Good New ... God loves us ...
Revised Common Lectionary – Year B: Season of Christmas: Nativity of the Lord (Christmas Day) III
- Good News
‘Good News’ - Let us ‘shout for joy’. ‘Good News’- Let us sing ‘songs of joy’.
There is the Good News of God’s reign - ‘Your God reigns’.
There is the Good News of our redemption - ‘The Lord has redeemed’ us.
We are not to keep the Good News to ourselves. This ‘news of happiness’ is to be shared with everyone. We must let ‘all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God’.
‘Christ died for our sins’- This is Good News.
Christ was ‘raised on the third day’- This is Good News.
‘Jesus is Lord’- This is Good News.
This is the Good News we must ‘pass on’ to others. In our world, there is so much bad news. We must not let the Good News be drowned out by the bad news. We must make sure that the people hear the Good News - loud and clear (Isaiah 52:7-10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Mission Praise, 249).
- God loves us.
‘Exalt the Lord our God... Make a joyful noise to the Lord’ (Psalms 99:5,9; 98:4,6; 100:1).
We are to worship the Lord with joy. We are to glorify God. We are to enjoy Him.
In our worship, we must never forget the holiness of God: ‘He is holy! ... The Lord our God is holy!’ (Psalm 99:5, 9).
In our worship, we rejoice in the love of God: ‘His steadfast love endures for ever... He has done marvellous things!’(Psalms 100:5; 98:1).
The God of ‘awesome purity’ loves us with the most perfect love of all: ‘No earthly father loves like Thee...’ Let us worship Him with holy fear and heartfelt love: ‘O how I fear Thee, living God, with deepest, tenderest fears... with trembling hope and penitential tears! Yet I may love Thee too, O Lord, Almighty as Thou art, for Thou hast stooped to ask of me the love of my poor heart’(Church Hymnary, 356).
- Let us worship Christ – our Lord and our God.
From the heights of heaven and the depths of suffering, ‘God... has spoken to us by His Son’ (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Jesus Christ is God’s ‘Word’ to us. He is ‘the Word’ who came from heaven: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. He is ‘the Word’ who came to earth: ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...’ (John 1:1-14).
In heaven, He is worshipped by angels: ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him’(Hebrews 1:6).
On earth, ‘He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone’(Hebrews 2:9).
We see the greatness of Christ in both His heavenly glory and His saving grace. None can compare with Him. He is our Lord. He is our Saviour. We consider all that He has done for us - ‘the nail marks in His hands...’- and we worship Him - ‘my Lord and my God’(John 20:19-20,24-28).
- Keep your eyes on Christ: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the Beginning. He is also the End (John 1:1-3; Revelation 21:6).
He is ‘the Word... made flesh’. ‘We have seen His glory’(14). This is only the beginning. When He returns, we shall see His glory - ‘we shall see Him as He is’(1 John 3:2).
From Him, there is creation (John 1:1-3).
From Him, there is salvation (John 1:12-13).
In Him, we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 1:29, 32-34).
He is the Word of God, the Lamb of God and the Son of God (John 1:1, 29, 34). When we look at Jesus Christ, we see God - ‘the ‘Word was God’(John 1:1), ‘No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known’(John 1:18).
Do you want to know what God is like? - Look at Jesus (John 14:9).
What do we see when we look at Him? - ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’(John 1:29).
The same readings are suggested for Years A and C.