Here are the readings for next Sunday 12 February 2012, the Second Sunday before Lent followed by my reflections
Proverbs 8
Wisdom’s Call
1 Does not wisdom call out?Does not understanding raise her voice? New International Version (NIV)
22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,[a][b]
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 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.
30 Then I was constantly[c] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(By the way, here is an idea for a Valentines Day Card in case you need one)
At the time of John there was a kind of heresy called Gnosticism. It was a kind of intellectual and philosophical approach to Christianity. To the Gnostics the simple beliefs of the early Christians were not enough. The Gnostics tried to construct a philosophical system out of Christianity. Like people today, the Gnostics were worried about the problem of evil and suffering and sorrow in the world. So they worked out a theory. This is the way Barclay explains it. In the beginning two things existed - the one was God and the other was matter. The Gnostics believed that matter was always there. Matter was the raw material out of which the world was made and formed and moulded. They believed that the original matter was flawed and imperfect. In other words, from the beginning the material out of which the world was made was imperfect.
To put it another way, the world got off to a bad start. It was made out of material which had the seeds and germs of evil and corruption in it. But then the Gnostics went further than that. They said that God is pure spirit and pure spirit is so pure that it can never touch matter at all. Therefore it was not possible for God to create the universe himself.
So what God did was this. God sent out a series of emanations. Each emanation was further and further away from God and knew less and less about God until the emanations actually became hostile to God. Finally there was an emanation which was so totally hostile to God and so totally ignorant of God that it was possible for it to touch this flawed and evil matter. They thought that this creator God was actually the God of the Old Testament and was an enemy of the God and Father of Jesus Christ.
At the time of John this believe was very popular. People believed that the world was evil and that an evil God had created it. And so to combat this heresy John begins his gospel in this way. He is stressing two great truths of the Christian faith. First, behind everything there is God and God alone. No evil matter at the beginning, no essential flaw at the start. Second, Christianity has always believed that this is God's world. So far from being detached from the world that he could have had nothing to do with it, God is intimately involved in the world. The evil in the world is as a result of our sinful nature.
There is, of course a new Gnosticism around today? Without revisiting the bizarre gnostic theories explained above, Gnostics also claimed to know more than average Christians. They were "in the know," so to speak! They thought of themselves as "super Christians," looking down their noses at those poor unfortunates who just didn't know as much as they knew. We have both come across them at times Brother and, possibly, we even strayed into Gnostic territory at little when we were students!
Mark
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 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.
30 Then I was constantly[c] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
Colossians 1:15-20
New International Version (NIV)
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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.John 1:1-14
New International Version (NIV)
John 1
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In verse 3 of Sunday's reading John writes,
"He was the agent through whome all things were made;and there is not a single thing which exists in this world which came into being without him"
(By the way, here is an idea for a Valentines Day Card in case you need one)
At the time of John there was a kind of heresy called Gnosticism. It was a kind of intellectual and philosophical approach to Christianity. To the Gnostics the simple beliefs of the early Christians were not enough. The Gnostics tried to construct a philosophical system out of Christianity. Like people today, the Gnostics were worried about the problem of evil and suffering and sorrow in the world. So they worked out a theory. This is the way Barclay explains it. In the beginning two things existed - the one was God and the other was matter. The Gnostics believed that matter was always there. Matter was the raw material out of which the world was made and formed and moulded. They believed that the original matter was flawed and imperfect. In other words, from the beginning the material out of which the world was made was imperfect.
To put it another way, the world got off to a bad start. It was made out of material which had the seeds and germs of evil and corruption in it. But then the Gnostics went further than that. They said that God is pure spirit and pure spirit is so pure that it can never touch matter at all. Therefore it was not possible for God to create the universe himself.
So what God did was this. God sent out a series of emanations. Each emanation was further and further away from God and knew less and less about God until the emanations actually became hostile to God. Finally there was an emanation which was so totally hostile to God and so totally ignorant of God that it was possible for it to touch this flawed and evil matter. They thought that this creator God was actually the God of the Old Testament and was an enemy of the God and Father of Jesus Christ.
At the time of John this believe was very popular. People believed that the world was evil and that an evil God had created it. And so to combat this heresy John begins his gospel in this way. He is stressing two great truths of the Christian faith. First, behind everything there is God and God alone. No evil matter at the beginning, no essential flaw at the start. Second, Christianity has always believed that this is God's world. So far from being detached from the world that he could have had nothing to do with it, God is intimately involved in the world. The evil in the world is as a result of our sinful nature.
There is, of course a new Gnosticism around today? Without revisiting the bizarre gnostic theories explained above, Gnostics also claimed to know more than average Christians. They were "in the know," so to speak! They thought of themselves as "super Christians," looking down their noses at those poor unfortunates who just didn't know as much as they knew. We have both come across them at times Brother and, possibly, we even strayed into Gnostic territory at little when we were students!
Mark
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