Brian Zahnd provides a helpful reflection on one of the Christmas lectionary passages, John 1:1-14

The following was lifted from the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice. Amy Dalton of the Center writes that "CLBSJ was founded a little over a decade ago out of the conviction that Biblical scholarship needs the perspectives of activism in order to accurately understand the Bible, and that activists need the insights of Biblical scholars to disarm the ways that the Bible has been used to undermine movements for justice. We are working in slow-cook mode to build this project as a deeply cooperative effort, and we need you to do this. CLBSJ has been built almost entirely out of the volunteer energy and generous giving of individuals like yourself." They need money, and you can help by checking them out on Facebook or going here.

Brian Zahnd provides a helpful reflection on one of the Christmas lectionary passages, John 1:1-14:

"The relationship of John the Baptist to Jesus Christ is analogous to the relationship of the Bible to the Christ as the true Word of God. John is to Jesus what the Bible is to Jesus. Think of it like this:
There was a book sent from God whose name was Bible. It came as a witness to testify to the Light, so that all might believe through it. The Bible itself was not the Light, but it came to bear witness to the Light. The True Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. The Bible testified to him and cried out, “This is he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”

Indeed, what is true of John the Baptist is also true of the Bible. Jesus came after John and the Bible but ranks ahead of John and the Bible because as the Eternal Logos he was before them both. The true witness of the Bible is to point us to the True Light that is Jesus Christ. Our question is not, can we find it in the Bible; the question is, can we find it in the life of Jesus Christ. We can find many things in the Bible that we cannot find in Christ. Wars of conquest, ethnic cleansing, the institution of slavery, capital punishment, and women held as property are all things present in the Bible but absent in Jesus. If we go to the Bible to find the light of truth, the Bible will faithfully point us to the True Light who is Jesus Christ. Some parts of the Bible belong to a dim archaic past, but the Light of Christ never dims. The light of Christ is the true enlightenment.

From "The Anticipated Christ: A Journey Through Advent and Christmas" (Spello Press, 2022), pages 141-43. More info at https://brianzahnd.com/2022/09/the-anticipated-christ/
Thanks to Rev. Paul Nuechterlein from girardianlectionary.net for providing this quotation.