Opening Music: Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC
Transition Music: We Three Kings by A Claymation Christmas
Transition Music: “The Sign” Covered by the Fray (originally by Ace of Base)
Theme Music: Dick Dale and the Deltones “Misirlou”
Closing music, “Auld Lang Syne” by Andrew Bird
Shout outs:
- Blog - Jenny Johnson, “You have me thinking about nature vs. nurture. I knew that Jesus came fully human, but I had not really thought about Joseph's role in the nurturing of Jesus' righteousness. Thanks for making me think a little deeper.”
- Jonathan Tompkins - Great music selections: Coventry Carol by Beta Radio and“O Come O Come Emmanuel” by the Oh Hellos
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