December 18, 2016

Helen Jacobi

Fourth Sunday of Advent    

Isaiah 7:10-16     Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19     Romans 1:1-7     Matthew 1:18-25

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

I read on my twitter feed this week “there are two types of people in this world: those who top their Christmas trees with stars and those who use angels.” [1] In my family it was always a star on top of the tree. We could probably think of other categories – are you a ham or turkey family? do you listen to the Queen’s Christmas message or not? Does everyone give everyone presents or do you have a secret Santa sort of system; are presents for children in Christmas stockings wrapped or unwrapped. Do you prefer to come to church on Christmas eve or Christmas day – or both?

In the sessions we have had after church the last two Sundays led by Susan Adams and John Salmon we have learnt some history about where some of the traditions come from. And we also learnt that Christmas as a church festival was late to join the church calendar of celebrations – in the fourth and fifth centuries. And then it was a celebration much less significant than Easter. And on through church history it had its controversies with the Puritans banning Christmas Carols in England in the 16th century – in Scotland the ban wasn’t lifted until 1958! The tradition of people going door to door caroling comes from this time – if you couldn’t sing carols in churches, the people took them to the streets!

Like our personal Christmas traditions the gospel writers also had their own version of the story, and their own reasons for writing it the way they did. In our carols and crib scenes, in our visual images in our minds from story books, we have the Christmas story conflated into one story with lots of details added in which aren’t actually there. Remember the gospel writers Mark and John have no Christmas story. Matthew and Luke do, but the stories are very different, and cannot be reconciled. Matthew has Mary and Joseph living in Bethlehem; the birth is not actually described at all; they are visited by “wise men from the east”; they flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s persecution; then they move to Nazareth. Luke has Mary and Joseph living in Nazareth, going to Bethlehem because of the census; Jesus is born and put to bed in an animal’s feeding manger; they are visited there by the shepherds; they go to Jerusalem to present Jesus in the Temple; they return home to Nazareth.

Both writers agree that Jesus’ parents were called Mary and Joseph; that Mary became pregnant before they were married; that Herod the Great was king; that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth. The rest Marcus Borg says are composed like overtures to a symphony[2]. The overture indicates themes that are to come.

Matthew’s overture is refreshingly simple. It is the story of Joseph more than Mary. It answers the questions Matthew’s community were asking – can we be true to our Jewish heritage and be a follower of Jesus?

Answer yes – because Jesus’ genealogy through Joseph can be traced back to King David and Abraham; yes because an angel told Joseph what was to happen in a dream – like Jacob’s dream of the ladder going to heaven; and Jacob’s son Joseph’s dreams which saved the people from famine in Egypt; and yes because the holy family had to flee Herod and his massacre of children just like Moses was saved from the same fate in Egypt.

The birth story also answers another question – how is it possible that Jesus is human and from God, all at the same time. The answer – because his birth happened in such a way as to be sure we would know that “God is with us – Emmanuel”. God here, in the flesh, not a Greek god appearing and disappearing at will, or a god personified in a cruel emperor, but a human being, born of a humble woman in a humble way. God enfleshed with us.

Matthew always quotes the Hebrew scriptures to support his writing and about this special birth he quotes Isaiah “look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel”. Isaiah wrote these words describing a specific time and place during the reign of King Ahaz of Judea – in the 730s BC when Judea was as usual under threat from her neighbours in the context of the rise of Assyria. They feared invasion, they feared a siege – think Aleppo today – people back then were massacred at will too. The people want a sign of hope and Isaiah says – look over there – that young woman who is with child – by the time the child is a toddler, before the child can choose between right and wrong, the countries you fear will be deserted. Isaiah is trying to give hope to a fearful king, in that context for that time.

Matthew picks up this saying and turns it into a sign of hope to help his people understand who Jesus is. God is now to be understood as entering and acting within our world[3]. “The divine promise is deeply hidden in God’s own being, just as the child is hidden in the mother’s womb.”[4] And the promise does not at all hinge on whether Mary was a virgin or not – the word in Hebrew and Greek means a young woman of marriageable age. The writers do not want us to focus on the “miracle” of the conception – they are pointing us to a much greater “miracle” – the fact that God came and comes to be with us.

Bishop Marianne Budde, the Bishop of Washington DC says “Jesus comes to us where we are, as we are. He is not afraid of the mess we all too often make of things. For all the beauty of our celebrations, remember that Jesus was born in harsh, dangerous circumstances. We celebrate his birth not because it all happened perfectly, but because everything wasn’t perfect. Imperfection is where God chose to come, and chooses still.”[5]

Marcus Borg talks about Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic, theologian and preacher from the 13th century: “In one of his Christmas sermons, Eckhart spoke of the virgin birth as something that happens within us. That is, the story of the virgin birth is the story of Christ being born within us through the union of the Spirit of God with our flesh. Ultimately, the story of Jesus' birth is not just about the past, but about the internal birth in us in the present.”[6]

These wonderful Christmas narratives are not given to us to float off into a fairy tale land but to bring us face to face with God, now, today. Matthew’s version calls us to recognise Christ born anew every day, enfleshed with us. So what will we do with this birth? Put an angel or a star on the Christmas tree? What other choices does the birth bring before us? As we look back on one year and forward to another what do we yearn for, what are we seeking? What things do we want to let go of; what new things might be calling us forward?

Bring those things with you to Christmas this year; wrapped up in pretty paper if you like; and allow the stories to unwrap your hopes and needs. Allow the birth to open up something new within. Like Joseph who “awoke from sleep and did as the angel commanded” (Mt 1:24) and like Mary who said “Let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38); say yes to this birth: God with us, Emmanuel.

[1] Tim Schenck 15.12.16

[2] http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=16

[3] Don E Saliers Feasting on the Word Year A Vol 1 p 76

[4] ibid p 78

[5] https://mariannbudde.com/2016/12/15/audacious-hope-2016/

[6] http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=16