Morning Prayer and Sermon
2nd Sunday after Christmas 4 January in the Year of our Lord 2026
Opening Hymn: #8 Morning has Broken Psalm 84
Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Gospel Hymn: Matthew 2:1-12
The Collect O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Wonderfully Created, Wonderfully Restored
When I first read the Collect for today, I passed over it quickly and went on to the Scripture readings. It wasn’t until days later its opening lines hit me: “O God who wonderfully created and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature. The human being is a marvel, indeed wonderfully created; but true human dignity only comes with new birth in Christ our Lord.
We would have no home without the created earth. The first sentence in the Bible declares: In the beginning “God created the heavens and the earth.” The heavens contain: planets, solar systems and galaxies. According to modern astronomical theory, the galaxy we live in is spinning at 490,000 miles an hour yet takes 200,000 million years to make one rotation. And there are estimated to be 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the observable Universe. These numbers seem mythical to me, not being a scientist. The existence of God is believable to me by viewing creation and a personal relationship with God in faith. By faith we believe the earth was formed by God and the first man and women were created of the elements of the earth.
In the first chapter of John, we find Jesus identified as the “Word of God, with God in the beginning, through him all things are made.” (1:1-3) Returning to Genesis we find: “God said let us make man in our own image, in our likeness … and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures on the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them… and God saw all that he had made and it was very good.” (1:26-31)
God was pleased with his work. And being created in the image
of God, we can accomplish many things and be pleased with our work. And every human being is formed in their mother’s womb, Imago Dei, in the image of God. No other life form on this earth shares this status. King David said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14) David was a sinner, yet a musically gifted teenager, who would in his life author of 73 Psalms; and had killed both a bear and a lion who were threatening his fathers’ sheep, before meeting Goliath. He would reshape the borders of Israel and be so loved by God that his royal line would produce the Messiah. You and I have particular gifts, as did David, and a purpose in this life. As the Collect suggests, not only wonderfully created but wonderfully restored through the forgiveness of our sins though faith in Jesus, and God’s plan for our lives.
The Lord also has plans for nations. We can see this in the 6th Century BC writings of Jeremiah. As a young man of about 20 Jeremiah reminded the people of Israel that God loves his chosen people even though the 10 tribes of Israel and the 2 tribes of Judah were subject to other nations because of their sinfulness. "He who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd a flock." (31:10)
Jeremiah’s father was Hilkiah the high priest who had rediscovered the book of Deutoromony. God told Jeremiah that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years. The prophet Daniel living in captivity in Babylon would remember this and ask God to fulfil His promise. The promise was fulfilled about 539 BC. But the sinfulness of the Jews would lead to other captivities and diasporas under the Macedonians, the Ptolemies and the Romans, except for the brief period of Independence under the Maccabean family (167-160). A Herodian kingdom was in place when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but it was subject to Rome. The greatest diaspora of the Jews would last from 70AD until 1948, during which time they were stateless and at the mercy of any country where they lived. Hence, the 20th C Holocaust. In 1948 there were less than 2 million Jews living in Palestine. Today there are over 10 million. Israel is the “breadbasket of the Middle East,” selling its produce to the surrounding nations, the USA and Europe. It rivals Silicon Valley in its high-Tech sector. And it is the superpower of the Middle East, is a nuclear power and is more secure than at any time in its multimillennial history, except for the reigns of David and Soloman. Yet today Israels’ reputation is at risk by its conduct of the war in Gaza. And it must depend upon the USA for many of its defensive and offensive weapons.
However, it is the Christmas Season, when we consider Israel at the time of the birth of Jesus, a story that begins in the final years of Herod the Great, (72-1 BC) King of Judea and rebuilder of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem.
The Angel Gabriel, six months before visiting the Virgin Mary, appeared to the priest Zechariah, the husband of her cousin Elizabeth. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and the first high priest of Israel. Family ancestry is considered significant in the Bible. Think about your own family, the Lord works through our families. Gabriel told Zechariah that he would have a son, named John, who would be a joy and delight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth … and he would prepare His people for the coming of the Lord.’ Zechariah already gripped with fear, responded “how can I be sure of this? He did not believe because of his age and that of his wife Elizabeth. (Luke 1:11-18) The angel responded, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.” Because you did not believe my words, you will not be able to speak until the day your son is born. (Luke 1:19,20) This would be rather inconvenient for a priest … there are consequences for unbelief.
Six months later, Mary, a teenage girl of Nazareth, is visited by the angel Gabriel and told she has found favor with God, which unsettles her. She is also told that she will give birth to a son to be named Jesus, who will be Son of the Most High. And that the Lord will give him the kingdom of his father David, and that his kingdom will have no end. Mary does not doubt Gabriel, but only wonders how since she is a virgin. Gabriel answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, So the Holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age … for nothing is impossible with God.” Her reply echoes through the ages:” I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said… Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1:35-39)
Jesus was born in what may have been a Bethlehem cave used to safely house sheep at night. Joseph and Mary had traveled from their hometown of Nazareth because of a decree of Caesar Augustus, that all Roman citizens or subjects must register to be taxed in their hometown. The Lord could have sent angels to anyone to announce the birth. He picked working men who lived and slept with their sheep. “An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” (2:9) They calmed down when the angel about the birth of Jesus and where they could visit him. And then there are more angels! A great company of them “praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” And so, the shepherds decide to go to Bethlehem to find the child and his mother, spreading the glorious news to all those they saw as they traveled.
Matthew's Gospel says that as a young child [2:10,16] Jesus was to receive the gifts and adoration of Magi, of Persian or Parthian origin, who had traveled for more than 18 months, over thousands of miles to reach Palestine. It is quite possible that they were intellectuals of the Jewish Diaspora. It is also possible that they believed this “king of the Jews,” of whom they questioned Herod, would become a Jewish ‘Alexander the Great’ figure. Their gifts of gold, incense and Myrrh were not only symbolic [gold: royalty; incense: worship; myrrh: burial] but could finance the Holy Family while in Egypt. After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." (Matt. 2:13) The LORD had saved the family of Jacob, and thus the nation of Israel by placing Joseph in Egypt. Egypt would now play a role in God the Father’s plan of salvation.
Herod had ordered the killing of all male children under the age of two in the vicinity of Bethlehem. (Matt. 2:16-18) Herod was known for his ruthlessness. When an attempted poisoning took place in his palace, he had three of his sons put to death on suspicion of poisoning. When informed of this, the Emperor Augustus said I would rather be Herod’s pig than his son.” He killed his favorite wife and her mother, several uncles and a couple of cousins. (Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews) Mass murder meant nothing to him, as it was conducted in hopes of killing the ‘boy born to be king.’ Herod is an example of a sadistic insanity of unbelief. Imagine what it will be like for him and rulers like him at the Judgement Seat of God. But again, this is Christmas! Everything God planned for his earthly Son came to pass.
The story of the greatness of Jesus has reached to the ends of the earth. There is no festival or holiday season that compares to Christmas. It is a blessed time, permitting so much festivity. We should enjoy ourselves and revel in the season! And praise God for who he is and what he has done and be happy!
Jesus is Lord and King,
God be praised!
Joseph Muñoz
Professor Emeritus Feather River College
Christ the King Church
Quincy, California