God Is With Us Matthew 1: Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Transcription

1 God Is With Us Matthew 1:18-25 Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church I was reminded this week that we re blessed at BBC to have people who are new to Christian spirituality, new to faith, and who aren t familiar with the Bible. Of course, we also have people who ve been following Christ for decades and decades and who have been reading the Bible for just as long. Whether we re just starting out on the path or have been seeking to live as a disciple for 80 years, there s always more to learn. For example, Luke and Matthew are the two gospels that have stories about the birth of Jesus and they re different in several respects. In Luke 1-2, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is featured and her husband Joseph is a like a shadow in the background. Luke s Gospel seems to reflect a connection to traditions and stories linked to Mary. Matthew features Joseph in the lead role and stresses how Joseph, and each of us, needs to actively respond to God and do something in response. You can even say that Mary is like a classic contemplative she is open to God, a woman of prayer, and Luke tells us numerous times how Mary ponders things and keeps them in her heart. Joseph also receives divine messages, but he s portrayed as having a more active faith, he is a man of action. These are two different ways of living spiritually; Contemplation and Action, all of us have a leaning one way or the other and both need to be present in our lives. There are times for contemplation and times for action. Three times in Matthew 1 & 2, Joseph is instructed by an angel in a dream, and three times he has to do something. This reflects Matthew s understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ; God is the initiator in the drama of salvation, but our response to God s grace requires action, we have to do something. This is the way God works; there s divine initiative and, hopefully, obedient human response. Listen to Matthew 1:18-25, 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. Her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had

2 2 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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God is with us. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; He took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne him a son; and he named him Jesus. Looked at from lens of the whole of Matthew s Gospel, Matthew 1:18-25 isn t just a birth story, but the first example of a central issue in Matthew s faith community and that issue is the relationship between keeping the letter of the law and living out the deeper meaning of the law. In Matthew s story of the miraculous conception of Jesus, Joseph becomes aware of the pregnancy before he learns the cause. His immediate response is that of a just man: he must divorce Mary. It s not out of anger, but out of deep religious conviction. No matter how much he loves Mary, it s his religious obligation to annul the marriage contract. Mary and Joseph were betrothed, not yet fully married. Neither party in a coming marriage could have sexual relations with an outside person. Mary s pregnancy catches Joseph by surprise. According to Deuteronomy 22:23-27, Mary could be tried publicly and executed. Joseph s love for God and his being a faithful and just man means he must divorce her, but he decides to do it secretly so as not to cause her public humiliation while also fulfilling the law. Joseph lives by a principle which is dear to Matthew, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice (which is found in Hosea 6:6 and is quoted twice by Jesus in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7). Joseph wants to do the right thing and he s torn between strict adherence to the law and care for the dignity of another person. Matthew was writing for a church that was sometimes torn between strict adherence to the letter of the law and the supreme demand of love to which their new faith called them (Matthew 22:39-40). This is still an area of challenge for Christ-followers today; there are still issues we wrestle with where the letter of the law says one thing in one place and the law of Love seems to guide us

3 3 in another direction. Joseph stands as a model of what Matthew hopes for from all disciples when we face such circumstances or decisions. If you remember the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus says repeatedly, You ve heard that it was said, but I say to you Joseph is the first person we meet in the Gospel who faces this tension between the prevailing understanding of God s commandments ( You ve heard that it was said, ) and the new thing God is doing in Jesus. Joseph s plan to quietly dismiss Mary and annul their marriage is overruled by the angel of the Lord who addresses him as son of David. Joseph s role in the story of Jesus birth has to do with the Messiah being born to a descendent of King David. Joseph s decision to obey the startling and unexpected command of God is an example of living out the heart of the law and not its letter. He s living out the new and higher righteousness of the kingdom (5:20). In a difficult moral situation, he listens to the voice of God, and he s able to set aside his previous understanding of God s law in obedience to a new and living word from God. Jesus is the central figure of the New Testament whose life, death, and resurrection represent God s saving act for sinful humanity. In today s passage we hear three things about Jesus. First, he s called the Messiah or Christ; a title that means anointed one, and can refer to anyone sent by God or commissioned by God for a special task. Matthew 1:16 at the end of the genealogy leading to Jesus, says, Jesus who is called the Christ. Near the end of Jesus life in Matthew 27:17, 22 Pilate twice refers to Jesus as the Messiah. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah? 22 Pilate said to them, Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah? So we re told Jesus is the Messiah or Christ, the anointed one sent by God. Secondly, we learn Joseph is to name his son, Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. The angel tells him, You re going to name the child, accept him as your own and adopt him into David s line as an authentic son of David, In Hebrew, the name Jesus is also Yeshua/Joshua. Yeshua/Jesus was a very common name that actually means Yahweh helps or Yahweh saves.

4 4 Thirdly, Matthew reminds us of Isaiah 7:14, they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God is with us. There s a repeated refrain in the story of Joshua of God saying (1:9), I will be with you. Matthew wants us to see that like Joshua, Jesus is the successor to Moses authority. We often use Emmanuel to speak of God s presence with us especially in difficult times (such as the death of a loved one which so many people in our church have experienced this year). The element of comfort is certainly part of the meaning. But Matthew calls something more to mind by citing Isaiah 7:14. The context of Isaiah 7 is a period when the nation faced a significant threat. However, the birth of a child demonstrated God s intent to save the nation from Assyrian domination and to give them a future. The name Emmanuel and the expression God with us signal that a significant social transition is about to occur and that God s people can live through it because of their faith. The first miracle in the New Testament is not something Jesus did; it s an act of God. It s about what God has done for humanity in Jesus. Like Moses and Isaac, the point of the miraculous conception is the special role Jesus will play in God s plan. Throughout the rest of Matthew s Gospel we see how God is with us in Jesus. For example, in Matthew 10:40 Jesus says, Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. In Matthew 16:18 It s Christ who will build his church. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. We meet Jesus in encounters with little children. Matthew 18:5, Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:20: Christ is present when the church meets in his name. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. We meet Jesus in encounters with needy persons. Matthew 25:40, And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Matthew s Gospel ends with Jesus promise to be with his disciples (28:19-20), Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

5 5. That is a perfect bracket to this opening story in which Matthew states, they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God is with us. Matthew 1:24 says something very important to us - When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. When Joseph wakes from sleep he does what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do. God s story of salvation hinges on Joseph s obedience in the midst of his unexpected disappointment. Mary gets far more publicity and attention than Joseph, perhaps deservedly so. We never hear about Joseph after Jesus childhood and it s very likely that he died before Jesus began his ministry. Mary on the other hand is present at Jesus death and is praying with the first believers when the Holy Spirit comes upon the early church in Acts chapter two. Mary is the one who is portrayed in great works of art for centuries to come and who appears on the cover of news magazines. Mary gets the publicity, but Joseph is the one in Matthew s gospel who has a critical decision to make. Joseph can doubt what Mary said and ruin her life. Or he can believe what she and the angel have said and defend and stand by her. The decisions and choices we make are important and they shape our life and our future. Three times in Matthew s account of Jesus birth and infancy Joseph is visited by an angel who tells him to do something. Three times Joseph gets up and does exactly what he s been told to do. (You can understand why Mary wanted to marry him!) I believe it s very significant that we never hear Joseph speak a single word. His actions speak louder than words. When God s messenger tells him what to do he is not portrayed as doubting, questioning, fearful, bargaining, or controlling he acts. God s story of salvation hinges on Joseph s obedience in the midst of his unexpected disappointment and Joseph does what needs to be done. We can all benefit from learning from his example. When we re faced with unexpected or untimely disappointments in life, we face a similar challenge as Joseph and Mary. How do we respond? We may come up with a plan of our own or we can add to our own thoughts by seeking God in prayer, searching the scriptures and asking for the wise counsel of spiritually mature friends to help us discern what to do. Maybe for us, like Joseph, God s plan could involve a message that comes from outside ourselves from a friend, the Bible, or even a messenger of God.

6 6 The plans we come up with on our own usually make sense to us because, after all, we thought of it. God s plan for us often involves the unexpected, the surprising, and we may not like the odds or the size of the challenge. God s plan may really stretch us and require great faith and obedience. I m not saying we don t use our minds, we should apply all our intellect to our faith, but like Joseph and Mary it s also important for us to listen to and obey what God asks us to do even if that may at times seem unexpected or surprising. Finally, those of us who worship God don t just listen to angels, scriptures, or sermons we do what God commands. Even if it seemed then or still seems incredible to us today, Mary and Joseph believed in God and believed that God could be trusted. Those are choices we all have to make and they set the direction of our life. Do we believe in God and do we believe God can be trusted? The scripture concludes in verse 25, He took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne him a son; and he named him Jesus. Today s passage reveals what Jesus name means. Joseph and Mary are to name the baby Jesus because he will save us from our sins. God sent Jesus in part because God knows there will be times when we turn a deaf ear to God s instructions for our life and our relationships. There will be moments when we fail to respond obediently. There will be seasons in our life when we re overwhelmed by unexpected disappointment and so we question God and fail to trust. There are times we may get so distracted, busy, or self-focused that angels could be singing Go Tell it on the Mountain in our living room and we wouldn t notice. Yet if we ask God for forgiveness, if we re willing to embrace the new beginning we re reminded of each Christmas season, Jesus will save us from our sins. He will be Immanuel, God with us, in all the seasons of our life in the joys and celebrations as well as in the grief and disappointments. He will bring us comfort and joy. I close with a prayer by Thomas Merton that I think expresses what Joseph would have prayed after the angel left him. My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not

7 7 mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude. Blessing May Immanuel, God with us, and Jesus, who saves, and the Holy Spirit who guides and empowers us grant us comfort and joy today and always. Amen. Questions for Reflection or Discussion 1. If you were Joseph, how do you think you would have responded to Mary s news regarding her pregnancy? 2. Have you ever had someone ask you to believe something that seemed hard to believe? How did you respond? 3. What does Joseph s initial response tell us about his character (see Matthew 1:19)? 4. After the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, what does his response reveal about his faith? 5. Joseph s story is an example of dreams that don t work out the way an individual wants and yet something redemptive and even transformational occurs. Have you ever had that experience? What happened? 6. Mary and Joseph believed in God and believed that God could be trusted. Do you believe in God and do you believe God can be trusted? What difference does that make when life doesn t go the way we expect? 7. What does the meaning of Jesus name teach us about his identity about who he is and what he does for us?