A look at the gaps in the lectionary.

This week: the gap between Advent 2A and 3A
The text: John 1:1-5, 9-18

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The lectionary gives us two weeks of John the Baptizer. But instead of continuing the story in Mark, we jump to John and get a different telling.

The lectionary, too, gives us a funny excerpt from the opening of the gospel of John. A gospel we will read for the first Sunday after Christmas.

An opening that describes the coming of Jesus into the world, not for us as a pastoral account of a baby in a manger. But of the incarnate God made manifest. As light.

The light motif, of Jesus coming as a light in the darkness, is certainly familiar to us. And it is to that light that John the Baptist bears witness.

The pains the evangelist takes to clarify that John (the Baptist) was not the light are great. (Of course, the writer does not make the same great pains to articulate which John is which.)

Ultimately, the substance of this context is familiar enough to people that it doesn’t bear much interesting fruit.

One idea, however, that could be worth exploring is the seeing of God portion of the last verse:

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

John 1:18

The contrast between bearing witness to the light (a visual image) and none seeing God, but through relationship is a fascinating rabbit hole. And one that certainly could be of interest in exploring John the Baptist, not as intermediary, but as prophetic witness. A concept far easier for us to follow and do as well.