Christmas 2 Year A - Notes on Readings

Christmas 2 Year A

 

Jeremiah 31:7–14

 

1. Historical Context

 

This passage belongs to the so-called Book of Consolation (Jeremiah 30–33), widely understood as a collection of hope-filled oracles addressed to Judah and Israel in the aftermath—or anticipated end—of exile. Whether composed during the Babylonian exile or shaped shortly thereafter, the text responds to communal trauma: displacement, loss of land, temple, and political autonomy. Against Jeremiah’s earlier oracles of judgment, these chapters articulate a theological conviction that exile is not the final word. Restoration is imagined not as human achievement but as divine initiative.

 

2. Literary Form and Structure

 

The passage is a poetic proclamation combining exhortation (“Sing aloud”), divine promise (“I am going to bring them”), and doxological vision (“They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion”). It moves from summons to praise, through images of return, to a culminating portrait of communal abundance and joy. The rhetoric is expansive and celebratory, intentionally reversing the language of loss that dominates earlier portions of the book.

 

3. Theology of Restoration

 

At the heart of the passage is a theology of God as gatherer, shepherd, and parent. God’s restorative work is comprehensive: scattered people are gathered, mourners are comforted, and social life is renewed. The return is depicted as gentle and attentive—marked by “brooks of water” and “a straight path”—suggesting that restoration is not merely geographical but relational and moral. Divine compassion, rather than coercive power, defines the character of salvation.

 

4. Inclusion and Reversal

 

A striking feature of the text is the explicit inclusion of those typically marginalized: the blind, the lame, pregnant people, and those in labor. In the ancient world, such persons were often excluded from long journeys or cultic ideals of wholeness. Here, they are central participants in the return. This emphasis underscores a broader prophetic conviction: God’s future is not built upon strength, purity, or productivity, but upon grace that gathers the vulnerable into the heart of communal life.

 

5. Cult, Economy, and Embodied Joy

 

The vision of restoration includes concrete material signs—grain, wine, oil, flocks—alongside liturgical celebration and bodily joy (singing, dancing, feasting). Restoration is not purely spiritualized; it embraces economic sufficiency, priestly provision, and communal well-being. The image of life becoming “like a watered garden” evokes Edenic abundance and signals a renewal of creation itself, not only of the people.

 

6. Ethical and Theological Implications

 

For contemporary readers, the passage challenges any construal of salvation that excludes the wounded or abstracts hope from material realities. It presents restoration as God’s work of re-knitting community, healing memory, and transforming grief into shared joy. The text invites communities of faith to imagine their life together not as survival amid loss, but as participation in God’s ongoing work of consolation, justice, and abundant life.

 

Psalm 84 (1–8)

 

1. Genre and Setting

 

Psalm 84 is generally classified as a Song of Zion and a pilgrimage psalm. It reflects the experience of worshipers journeying toward the Jerusalem temple, likely for one of the major festivals. The psalm presumes a functioning cultic center and a community for whom access to the sanctuary is both spiritually formative and emotionally charged. Its voice may be that of a pilgrim temporarily separated from the temple, or of a worshiper recalling the journey with longing and delight.

 

2. Theology of Sacred Space

 

The psalm articulates a robust theology of place. The “dwelling” and “courts” of the LORD are not merely architectural features but sites of divine presence and encounter. The longing described is visceral—“my heart and my flesh rejoice”—suggesting that worship involves the whole person, not only the intellect or will. Sacred space is portrayed as life-giving, orienting human desire toward communion with the living God.

 

3. Imagery of Belonging and Nearness

 

The image of birds nesting near the altar is among the psalm’s most evocative features. It expresses intimacy, safety, and belonging: even the smallest creatures find a home in God’s presence. Scholarly interpretation often notes that this imagery democratizes access to holiness—what matters is nearness to God, not status or role. The psalm thus subtly challenges hierarchical notions of who “belongs” in sacred space.

 

4. Pilgrimage as Spiritual Formation

 

Verses 4–6 portray pilgrimage as an interior journey as much as a physical one. Those “whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way” are blessed not because the path is easy, but because it is transformative. The “desolate valley” (often understood metaphorically as hardship or exile) becomes a place of springs. This reversal suggests that trust in God reshapes experience itself: difficulty becomes generative rather than merely oppressive.

 

5. Movement Toward Revelation

 

The ascent “from height to height” culminates in God’s self-disclosure in Zion. The goal of pilgrimage is not simply arrival but encounter. Zion functions symbolically as the place where divine presence is most fully known, though the psalm carefully holds together movement, longing, and fulfillment rather than collapsing them into immediate satisfaction.

 

6. Prayer and Communal Hope

 

The psalm concludes (in vv. 7–8) with direct petition, linking personal longing to communal well-being. The appeal to God as “defender” and the reference to “the anointed” suggest concern for the community’s leadership and stability. Individual devotion is inseparable from the health of the whole people.

 

7. Theological Implications

 

Psalm 84 presents faith as desire oriented toward God’s presence and sustained through trust along the way. It resists purely interiorized spirituality by affirming embodied worship, communal pilgrimage, and concrete practices of prayer. For contemporary readers, the psalm invites reflection on how sacred spaces, shared rituals, and sustained journeys of faith continue to shape longing, resilience, and joy.

 

Ephesians 1:3–6, 15–19a

 

1. Literary Form and Context

 

Ephesians opens with a long doxological blessing (1:3–14), followed by a prayer of thanksgiving and intercession (1:15–23). Scholars widely recognize the opening section as a carefully structured hymn or blessing, likely drawing on early Christian liturgical language. Whether written by Paul or a later Pauline disciple, the letter reflects a mature theological vision oriented toward the church’s identity in Christ rather than toward a specific crisis.

 

2. Election and Grace

 

The opening blessing celebrates God’s gracious initiative “before the foundation of the world.” Election here is corporate and vocational rather than individualistic or deterministic. God’s choosing is directed toward holiness, love, and participation in divine purpose. The emphasis falls not on exclusion but on belonging: the community is gathered into God’s life through grace, not merit.

 

3. Adoption as Relational Metaphor

 

The metaphor of adoption draws on Greco-Roman legal practice, in which adoption conferred full status, inheritance, and belonging. Applied theologically, adoption expresses intimacy and permanence: believers are incorporated into God’s household through Christ. This is not merely a change of status but a transformation of relationship, grounded in divine delight rather than obligation.

 

4. Christ as the Sphere of Blessing

 

Repeated use of the phrase “in Christ” signals a key theological conviction: all spiritual blessing is mediated through participation in Christ’s life. Salvation is not abstract or detached but relational and embodied. To be “in Christ” is to share in Christ’s story, vocation, and future.

 

5. Thanksgiving for a Living Community

 

Verses 15–16 shift from cosmic doxology to pastoral prayer. The author gives thanks for the community’s faith and love, locating theology within lived practice. Faith in Christ and love for the saints function together as markers of authentic Christian life, holding belief and ethics in mutual relation.

 

6. Knowledge as Illumination

 

The prayer that follows emphasizes knowing—not as accumulation of information, but as enlightened perception. “The eyes of the heart” evoke biblical and Jewish wisdom traditions, where understanding involves the whole person. Wisdom and revelation are gifts of God, enabling the community to perceive hope, inheritance, and divine power already at work.

 

7. Hope, Inheritance, and Power

 

The triad of hope, inheritance, and power situates Christian life between promise and fulfillment. Hope names the future toward which the community is called; inheritance affirms shared belonging among the saints; power refers not to domination but to God’s effective action sustaining faith. This power will later be linked to resurrection, but already functions as assurance amid uncertainty.

 

8. Dialogue with the Other Readings

 

Read alongside Jeremiah 31, this passage deepens the theme of divine initiative: restoration and belonging originate in God’s gracious will. In conversation with Psalm 84, the longing for God’s dwelling becomes interiorized as enlightened hearts rather than physical pilgrimage alone. In relation to Matthew 2, Ephesians offers a cosmic horizon for a story marked by vulnerability and displacement: the fragile child carried from place to place is also the Beloved through whom God’s eternal purpose unfolds.

 

9. Theological Implications

 

Ephesians 1 resists narrow or anxious accounts of salvation. It portrays Christian identity as grounded in grace, sustained by hope, and oriented toward communal flourishing. Faith is less about securing certainty than about learning to see—trusting that God’s purpose, begun before all worlds, is at work even amid incomplete returns and uncertain journeys.

 

 

Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23

 

1. Narrative and Historical Setting

 

This passage belongs to Matthew’s infancy narrative and follows immediately upon the visit of the magi. Set against the backdrop of Herodian rule, it reflects the political volatility of Roman-occupied Judea and the real dangers faced by subject populations. Herod the Great’s reputation for paranoia and brutality provides historical plausibility for the story’s premise, even as the evangelist’s primary concern is theological rather than biographical.

 

2. Dreams and Divine Guidance

 

Joseph functions as the central human agent in this narrative, characterized by attentiveness and obedience. Like the patriarch Joseph in Genesis, he receives divine instruction through dreams. Scholarly consensus emphasizes that these dreams are not psychological devices but narrative means by which God’s purpose is disclosed and enacted. Guidance unfolds step by step; Joseph is not given a master plan, only enough instruction to act faithfully in the present moment.

 

3. Flight, Exile, and Vulnerability

 

The flight into Egypt places the holy family among refugees—people displaced by political violence and threatened by state power. Matthew does not sentimentalize this movement. The journey occurs “by night,” underscoring urgency and fear. Jesus’ early life is thus marked by precarity, displacement, and dependence, aligning the incarnation with the experience of the vulnerable rather than the secure.

 

4. Fulfillment and Scriptural Re-Reading

 

Matthew repeatedly frames events as “fulfillment” of Scripture. The citation “Out of Egypt I have called my son” (from Hosea 11:1) originally refers to Israel’s exodus, not to a future messianic figure. Scholarly interpretation widely agrees that Matthew is not claiming prediction and fulfillment in a narrow sense. Rather, the evangelist rereads Israel’s story typologically: Jesus embodies and recapitulates the history of Israel. What God once did for the people, God is now doing in and through this child.

 

5. Return Without Triumph

 

The return from Egypt is cautious and incomplete. Although Herod has died, danger remains; Archelaus represents continuity rather than rupture. As a result, the family settles not in Judea but in Galilee, a marginal region both geographically and politically. Salvation history, in Matthew’s telling, advances not through public triumph but through hiddenness and compromise shaped by prudence.

 

 

6. Nazareth and Prophetic Resonance

 

The statement “He will be called a Nazorean” does not correspond to a single identifiable prophetic text. Scholars generally understand this as a thematic fulfillment, possibly evoking prophetic language about lowliness, obscurity, or consecration. Nazareth was insignificant and easily dismissed; locating Jesus there aligns messianic identity with humility rather than prestige.

 

7. Theological Themes

 

This passage presents a theology of divine faithfulness enacted through fragile human obedience. God’s saving work unfolds amid danger, displacement, and fear, yet it is neither thwarted nor hurried. The child who will later proclaim God’s reign begins life as one who must flee oppressive power, return cautiously, and grow up far from centers of authority.

 

8. Dialogue with Jeremiah 31 and Psalm 84

 

Read alongside Jeremiah 31, Matthew’s narrative complicates the theme of return. God gathers the people, but the path home is indirect and incomplete. Read with Psalm 84, the pilgrimage motif remains, yet the “dwelling” of God is no longer a stable temple but a child carried from place to place. Together, the texts suggest that God’s presence travels with the displaced and that consolation is often deferred, partial, and quietly sustained rather than publicly secured.

 

9. Contemporary Implications

 

For contemporary readers, this passage resists any theology that equates God’s will with safety, stability, or national power. It affirms instead a God who works through migration, uncertainty, and ordinary courage. Faithfulness here is not heroism but responsiveness—listening, moving, waiting, and trusting that God’s purposes are at work even when the route home is unclear.