Rev. Laura Young Summit on 16 th UMC Dec. 18, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Advent Isaiah 7:10-16 Matt. 1:18-25 Justice in the Womb Let us pray: Loving God, open our hearts and our ears so we might hear a word from you that will help us love you and each other better. Amen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew 1: 1-18 The Birth of Jesus the Messiah 18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah [a] 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. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. 22 All this took place to fulfill 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. 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; [b] and he named him Jesus. 1
THIS ENDS OUR SCRIPTURE READING. So, where are we in the first of the four gospel stories in the New Testament -- the Christian testament? Let s get oriented a little. The gospel from the Matthew community is lots of people s favorite. We ve got the Sermon on the Mount in here, the beatitudes, the sheep and goats, the great commission. Matthew is the gospel that most portrays Jesus as a good Jew, written for an audience of Hebrew people expecting a messiah. Jesus wasn t just the savior of humanity in general, but Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary and Joseph, an Aramaic-speaking Jew of first-century Palestine. We re talking about Jesus impending birth, and it s important to remember that in this gospel, Jesus inherits and fulfills Moses role. Christians can think of Matthew s story as Jesus: the Jewish Messiah. We can think of Matthew as two major parts: the first twelve chapters or so being about conflict, and the second half being about resolution. It s the conflict between God s kingdom and the world s concept of kingship. You could think of it as the ruler of our life as opposed to the ruler of our government --- the values we would hold and how that is or is not reflected in the government. So: King Herod and his murderous ways after all, he is the one who in the next chapter calls for the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem under age two. Contrast that with King Jesus. The first section of Matthew ends with the decision to kill Jesus. 2
And in the second part, the religious leaders succeed in their plot to kill Jesus, but just when you think there is defeat, God s kingdom wins out in the resurrection. And today, we re talking about the inbreaking of this kingdom, in a new king, very different from the reigning king. The kingship of Jesus came up this week from an unexpected source a 7-year-old boy he ll be 8 on Christmas Eve! I ran into Tropi - Maryam Heller -- and she said she had a question for me. Tropi and her partner Andrea take their son Ethan over to Linworth United Methodist Church on Wednesday nights to a Christian education program called Sparks. We might want to start one of those here! We were sitting out at the table in the narthex out here. Ethan had his homework with him. He had a cute little cloth book cover for his workbook, and a little vest with patches and pins that reminded me of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. (I was a Girl Scout and a Girl Scout Leader when Liza was in scouting, so I appreciated the patches and pins, showing what they learned!) Ethan s assignment was to read a passage from the prophet Isaiah about the coming baby. He needed to read the passage out loud and then answer the question: How did the three wise men honor the King? For a second I thought, well, they didn t honor the king, they tricked the king! But that king was King Herod. (I tend to overthink thingsj.) The question was trying to get at bringing the baby King gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh The true king, king of the kingdom that the gospel of Matthew is getting at, was Jesus, the baby we still wait upon, the babe in the womb on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent. Let s remember that it s Mary s womb we re talking about but we hardly hear about her. It s nice that Joseph in Matthew s story can make 3
his own decision. But Mary is at the mercy of others. Everybody talks about Joseph s obedience in this passage. But it is Mary who allows Jesus to be born Son of God. There is a name for theology done through the lens of feminist women of color, particularly black feminists. That name is womanist. Womanist theologian Renita Weems, in her piece titled African American Women and the Bible, reminds us that in this story in Matthew, the voice of the oppressed is not the predominant voice. Of course, Matthew is a product of patriarchy. So, Mary is mostly absent here. It s important to remember that when we read scripture, we do it in context. And part of that is finding the voices of the oppressed and helping make sure they re heard. I can t not give the writers of Matthew tons of credit for describing Joseph as righteous even though he didn t adhere strictly to the law. Think about it. Per Deuteronomic law, he should have turned his pregnant fiancé over to religious authorities to be punished. It looked like she had broken her engagement contract -- that another man had infringed upon his property. But Joseph, instead of being legalistic, chose compassion and care for another person s dignity. Yesterday afternoon, I attended a wedding of two men at Glenwood United Methodist Church. One of them, Jeff Mullinex, is the pastor there. That s right, a gay United Methodist minister the pastor an ordained elder, like me got married to another man, an English teacher from West Virginia, Steve Shamblin. They were so darn in love I think the 4
whole church was deeply moved. It was a packed house. Tears were flowing as people witnessed both the joy in the love they share now, and the pain of the past when realizing they were gay and the struggle they had to go through being shunned by their conservative Christian colleges and churches. The healing was abundantly evident. Can you imagine if the United Methodist Church could follow the example of Joseph here, and of Jesus in every story about his life, and choose to care for another person s dignity as he did with Mary -- instead of looking to an ancient patriarchal law out of context, misinterpreted -- that gives rise to our hideous phrase homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching? The Methodist group working hard on getting that language out of our church law, our Book of Discipline, is the Reconciling Ministries Network. You ll see their rainbow logo on our doors and sign out front. RMN has been using an advent theme this year about justice in the womb -- There is justice in the womb. Mary is pregnant with Jesus. Jesus is love, compassion and justice. There is love, compassion and justice in the womb right now, and we wait eagerly. But how is it with your soul these days, as you wait, this advent season? Oprah interviewed First Lady Michelle Obama and [it s going to be aired on TV this week]. Mrs. Obama said it feels like we re living at a time in which we have lost hope. Jesus the baby is still in the womb. We had a violent event on campus just down the road. We ve elected a president who brags about grabbing 5
women, building a wall and deport immigrants orphaned children in Aleppo, buildings in rubble. Our governor signing a ban on legal abortion after 20 weeks, which can have horrific unintended consequences on women and their families. It s a scary time. I don t know about you, but I ve been feeling some helplessness and some fear. Let me tell you about a little boy who let go of fear. Did you watch A Charlie Brown Christmas this year? I saw a blogpost by Jason Soroski this week that pointed out something in this classic movie I d never noticed before. Charlie Brown is miserable and says that everything he touches turns to a disaster. He says he doesn t know what Christmas is all about and in desperation, he hollers, Isn t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? And Linus, blanket in hand, asks for the lights to come up on an empty stage in an empty theater, and recites these words from Luke 2:8-14. I had asked Ethan, our budding Isaiah scholar in his third year of Sparks Bible study program, for some help here. But he couldn t be here, so person I immediately thought of next was Gina. I thought she could channel her inner 7-year-old boy! Gina, could you please read from Luke? Luke 2:8-14King James Version (KJV) 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 6
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. I never noticed this before, and I bet you didn t either. When he recites the part where the angel says, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, he drops his blanket. The blanket that all his friends are always trying to get away from him. Linus drops the blanket. And then he said that s what Christmas is all about. Fear not. Drop the blanket. What s your Linus blanket? Some of mine are: Zoning out to Netflix I ve been watching The Crown. Eating ice cream. Ranting on Facebook, I m definitely known to do that. Well, what keeps helps you keep from feeling afraid? Can you imagine what the world might be like if we all had no fear? If we all dropped the blanket and just helped each other and forgave each other? 7
The birth of Jesus frees us from our fears. The birth of Jesus frees us from habits we can t or won t break ourselves. The birth of Jesus frees us from needing a false sense of security we ve been holding onto so tightly, like that blanket, and learn to trust and cling to Jesus to God to Love, Truth, Compassion, and Justice -- instead. So, when we re scared, or frustrated, or sad, we can think about Linus dropping his blanket and fearing not! We can think about Linus Gina - - reciting on a stage the Christmas story from Luke. We can think about Joseph in our story today, choosing compassion over legalism. We can t go back to the womb, though we might want to some days! but we can find peace and justice in the one place it always has been and always can be found we can imagine it right now, that love and justice still nestled in the womb and yet already with us. God with us, Emmanuel. May it be so. 8