Christmas 2
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn....
-- Jeremiah 31:9
As we gather for worship on this second Sunday after Christmas, the echo of celebrating the birth of Jesus as God's Son is still fresh in our memories. We recognize that the term "firstborn" is used differently than is normally assumed. Jeremiah referred to Ephraim, a name used to refer to Israel, as God's firstborn. This reminds us that God told Moses in Exodus 4:22 to tell the pharaoh that Israel was God's firstborn Son. Exodus 13:1 spoke of the divine claim on the firstborn. To speak of Jesus as God's firstborn son is to see embodied in his person the life of all of Israel and to recognize God's special claim on the community of faith. In celebrating Jesus' birth, we do not forget the harshness of the world into which he was born. Like Israel, Jesus lived in a harsh world and suffered as a victim of the world's violence. But the violence of the world is not the final word. "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock." Like Israel, Jesus also would go into Egypt, but God also would bring him out of Egypt. Hosea 11:1 also spoke of God's Son that God called out of Egypt, and Hosea foreshadowed the resurrection in Hosea 6:2, "... on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him." In Jesus we see incarnated the pattern of God's love that holds promise for a world embedded in violence. "Then shall young women rejoice ... gladness for sorrow." While violence nips at our heels, it is God who will lead us home.
-- Jeremiah 31:9
As we gather for worship on this second Sunday after Christmas, the echo of celebrating the birth of Jesus as God's Son is still fresh in our memories. We recognize that the term "firstborn" is used differently than is normally assumed. Jeremiah referred to Ephraim, a name used to refer to Israel, as God's firstborn. This reminds us that God told Moses in Exodus 4:22 to tell the pharaoh that Israel was God's firstborn Son. Exodus 13:1 spoke of the divine claim on the firstborn. To speak of Jesus as God's firstborn son is to see embodied in his person the life of all of Israel and to recognize God's special claim on the community of faith. In celebrating Jesus' birth, we do not forget the harshness of the world into which he was born. Like Israel, Jesus lived in a harsh world and suffered as a victim of the world's violence. But the violence of the world is not the final word. "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock." Like Israel, Jesus also would go into Egypt, but God also would bring him out of Egypt. Hosea 11:1 also spoke of God's Son that God called out of Egypt, and Hosea foreshadowed the resurrection in Hosea 6:2, "... on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him." In Jesus we see incarnated the pattern of God's love that holds promise for a world embedded in violence. "Then shall young women rejoice ... gladness for sorrow." While violence nips at our heels, it is God who will lead us home.
