Grace and Truth is God’s Totality

Lectionary Christmas 2A

• John 1:1, 10-18

Pictured above is the last few verses of this week’s Lectionary Gospel reading.

The climax appears to be found at verse 17. The author is likely alluding to Moses’ experience on Sinai as described in Exodus 34. He contrasts the giving of the law with the coming of Jesus Christ. The law “given through Moses” implies a source, but the author chooses to omit it, giving this text a far more negative portrayal of the law than even Paul(!). Not only does law not bring salvation, it cannot even give a revelation of God. (This text could even be read that the law as given was ultimately Moses’ interpretation of God.) The way law and Jesus Christ are contrasted, the author seems to be communicating that the law, in fact, paints a picture of God that is utterly wrong.

What the author wants his readers to understand is that the only way to “see” God is through Jesus Christ. Jesus was and is with the Father – with the Father’s heart, even. This being, who is intimately familiar with the heart of the Father came to live with us.

What did the people who walked with Jesus discover? That the Father and Son share the same glory: “grace and truth.” That “grace and truth” is the “fullness,” or the totality, of who and what God is.

(The parenthetical statement from John the Baptist was likely added to argue against his followers and to counter Jewish traditions of authority figures.)

How might we apply this passage today? What strikes you as important? How do you see God?

Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus–What Does It Reveal About God?

Text: Matthew 1
Discussion Outline
Discussion Audio MP3 (61 minutes)

Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, though based on history, is not about history. Its purpose is strictly theological. The genealogy is the entire first chapter, not just the first seventeen verses. The first seventeen verses provide the context and explanation to Jesus’ origins as described in the remainder of the chapter.

Jesus’ genealogy shows three things:

• The relationships between justice, mercy, and law. God’s justice is his mercy, not his wrath. Wrath is the catalyst for mercy. (I.e., there are two choices when faced with wrath: to give out what is deserved, or to respond in mercy. God chose the latter.) God’s mercy transcends the processes and demands of the law.
• Faithfulness is the undivided pursuit of justice (aka, mercy). The human individuals commended in the genealogy exhibit this kind of faithfulness. This foreshadows the life of Jesus and through it the portrait of God he paints for us. (Faith/Faithfulness is not belief in God.)
• There are two types of community: one is based upon blood lineage, the other is based on mercy and faithfulness. Jesus chose to be grafted, through law, into the human lineage. By doing so, he opened the way for all humankind to be grafted into the community of faith, through his (Jesus’) mercy and faithfulness.