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Serving God and Sharing Good News |
Weekly Bible Notes
Second Sunday Before Lent - Year B
Liturgical Colour - Green
Introduction
We are not alone in this universe.
There are many different theories as to how and when the
world might have been made. Even Christians fundamentally
disagree as to how this magnificent world came about. Some
see the Bible giving us scientific answers, others see the
Biblical accounts as more like poetry. Howver what is clear
from passages such as John Chapter 1, that we read today, is
that the Gospel writers saw this as God's world. God is
Creator, maker of all that is, and God made human flesh and
became human in the body of Jesus.
That is not the end of it. God created all things and as we
discover the life of God so we understand that we are not
insignificant, we are really valuable to God. God calls us
his children.
Opening Verses of Scripture Psalm 104:31,34
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; may the Lord rejoice in His
works. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
Almighty God, you have created the heavens and the earth and made us in your image: teach us to discern your hand in all your works and your likeness in all your children; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things, now and for ever. Amen Common Worship
Almighty God, give us reverence for all creation and respect for every person, that we may mirror your likeness in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Common Worship Shorter Form
God of infinite mercy, grant that we who know your pity may rejoice in your forgiveness and gladly forgive others, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. Methodist Worship
God of pardon and deliverance, your forgiving love, revealed in Christ, has
brought to birth a new creation. Raise us from our sins to walk in your
ways, that we may witness to your power which makes all things new, in Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship
First Bible Reading Proverbs 8:1, 22-31
8:1 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?
22-31 "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds
of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world
began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no
springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields
or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in
place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he
established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his
command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was the
craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing
always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in
mankind.
(This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Second Reading Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Gospel Reading
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(This is the Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.)
Post Communion Sentence
God our creator, by your gift the tree of life was set at the heart of
earthly paradise, and the bread of life at the heart of your Church: may we
who have been nourished at your table on earth by transformed by the glory
of the Saviour's cross and enjoy the delights of eternity; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen
Commentary
Who Calls the Changes?
The Gospel of John is quite different in character from the other three
synoptic gospels. It is highly literary and symbolic. Nor does it follow the
same order or reproduce the same stories as the synoptic gospels. It lacks
certain key features found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, such as
the journey to Jerusalem, the discourse on the Mount of Olives, the Sermon
on the Mount, the Transfiguration, and it also contains no parables. It
begins with a magnificent prologue which not only states the major themes of
the gospel, it summaries the whole gospel too. The prologue proclaims Jesus
as the pre-existent and incarnate Word of God who has revealed the Father to
us and picks up a theme which will be echoed throughout the entire gospel,
the deity of Christ. From first verse to last, it presents Jesus as the Son
of God. And it presents us with a challenge; a challenge which demands a
response. John presents Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, who is to be
believed in order that one might right now pass from death to life. We have
a choice which we must make.
More clearly than in any other gospel John presents us with a new world
order, the old is past, the new has begun. Ours is the choice to make,
between the old world and the new. As people on God’s earth we can choose to
be part of this new creation, or we can decline. We can choose to absorb and
reflect the light or we can remain in darkness. We can choose to listen to
the word or we can be deaf to it. We can choose to be part of the new
reality or we can ignore it. Even in the first few verses of John’s gospel
it is clear that the story that’s about to unfold is not just about a man
called Jesus; it’s about God’s fresh intervention in His world and the
fundamental changes that brings.
The message we have for those around us is therefore not just a story about
a man called Jesus, it’s about God’s involvement in His world through the
incarnation of His triune nature and through us. In John, Jesus is presented
as the link between heaven and earth. Our role as God’s ambassadors on earth
is to be the go between people who link the spiritual realm of the Father
with the temporal world we now live in. We are being recreated and we are
part of the recreation process. We are inextricably linked with God’s
creative, interventional redeeming work.
The Christological hymn of the epistle reading from Colossians, which is
sometimes thought to be the basis for the first verses of John’s gospel,
speaks of God having all His fullness dwell in Christ and through Him to
reconcile all things to Himself. Through Christ and in Christ we are linked
back to our Father God in heaven. The divide which once was is now no
longer. Sometimes we can dilute the Christian gospel to a message which is
reduced to a philosophy of just being nice to one another. If the gospels
were just a story about Jesus this approach may be valid. But they are not,
and God’s intervention in His world through the creative Word of His Son
invites us to a much more life changing experience. Sam Cappleman.
Meditation
If Matthew's Jesus resembles Moses and Luke's Jesus resembles a Greek
philosopher or a semi-divine hero, John's Jesus resembles the Jewish ideal
of heavenly Wisdom. Some Jewish works written several hundred years before
John's gospel portrayed Wisdom as God's heavenly consort. This Wisdom,
pictured as a beautiful woman, lived with God and participated in creation.
Another part of the myth regarding her was that she descended to earth to
impart divine knowledge to human beings. But she was rejected and so
returned to God. Whilst we may not agree with the ideas of the early Jewish
writers, the reading from Proverbs reflects the concept of wisdom
participating in God’s first works, His creation, being, ’the craftsman at
God’s side’ in the creative process. This concept too finds parallels in
John’s gospel as we see Jesus, the Word, being with God from the beginning
and through whom all things were made. Sam Cappleman
Hymns
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Thou whose almighty word -699 tune Moscow
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All earth was dark until you spoke - 8 tune Mission Praise
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Immortal, invisible - 327 tune St Denio
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Love Divine all loves excelling - 449 tune Blaenwern
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Additional Material
Commentary
Paul wanted the Christians at Colossae to know how much he cared for them. He was concerned that they should grow stronger in their faith and in their love for one another. From his prison in Rome he wrote to them. He wanted them to realise that the Christian life is about a growing faith, it is not a once and for all religious experience. Starting the Christian life is literally only the beginning, there is a need for encouragement and growth in unity and love. The Christian must also know that they must continue to live in Christ, rooted and built up in him.
Meditation
The Meditation today is taken from www.Sacredspace.ie by The Irish Jesuits
Peace on Earth
In 1963 Pope John addressed his great encyclical Pacem in Terris to a world
living under the shadow and threat of war. He spoke fearlessly of a divinely
established order in human affairs which is the basis of peace.
- The world will never be the dwelling place of peace till peace has found a home in the heart of each and every person,
- till every person preserves in himself the order ordained by God to be preserved. (Pacem in Terris)
Peace begins with me. I can be especially
open to the gift of Peace in my heart. It is a gift and can't be forced.
As we long for peace we remember our brothers and sisters of all faiths who
share our longings.
A Buddhist Prayer
Evoking the presence of the great compassion, let us fill our hearts with
our own compassion - towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Let us pray that all living beings realise that they are all brothers and
sisters, all nourished from the same source of life.
Mark 2:1-12
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. "
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Whose house is it anyway?
I'm in the middle of a service and all of a sudden the strange knocking
sound coming from above me gets worryingly louder. It's as if someone's
trying to break in through the roof. More alarmingly, the light fittings
begin to shake, and dust, bits of insulation and plaster start to fall
down from the ceiling onto the carpet below, which rapidly gets covered by
a thickening film of greyish white dirt and larger pieces of building
materials descending from the rafters above. Suddenly, with a loud crack,
an entire section of ceiling comes crashing to the floor, bringing with it
more clouds of dirt and debris that envelops the whole congregation in a
mouldy smelling fog of dust and rubble.
When the coughing stops and the dust begins to settle, lying on top of the
broken ceiling panel is a dirty, crippled man, whose legs don't seem to be
working properly and whose bandages and plasters barely cover his weeping
wounds and blood encrusted scars. He's lying on a battered old St John's
stretcher that's clearly seen better days, with tatty bits of rope and
webbing attached at various points to both man and stretcher so that they
could be lowered down through the gaping hole in the roof with some chance
of staying together. Looking down from this same gaping hole are four
equally surprised faces, eyes bright white, set in the middle of grey,
dust encrusted faces.
'Er… …sorry, stutters the crippled man', not quite knowing how to react in
the circumstances, 'There didn't seem to be any other way in. I tried to
get in at the door but couldn't get through.' The words begin to rush out,
as if he's anxious to get his side of the story in before the enormity of
what's just happened sinks in and normality returns.
'We did try knocking', explains one of the grey faces above, 'but we
couldn't get a response'.
'We'll pay for the damage', stutters another, eyes blinking rapidly to
clear them from the dust still floating in the air.
Pay for the damage! Do they know how much that roof cost? Tried knocking!
The doors just over there, it's a bit crowded but surely they could have
just come in like everyone else. Besides that, don't they know who we've
got speaking this morning? Of all the times and all the places they had to
pick now! Have they no consideration for anyone else? What a mess, in more
senses than one! It'll take a miracle to sort this out.
The speaker gets up, exchanges a few words with the crippled man, has a
brief conversation with those around him, says something else to the
cripple and sits back down. More amazingly, the cripple gets up, stuffs
the old St John's stretcher under his arm and walks off. No problem
walking through the door now it appears! But what about our roof! Who's
going to pay to get all this mess sorted out, the cleaning, the building,
the decorating, it'll cost a small fortune. What authority has the speaker
got to just let the cripple walk out through the door? Its fine for the
speaker, he'll be somewhere else next week but I think someone's missing
the point here.
Perhaps the point is that a miracle did happen. Those who are crippled are
enabled to be whole. God Himself has broken in through the roof of this
world through His Son Jesus. Broken in that His Kingdom may come and our
relationship with God restored. Broken in that that we may have healing,
hope and wholeness. Broken in that He, through us, might make a
difference. Sam Cappleman
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The Kingdom of God, 651;
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Give thanks with a grateful heart, 170 & For I'm building a people of power, 151;
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Through all the changing scenes of life, 702;
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Father hear the prayer we offer, 132;
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Jesus the name high over all, 385
Prayers
Holy Father, we commend into your hands our family and our friends, our neighbours and our benefactors. Strengthen and confirm all faithful people and convert all sinners into your ways of goodness and love. Rouse the careless, raise the fallen, heal the sick, and grant your peace to the dying; and all for your own love's sake. Amen Brooke Foss Westcott, 1825-1901
Lord, you make all things new.
Give me fresh energy to face this day's challenges and responsibilities.
Help me to concentrate when my mind wanders.
Prevent me from feeling guilty when I need to take time for myself.
Save me from pride when people praise my efforts.
Renew my desire to serve when my enthusiasm wanes.
Help me to trust you for the things I cannot change or understand.
Let me know your love in my life that it may touch others also.
Break into my life afresh O Lord, that I might experience your love, break into my heart afresh O Lord, that others may experience your love through me. Amen
The God of peace fill you with all joy and hope in believing; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen