Matthew 1.18-25

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 

²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’

²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ 

²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Today will be about the 6^th or 7^th time I will have read this passage this week in addition to the many times I have read over it in preparation for this sermon. This is because the last week in the Michaelmas term is one filled with Carols Services four schools for which I am the Chaplain. But I am still not tired of hearing it. What I am afraid of is the familiarity of this passage, even amongst our now largely non-Church attending society, because it is so popular in nativity plays and carol services. For many in our society, I would not be surprised that they would add that they love it too, but in the same way that they love Father Christmas, and the Snow Man and the Polar Express and all the other fairy tales that are associated with the happy childhood memories they have and which they want their children to experience as well. I find it is incumbent of me to stress at this time of year, the truth of this passage, the historical fact that there was a man called Jesus, from Nazareth, whose presence has been so significant that more than half the world organise their calendars around his historic reality.

And Matthew hits us between the eyes with his bold statement from the start – in verse 18:

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.

The Christ, the long awaited and foretold Messiah that the people had heard about for hundreds of years, the one who would bring light and joy and hope into the world, the one who would once and for all. show us who and what God is like, the one who would make our own lives whole and enable us to live lives of meaning and purpose – his birth took place in this way.

A pure and holy young woman, who in her childhood had been engaged to Joseph – something arranged by their parents – had taken the step to agree to the union and had become betrothed to Joseph. I can remember the joy when Trish and I became engaged and can imagine how Joseph must have felt. This beautiful young women, beautiful in looks, demeanour and holiness, had agreed to the union arranged by their parents. He would have been thrilled. It was now all legal, and could only end by a legal divorce. She too would have looked with eagerness, for the statutory completion of the year before their marriage when they could live together and start their family.

And then this. The account in Luke’s Gospel makes it clear that this was not good news for Mary to begin with; she must have been terrified: for who would believe her? How could she ever expect Joseph to believe her? And she was right. Joseph, to begin with, did not. He could have insisted on Mary being stoned to death, because this was the law as stated clearly in Deuteronomy 22.23-24 which reads:

23 If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, ²⁴you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbour’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

And Matthew records that Joseph was a righteous man, and is it not a mark of righteousness that one follows the law? No, certainly not. This child to be born of Mary made this a central tenet of his ministry, challenging those who slavishly and literally follow religious texts. The truth is not read, it is not reasoned it is revealed – and this is what Jesus came to us to do, to reveal the truth of God to the world. Joseph obviously knew the Torah well, and knew therefore that at the heart of the law is mercy and love and forgiveness and so was ‘… unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly…’

But then he had a dream. Imagine how much faith the man must have had. He obviously loved Mary deeply, was this not a mere matter of wishful thinking on his part? A love J C Ryle’s comment. He sees in Joseph ‘… a beautiful example of Godly wisdom and tender consideration form others …’ Ryle continues:

He saw the appearance of evil in Mary. But he did nothing rashly. He waited patiently to have the line of duty made clear and probably made it a matter of prayer.

He would have known the prophetic utterances concerning the birth of the Messiah as he was steeped in the Scriptures, and so could have the assurance that his message was indeed from God. His Son was to do the same later when he heard tempting voices in the desert; he too could answer: ‘… it is written …’

May people get hung up on the virgin birth, but I contend that to do so is to miss the central point of this passage which is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the Old Testament, that which Joseph and the people of his day would have studied it was the role of the Spirit to bring God’s truth to humankind. And this was the teachings of the prophets who tried to open the eyes of the people to God’s truth. Without the guidance of the Spirit, it is all too easy to be blinded by ignorance, led astray by our prejudices because we are biased and influenced by our sin.

It was also the role of the Spirit to give life. Remember in Genesis 1:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

The word translated here as wind is ruach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek, often translated as Spirit.

There is a sense that we are not really alive, and we cannot see truth clearly unless we are aided by the Spirit. It is the Spirit that makes the reality of the presence of Jesus with us now in spirit, and especially as we gather around this passage and in the Eucharist.

It is the work of the spirit to renew and re-create. I certainly need this, especially at this time of term when I feel physically, mentally and spiritually worn out. Don’t you love the image of the dry bones in the valley in Ezekiel and the words of the prophet speaking on behalf of the Spirit of God: ‘… I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live …’

Breathe on me breath of God, fill me with life anew …

And then confirmation of the Messiahship of this child to be born – the angel referring to him as Emmanuel – God is with us. The beauty of this is captured in the Song of Songs 1.3 where the poet writes: ‘… your name is perfume poured out …’ Here we have the union of two natures – God and human. This child would be fully human, he would experience all we experience tired ness, hunger, thirst, disappointment, betrayal, pain, nut also love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and self-control. And he would also be the revelation of God to the world and would have power over evil; conceived by the Holy Spirit – divine – yet born of the virgin Mary – human.

And Mary was told to name him Jesus because he would also save people from their sins. It is wonderful to be reminded of the fact God loves us and never tires of forgiving us. We are not saved from sorrow, or pain or conflict, but Jesus takes away our sin – he is our atonement – a great mystery. I have spent the past two weeks in a detailed study of the different theories of atonement and exploring the differences between expiation and propitiation when translating the Greek word hislasterion.

And it is good to exercise one’s minds and to try to fathom these things. But as Ryle explains, there is a limit. He writes:

They are depths which we have no line to fathom … which we have not mind enough to comprehend, let us not attempt to explain things which are above our feeble reasoning … [let us] not speculate about matters which we cannot understand. … [It is] enough to know that with him who made the world, nothing is impossible.

We do not dismiss reason, but we acknowledge with the greatest minds of the age, that reason is severely limited. Even at the height of the Enlightenment, which was the time when reason was championed as the only way we can know anything, one of the core thinkers, Emmanuel Kant, wrote his Critique of Pure Reason – stressing there is more.  We need more, we need to know with our hearts and our minds and our spirits. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2.14:

Those who are unspiritual^* do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually.

God loves us. It was this love that made him to enter human history, live our life and die our death on the Cross. It is this love that offers us the gifts of forgiveness and His Spirit to enable us to live the lives that God wants us to live and which we want to live ourselves. It is the gift of His Spirit that fills our lives with love and hope and joy and fulfilment. It is the same Spirit that was with Mary and the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, as Paul wrote to the Romans in 8.11:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ^* from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^* his Spirit that dwells in you.

Amen

Advent 3 - Apologies for lateness ...

Matthew 11:2-11: (NRSV)

Messengers from John the Baptist

² When John heard in prison what the Messiah^* was doing, he sent word by his^* disciples ³and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ ⁴Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers^* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

⁷ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸What then did you go out to see? Someone^* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. ⁹What then did you go out to see? A prophet?^* Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way before you.” 
¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The new Revised Common Lectionary that we follow has two Sundays in Advent dedicated to John the Baptist. I rather miss Bible Sunday’s demise, because despite the horrible reputation some fundamentalist have unjustly given the Bible, it still remains the most wonderful treasure trove ever written. But there is no disputing the importance of John the Baptist and what a wonderful testimony of grace where Jesus makes the comment that ‘... the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he ...’ I know that, in my own strength, my testimony does not come anywhere near that of John, but then, our relationship with God is not based on who we are and what we have done, but on who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Indeed, it is a matter of personal choice and commitment and so many in Britain today miss out on so much because they fail to do so, or even see the need to do so! Instead, they continue to worship at the altars of materialism, status, wealth etc. even though these gods have so dismally failed them.

John was a prophet and how we need prophets today. But what a difficult task they have because they never say what people want to hear. The truth always penetrates to the quick and people rebel. John’s message led to his death. The messages of modern prophets like Oscar Romero led also to their deaths.

In this Adventide the world is crying out for a prophet.

John was unable to see evil without rebuking it. This is much easier when the evil is obvious. When we ministered in South Africa, the horrors or Apartheid were clear for everyone to see and so it was our duty to rebuke it at every turn. I know we were both unpopular in the process (I know that some people probably wanted to throw me into the bay!) In Britain it seems much more difficult for the evil is far less obvious. As we have reflected earlier, the Gospel tends to have a hollow ring when people are unaware of their sin. By far the majority of people we come across are indeed ‘good’ people in the eyes of the world. But in the eyes of God, human righteousness is like filthy rags (as the prophet Isaiah explains).

Our prophetic utterances therefore need to be so different. They need to be much less fierce and forthright, but rather the utterance of love saying that there is a different way, yes, even a better way; it is the way of selfless love as revealed by Jesus.

Jesus replies to the disciples of John. He tells them not to tell John what he was saying, “Tell him what I am doing!” The Good News is that this same Jesus is still doing the same sort of things today. Barclay explains that those who are blind to the truth about themselves, others and God are enabled to see; those whose feet are not strong enough to remain on the right path are strengthened; those who are tainted by the disease of sin are cleansed; those who have been deaf to the voice of conscience and of God begin to listen; those who were dead and powerless in sin are raised to newness and loveliness of life and ‘... in him the poorest person inherits and possesses the riches of the love of God.’

In addition to the good news comes also with a warning: ‘⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Barclay suggests that this verse was addressed particularly to John because he seemed only to have grasped part of the truth: John preached a gospel of divine holiness with divine destruction; Jesus preached the gospel of divine holiness with divine love. So Jesus might have been saying: “Maybe I am not doing the things you expected of me, but the powers of evil are being defeated, not by immense power, but by unanswerable love.” Sometimes people are offended by Jesus because his ideas of what ‘religion’ ought to be. Barclay concludes: ‘We will always be offended at Jesus, if we think that we know best.’

What an accolade John was given by our Lord in verse 11: “¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” So what then did he lack?

Barclay offers the following thoughts.

He had never seen the Cross and so the full revelation of Jesus and the fullness of the love of God. He might have known the holiness of God and God’s justice, but there would always have been something missing. This becomes apparent when we compare the messages of John and Jesus. It is difficult to define John’s message in terms of ‘good news’, his message was more a threat and judgement. Jesus and the Cross reveal the whole picture and includes the most vital ingredient, the height, and breadth and depth of the love of God. Barclay writes: “It is the most amazing thing that it is possible for the humblest Christian to know more about God than the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. It enables us to know more of the heart of God of God in a way than Isaiah or Jeremiah ...”

In theory I agree with what Barclay is saying, but my recent experience would add that this is possible in theory. It is amazing how few people study the Scriptures at all because so few people ever read. I have heard some frightening statistics of how little the Bible is read even by those in the Church. Yes, one can know the depth of the love of God but one needs to confront the Cross with all its love through the Scriptures and how they apply to where we are as the Holy Spirit moves us. We confront the Cross of Christ when we come by faith to the written Word where we encounter the Living Word.

It was John’s destiny to point people to a greatness into which he himself did not enter; he was a mere signpost.

It would appear that he could be the first patron saint of educators together with Thomas Aquinas, John Bosco and John Baptist de la Salle, for this seems to me to be what we are about, for our vocations are to prepare others for doing great things. I fear sometimes that the excellent schools that we have the privilege of being part of, all too easily fall into the trap of preparing people for the best positions in public life and commerce, and that true greatness does not always seem to be an aspiration of many. Quite appropriately our Schools celebrate those who have ‘done well’ and who have become judges or Chairmen of international companies or leaders in politics or the military, but I think we need also to challenge our students to strive for true greatness.

Of course this begs the question: “What is true greatness?”

Few people are aware of the importance or Vernon Johns preparing the way for Martin Luther King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, but while he did not receive the great accolades of King, he was still truly great. Barclay is of the opinion that, “... it is very seldom that any great reformer is the first man to labour and to toil for the reform with which his name is connected in history.” He tells of a lovely story of the time when street lamps were gas powered and how one of the lamp lighters did his work with great dignity only to discover that the lighter was blind. “... he was bringing light which he himself would never see ...”

I have had a terrible weekend, feeling bereft at the death of Madiba, our beloved Nelson Mandela. But some of what is attributed to him actually belongs to Desmond Tutu – Madiba’s John the Baptist, and Desmond, being the gracious Christian that he is, will never complain.

And so, I take encouragement that we are about an important task, that as teachers we point others to a goal, even if we never reach the goal ourselves.

I look forward in hope of hearing how any of my pupils have done great things with their lives, but not in the way the world thinks, but those who join me as teachers, ministers of the Gospel, those who have, above all else, sought to be faithful to what God has called them to be and to do. This, for me, is true greatness.

Romans 15:4-13 (NRSV)

⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike

7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess^* you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
¹⁰and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
¹¹and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
¹²and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Barclay points out that these verses reveal what Christian fellowship should be like.

In the first instance, fellowship should be marked by a study of Scripture. When one studies Scripture we receive the much needed encouragement because we are provided with two things: (i) we are given a record of how God had dealt with a nation in history and this shows that it is always better to be right with God and suffer than to be wrong with others to avoid trouble. The history of Israel revealed that ‘good’ wins out in the end. Scripture reveals that God’s ways are never easy, but in the end it is the only way that makes life worthwhile both here in time and also for eternity. (ii) The Scriptures also provide us with the promises of God and God never breaks His word. Barclay suggests that “... they are tremendous things to go out to meet life with. In these ways Scripture gives to the man who studies it comfort in his sorrow and encouragement in his struggle.”

Christian fellowship is also marked by steadfastness. Barclay once again uses one of his favourite words ‘fortitude’ which he defines as  “... an attitude of the heart to life ...” It is more than patience, and is rather a triumphant adequacy that can cope with life; it is the strength that not only accept things , transforms them into something good and wonderful.

This all leads to hope. While we should always be realists, we ought never to be pessimists. But our Christian hope is not a cheap hope, not is it an immature hope because it does not see difficulties because it has not encountered the difficulties of life. Barclay explains: “The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; the Christian hope is hope in the power of God.”

Christian fellowship should also be marked by harmony. No matter how beautiful a church or cathedral might be irrespective of how wonderful the music might be or how perfect the processions etc. or how generous the charitable giving Barclay suggests that ‘... it has lost the essential of a Christian fellowship if it has lost harmony.’ Of course there must be difference of opinion and argument and debate, but it is essential that, throughout all this those within the Church ‘... will have solved the problem of living together ...’ because the Christ that unites us is greater than the differences that divide us.

The whole essence of being Church should take its pattern and example from our Lord, Jesus Christ who did not seek to please himself, but chose to serve others and so he ‘... sets the pattern which everyone who seeks to be his follower must accept “⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

 The people within the Church should be bound into one irrespective of anything: race, class, status; those strong in the faith and those who are week. Paul quotes from the Old Testament to give strength to his argument, most notably from his favourite books: Psalms (18:50 and 117:1); Deuteronomy (32:43) and Isaiah (11:10). When we look back to these passages we find that our translations of these passages vary. This is because our Old Testaments are based on the original Hebrew and Paul was using the Septuagint (LXX) the Greek translation.  But the message is the same. This makes me think that, while accuracy matters, it is more the essence of Scripture that is important and not too much emphasis on literal precision – another reason why fundamentalism is so ill-advised. When the Book of the Law was discovered on return from Exile, and Ezra read it from dawn to noon, the Levites gave’... the sense so that the people understood the meaning ...’ (Nehemiah 8:8)  When they understood the meaning they were united together and were blessed. Meaning is what matters and people today will be united together when they understand and share the meaning of the Gospel. Here the meaning is quite clear the Church of Christ must be an inclusive Church. It is such sadness that the Covenant between our Churches, signed in 2003, seems to be so little acted upon, and a new covenant has been deemed necessary to keep Anglicanism together. Have we lost the ‘sense’ of scripture and the Gospel?

What follows are Barclay’s reflections on verses 7-13: Paul continues to re-state the Gospel.

It is a Gospel of HOPE: There is something in Christian hope that nothing can kill ‘... and that something is the conviction that God is still alive. No person is hopeless so long as there is such a thing as the grace of Jesus Christ ...’

It is a Gospel of JOY: There is a big difference between pleasure and joy, but the world seems to have forgotten this important distinction. Christian joy is not dependent upon things outside a person, it is something that comes from within or as Barclay puts it: “... It comes from the consciousness of the living presence of the living Lord, the certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Him.”

It is a Gospel of PEACE: Life is always going to be filled with challenges, difficulties and worries from time to time, so Christian peace is not an escape or an inoculation from any of these, so Barclay explains: “Things will happen that we cannot understand, but if we are sure enough of love, we can accept with serenity even those things which wound the heart and baffle the mind.

It is  Gospel of POWER: It is not as if we do not know what is good and right and beautiful, what we lack is the ability to do it and so Barclay concludes: “Only when the surge of the power of Christ fills the weakness of man can we master life as we ought to master it. By ourselves we can do nothing; but with God all things are possible.”