Preaching Paths 4 January 2026, 2nd Sunday after Christmas, Yr A

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

Through Advent, Christmas Day, and the first Sunday of Christmastide, the preacher’s task has been to trace the ministry of John the Baptist, as well as Joseph’s crucial role, in the story of the arrival of Jesus, God’s Anointed One (Messiah). This week, we turn to John’s Prologue (John 1:1-18). In antiquity, a drama’s prologue would introduce the audience to the mythical /historic and perhaps geographical backdrop of the performance to come; John’s does the same. Yet simply repeating John’s striking phrases (loudly and with conviction!) may not aid understanding. Explaining allusions to classical Hellenic and Judaic concepts may prove useful, but is not a sermon. One might choose, instead, to focus on one of the text’s four stanzas, and then explore one or two of its key themes.

Stanza 1 (vv 1-5) sets John’s drama against a vast backdrop, both philosophically and temporally. Its main figure is nothing less than the eternal Logos (the “Word”)—Being itself, c0-existent with God in infinite timelessness. This eternal Word is not impersonal; “he” initiates (‘makes’) the being of the material world and is the light and life of all human beings. John introduces the eternal Word  who is before time and beyond time, overcoming all darkness with his light. We are each called into being deliberately by this one who is Life itself, whose Light no darkness shall extinguish. This is a message of eternal hope, stunning in scope.  Our life belongs to a deliberate, vast, and timeless web of God-initiated Being. This shapes our regard for ourselves and one another, as well as our worship.

Stanza 2 (vv 6-9) introduces John—not as “the Baptist,” but as the witness, the one who testifies that the timeless Light, which enlightens and enlivens all humans, is coming into the material world. The church continues to testify that the true Light has come to overcome the darkness in us, and in the deathly systems we create. It will be crucial to stress that “darkness,” the capacity to obscure light and suffocate life, can take hold in any of us. There is no reference here to physical appearance. 

Stanza 3 (vv 10-13) details further the mission of the eternal, world- creating and re-creating living Word in the world. He comes to the people he has called into being, but most do not accept him. Yet, those who do are empowered to be reborn as children of God.  Here, a cautionary word is in order. “His own people did not accept him” (v 11) has become a tool of anti-Semitism. Yet, if we read verses 10-11 carefully, it is “the world” that does not know the Word (“him”), even though it was he who brought it into being. “What was his own” (v 11) refers to all human beings, not just Jews. “His own people” does not necessarily mean Jews, but all whom he himself has called into being. There is encouragement here for the ongoing testimony of the church. We should not be surprised when we are ignored or rebuffed. The one who grants rebirth will accompany us; it is up to us to point to the Light in word and deed. Some will receive the Light and experience the joy of the children of God.

Stanza 4 (vv 14-18) declares the mind-stretching paradox of incarnation: “The Word became flesh and lived [‘pitched tent’] among us; and we have seen his glory [‘his true, Light-filled identity’] … full of grace and truth.” The embodied Word, Jesus Christ, has enacted in a flesh-and-blood, human life the glory of God. To be reborn is to so trust this revelation—this Light!—that  we, too, enact the life-renewing ways of God. Re-birthed through the power of God, we reflect in the world the truth and grace of the Light that called us into being. This Light without beginning shall never be extinguished.