SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
CRAFT: A mixture of 2 parts corn starch to 1 part water has some rather astounding characteristics. It is very runny until you press on it and then it firms up completely. It has something to do with the fact that they don't really mix. Anyway, the idea is supposed to represent the union of God (strong) with man (weak.)
SNACK: Pound cake, strawberry syrup and whipped cream. Also some sort of red juice. (There is no need to try and explain this to the children, because I will probably only confuse everyone. It is just designed to look a little like the communion on the body and blood of Christ.)
LESSON PLAN: The wonder of God born into human flesh has troubled people for eons. It is a difficult doctrine to teach, because we don't have other examples. It is necessary to talk about God, then talk about humans and then merge the two explanations in the person of Jesus.
MEMORY WORK: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
We will learn that in Christ Jesus there is a union of God and man.
We will understand that as a Man Jesus was able to die in our place and as God the One death was sufficient for the sins of the world.
We will thank God that the Godman, Jesus the Christ was born to be our Savior.
Preliminary considerations: The overall theme for today is the Word became flesh. The Introit is a combination of John 1:14 and Psalm 47. In the power of God we were giving a Savior who is the Godman. The Collect speaks of the incarnation of the Son of God. The Old Testament Lesson is a direct prophecy of the Savior. The Bridegroom will clothe us in robes of His Righteousness. The Gradual continues to proclaim the human and divine nature of the Son who is born to us. The Epistle Lesson presents Jesus as Son and Lord. The Gospel Lesson tells us that Jesus is the divine Son who made His Advent into the world through our flesh.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Isaiah 61:10 -- 62:3
God will not be a hidden God. At the birth of the Holy Child, the God of the universe will burst forth to the ends of the earth. The kingdoms of this world will see the glory of the church, not in buildings and splendor but solely in bridegroom of the church (Jesus.) Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Bringing the world to Faith is the ongoing work of the presence of Jesus. The people of God will be called a new name. They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord. The church, the redeemed of God is the instrument which God uses to fulfill His proclamation.
THE EPISTLE LESSON: Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18
It isn't always this easy to find an Epistle Lesson that fits so clearly between the Epistle and Gospel Lessons. This lesson from Ephesians show the work of God to set up that which the Prophet in our Old Testament Lesson proclaimed. When you set an alarm clock, you can make the prophetic statement that it will go off at thus and so time. Then, it goes off. Before the world was created we were chosen, in Jesus Christ, to receive Faith. This Faith was freely given to us in the Name and for the person and work of Jesus before any of the processes of the world were set in motion. This all fits in so nicely with the Gospel's proclamation of the coming of the Word into the world, because God established that it would happen. It was as if He set the alarm, told us it would go off and then fulfilled it. The alarm has been set again, and Jesus is due in His second Advent, very soon.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: John 1:1-18
This is known as the prologue of the Gospel of John. This section underlines all that Christ Jesus truly is. The key word for Him throughout the prologue is Word. Only in verse 17 does John finally mention Him by Name as Jesus Christ. In the opening verses John stresses the eternal relationship of Jesus with the Father. Throughout this prologue (and the Gospel that follows) John constantly associates life with Jesus as the eternal Word. Darkness cannot contain light, light is Life, Jesus is light, Jesus is Life. The darkness cannot snuff out Jesus because He is God. Sin cannot overcome Him because He is without sin. As God, Jesus came on His own, in His will to be the Savior. In His incarnation, Jesus was obedient to our eternal Father.
STUDY SHEET
The traditional Lutheran understanding of the combination of God and man is useful for understanding the consequences of the Godman union in Christ Jesus. We often stand alone in our understanding of Jesus, and yet we are clearly the only Christians who are able to fully and completely understand the Atonement (being made one with Jesus for salvation.)
It is never proper to speak of Jesus in a way that separates the divine nature from the human nature. Christ Jesus is always and only one union, one flesh. It is clearly shown in how one views Mary. The Reformed say that she was only the mother of the human nature. The Roman Catholics say she was divine. We say that Christ Jesus was the Godman, therefore Mary can rightly be called the mother of God without losing her humanity or having to take on a divine status. The union is in Jesus not Mary.
It is also never proper to ascribe to the divine that which is human nor to ascribe to human that which is divine. Christ Jesus died by His human nature (God cannot die.) Jesus lived a perfect life in His divine nature (God cannot be separated.) Jesus redeemed the world by His divine nature (the human nature could not give itself more than once for sin.)
Jesus was the union of two 100%'s. He was fully and completely human in every way that we are human. And at the exact same time He was fully and completely divine, in every way that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are God. Yet Christ Jesus was not something new, He was not a 200% something. He was a union of two the human and the divine and yet He was only One, the human and the divine were never in conflict with each other because in union He was only One.
Looking at Christ Jesus was looking at God. The people who looked generally only understood the humanity, because they simply didn't want to understand, to recognize to believe. The tension between Christ's omnipotence according to His divine nature and His weakness, according to His human nature, it best demonstrated in His birth. On the one hand He rules heaven and earth from His mother's arms, but on the other He is completely dependent on her for His life and sustenance. Christ Jesus is God and King eternal and yet at His birth His life was in danger from King Herod.
1. Why will God not keep quiet as He speaks through the prophet Isaiah?
2. What does Paul mean when he says that through union with Christ God has blessed us?
3. What is the relationship between God and people in Christ Jesus?
4. What is wrong with darkness?
5. What is it about light that can't be overcome by darkness?
6. How was the Light of God received by the world?
7. What do we receive because of the union of God and man in Christ Jesus?
8. What is the best way to describe this union? (Hint, the answer is: "The Word became flesh!"