Sermon Title: Unveiling God’s Love to All.
Occasion: 2nd Sunday after Christmas, January 4, 2026.
Bible Readings: Gen. 12: 1-7; Psalm: 136; Rom. 8: 31-39; John 15: 9-17.
Original Language Reflections (For deeper study, refer to the Table of Hebrew and Greek Terms in Section 7 of the sermon).
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God’s love is not fragile or private, but expansive and unbreakable. From Abraham’s call to Christ’s command, Scripture reveals a love that calls, sustains, and sends us for the sake of the world.
Theological Thesis: The Scriptures appointed for the Second Sunday after Christmas unveil a single, coherent testimony: God’s love is not private, provisional, or fragile, but expansive, faithful, and undefeatable, revealed when God graciously calls people for the sake of the world, celebrated in memory, secured in Christ, and entrusted to be embodied in love.
From Abraham’s call to Christ’s command, from Israel’s psalmic remembrance to Paul’s unshakeable confidence, God’s love moves outward: choosing, sustaining, redeeming, and sending.
This is not sentimentality. It is covenantal love that creates a people, endures suffering, and forms a vocation. The Collect rightly becomes our lens: God shines light into our hearts, opens our minds, and then makes us living instruments of that very love.
1.Love That Calls and Sends (Genesis 12:1–7)
In Genesis 12, God’s love first appears not as comfort, but as summons. “Go from your country… to the land that I will show you.”
Abram is not given a map, only a promise. God’s love is initiatory, it precedes Abram’s obedience, merit, or understanding. This is election not for privilege, but for purpose: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Historically, this call occurs in a world fractured by empire, idolatry, and dispersion (Gen 11). Theologically, God responds not by abandoning the nations, but by choosing one family for the sake of all families.
This is the first unveiling of divine love:
- Love interrupts security
- Love creates vocation
- Love moves outward toward the nations
The Collect echoes this precisely: “You showed your steadfast love to Abraham…” a love that sends before it settles.
2. Love That Remembers and Endures (Psalm 136)
Psalm 136 is Israel’s catechism of memory. Every verse rehearses history with the same refrain: “For his steadfast love endures forever.”
The Hebrew word ḥesed does not mean mere affection. It signifies covenant loyalty, love that refuses to abandon even when betrayed.
Literarily, the psalm is antiphonal, meant to be answered aloud. Faith here is not private reflection but communal proclamation. Israel learns who God is by remembering what God has done.
In seasons of fear, injustice, or exhaustion, Psalm 136 teaches us that hope is sustained not by optimism, but by memory disciplined by worship.
The Collect prays this posture: “You constantly reveal your love to us.”
We are not asked to invent hope, only to remember faithfully.
3. Love That Cannot Be Broken (Romans 8:31–39)
If Genesis reveals love’s purpose and the Psalm sings love’s endurance, Romans 8 proclaims love’s invincibility.
Paul does not deny suffering. He names it:
| Tribulation | Distress | Persecution | Famine | Nakedness | Sword |
Yet over all these, Paul declares: “Nothing… will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This is forensic and pastoral theology combined. The cross is God’s irrevocable self-giving; therefore, no accusation, power, or failure can annul divine love.
This speaks directly to contemporary anxieties. fear of abandonment, meaninglessness, injustice, or personal inadequacy. Christian hope is not the absence of pain, but the presence of a love stronger than death.
The Collect names this paradox beautifully: “Even when we go astray, you long for our return.”
4. Love That Abides and Becomes Mission (John 15:9–17)
In John 15, Jesus unveils the inner life of divine love: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”
Here love is Trinitarian, relational, and participatory. To “abide” (menō) is not passivity but deep dwelling-remaining rooted in Christ’s life.
The climax is staggering: “I have called you friends.”
This love does not merely save; it elevates. And it commissions: “I appointed you to go and bear fruit.”
Christian ethics flow not from moral pressure, but from relational identity. We love because we are already loved.
Thus the Collect’s petition becomes inevitable: “Make us living instruments of your love.”
5. One Coherent Narrative
| Textual Reference | Revelation of Love |
| Genesis 12 | Love that calls and sends |
| Psalm 136 | Love that remembers and endures |
| Romans 8 | Love that cannot be broken |
| John 15 | Love that abides and bears fruit |
Christmas does not end at the manger. It unfolds into vocation.
6. Faithful Living Without Moralism
- When fear threatens, remember God’s acts.
- When suffering persists, trust love’s permanence.
- When vocation feels costly, abide before acting.
- When injustice overwhelms, bear fruit rooted in divine love.
We are not commanded to manufacture love, but to participate in the love already given.
Let us Pray:
O God whose love called Abraham from the familiar,
whose mercy endured through every generation,
whose Son revealed love stronger than death,
and whose Spirit teaches us to abide;
Strip us of false securities,
heal our wounded memories,
silence the voices of fear and accusation,
and root us deeply in your unchanging love.
Make us courageous without arrogance,
compassionate without sentimentality,
faithful without fear.
Send us, not as owners of truth,
but as witnesses to mercy;
not as judges of the world,
but as friends of Christ
for the healing of all creation.
Through Jesus Christ,
the Love made flesh,
now and forever.
Amen.
7. Key Hebrew and Greek Words from the Readings
| S.No | Passage | Original Word | Language | Transliteration | Meaning / Theological Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gen 12:2–3 | חֶסֶד | Hebrew | ḥesed | Covenant loyalty, steadfast love |
| 2 | Gen 12:3 | בְּרָכָה | Hebrew | berākhāh | Blessing that overflows to others |
| 3 | Ps 136 (refrain) | לְעוֹלָם | Hebrew | le‘ōlām | Forever, without termination |
| 4 | Ps 136 | זָכַר | Hebrew | zākar | To remember with covenant intent |
| 5 | Rom 8:35 | ἀγάπη | Greek | agapē | Self-giving, covenantal love |
| 6 | Rom 8:37 | ὑπερνικῶμεν | Greek | hypernikōmen | More than conquerors |
| 7 | John 15:4 | μένω | Greek | menō | To abide, dwell, remain |
| 8 | John 15:15 | φίλους | Greek | philous | Friends-relational equality |
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