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Christmas Season · Year B

Second Sunday after Christmas Day

Christ in Majesty (Majestas Domini), apse fresco of Sant Climent de Taüll, Unknown Catalan Romanesque master
Christ in Majesty (Majestas Domini), apse fresco of Sant Climent de Taüll, Unknown Catalan Romanesque master, c. 1123Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The apse fresco of a Pyrenean village church, moved to Barcelona in the 1920s to save it. The book reads EGO SUM LUX MUNDI, I am the light of the world.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it: the fresco paints the sentence that the prologue ends on.Unknown Catalan Romanesque masterThe unnamed painter of the apse at Sant Climent de Taüll, around 1123, and the finest Romanesque wall painter in Spain.Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, BarcelonaHolds the greatest collection of Romanesque wall painting anywhere, much of it physically removed from remote Pyrenean churches in the 1920s to stop it being sold abroad.Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Overview & Insights

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” (John 1:14)

The prologue is set apart from the rest of John’s Gospel by its designation of Jesus Christ as the Word (Gr.: logos , vv. 1, 14) rather than “the Son.” The term One and Only (implying sonship) is introduced, however, in verses 14 and 18 and sets the stage for the Gospel’s characteristic emphasis on the Father-Son relationship between God and Jesus.

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Take it further: John 1:1-18 or John 1:1-5, 9-14

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Questions preachers ask

What does John's prologue add to the Christmas story?

Where Luke gives the manger, John gives its meaning: the eternal Word through whom all things were made became flesh, full of grace and truth, the light no darkness can overcome.

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  • Full sermons on John 1:1-18 or John 1:1-5, 9-14
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