RECORDED SERMON

Isaiah 7:10-14

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. 13 Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Matthew 1:18-25

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. 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; and he named him Jesus.

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"Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way." That's how our text from Matthew begins this morning.

Some of my best friends had a baby just a year ago—the first baby in my set of friends. I called to wish Wells a happy birthday this week and his mom and I talked about the day he was born. Now the birth of Wells took place in this way: On the night of December 17th, Lindsey was sleeping fitfully. When she finally roused herself out of bed, she realized it was time to give birth to her child. Her husband, helpfully, decided to shower and vacuum the house before they left for the hospital. They arrived at the hospital in the wee hours of the morning and Lindsey and the baby were both doing fine. It was only a matter of time. Lindsey and Pen called their parents and sisters. They called some friends—their excitement was palpable, even over the phone. Then, suddenly, the doctors determined that they needed to do a c-section and things moved into hyper-drive. But a few hours later, a beautiful baby boy was born and both mom and baby were healthy and dad was incredibly proud!

You all have similar stories in your families. Stories of your own birth, or the birth of children, or of sisters and brothers or grandchildren or friends. What a joy to remember and share them!

The interesting thing about this text, though, this text from Matthew, is that it's NOT a birth story. Even though it starts out with, "Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way," it doesn't follow with information we'd suspect. It doesn't have tidbits about Mary and her pregnancy, or where she was when she went into labor, or even what happened on the day Jesus was born. In fact, in Matthew's retelling, to the concern of some modern readers, Mary (at best) plays a supporting role. Of course we can flesh out the birth story, thanks to Luke's gospel and Christmas carols and nativity scenes. We know about Gabriel appearing to Mary and her courageous response. We know about the census, the long journey to Bethlehem, the shepherds tending their flocks and the heavenly chorus. We know about the birth story of Jesus, but that isn't what Matthew's story is about.

Matthew's story is about Joseph.

Joseph is a righteous man, we are told in the text, a righteous man. It means he was "right," he was "just," in short, he was a good and faithful Jew. He followed Jewish law and he was merciful. I can imagine the news that his betrothed was pregnant came as quite a shock to him. Of course it would! Even as the shock of the news set in, the law is clear and the legal way forward is to divorce Mary, shaming her and her family. The law even permits the penalty of stoning for such offense toward one's husband. Joseph has some weighty decisions on his mind…how will he proceed? Surely he recognizes he holds his own fate, as well as that of Mary and her child, in his hands. And he is aware that honor and shame are critical one's success or failure in his culture. He is aware that widows and orphans are utterly powerless in his society. What is he to do? Finally, after much indecision and second-guessing, he comes to the best solution he can within the bounds of the law: to dismiss Mary quietly to avoid both stoning and public disgrace. I don't imagine sleep comes easily that night either, though, because you know as well as I do that finding yourself forced into a solution that doesn't feel right, even when it is decided, doesn't ease the burden. I imagine Joseph lies down for another sleepless night, wishing this were all over while at the same time ill-at-ease with his decision.

Matthew's story is about Joseph's struggle.

During the night of tossing and turning and restless sleep, an angel of the Lord comes to Joseph. We call them angels, but really they are messengers, that's what the Greek term means …messengers of God. They are God's spokespersons. This angel, this messenger, doesn't just appear and startle Joseph like angels do in other gospels, this angel appears in a dream.

Dreams are strange things. They are the places where psychological conflict arises and is worked out. They are places where the still, small voice of our subconscious comes up and says, "yes, you know what to do in your head…this is what the law says…this will keep you safe and maintain the status quo…but it's not really the best thing to do."

This angel, this messenger of God, appears to Joseph in a dream and speaks right to the conflict in which Joseph is living. "Joseph, son of David," the angel says, calling Joseph by his family name and establishing him within the line of king David, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife."

This is typical angel-speak. Angels are always telling people not to be afraid. The angel who appears to Zechariah in Luke's gospel, seeing Zechariah's terror, says, "don't be afraid." The angel who appears to Mary a few verses later in Luke tells her not to be afraid. The angel who appears to the shepherds famously says, "Do not be afraid!" At the end of the gospel of Mark an angel appears to the women at the tomb and tells them not to be afraid for Jesus has risen. This happens at the end of Matthew's gospel also. "Do not be afraid!" This is what messengers of God say.

I tend to think of the angels saying this to quell the fear and shock of actually seeing an angel (leads me to believe that angels aren't actually the flowing white, lacy, fragile creatures we picture them to be!). I tend to think the angels say, "do not fear" because they have startled someone, because a supernatural event is occurring. But, this angel makes me think differently. This angel, this messenger of God, says to Joseph, "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife." This angel speaks directly to that which is perplexing Joseph and causing him restless nights. "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife." Don't be afraid to do that very thing which from which you've been shying away in order to follow the law. Don't be afraid of the legal recourse. Don't be afraid of what others might think. Don't be afraid of the shame you will experience. Don't be afraid of adopting Mary's offspring into your family. Do not be afraid. Of course the angel goes on… "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."

This angel has hit the nail right on the head. The angel has spoken to the exact conflict Joseph wrestles with and he has given Joseph outlandish news. Not only is Mary pregnant, she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. If that weren't enough, Joseph is to adopt this child, name him (which is not insignificant because naming him establishes the child as a member of Joseph's family), name him Jesus (the name that means "God saves"), and believe that this child will save the people…this child is the Messiah.

There's a fine line between dreams and nightmares. There's a fine line between dreams and nightmares and at this point in our story, it seems that it could go either way for Joseph. This could be a nightmare that will haunt Joseph for years or it could be a dream that helps him resolve a conflict, that gives him a new vision.

Matthew's story is about Joseph and the nature of dreams.

Matthew's story is not only about Joseph and dreams. It is also a story about Joseph and God. The angel tells Joseph something outlandish. The angel tells Joseph of this creative, imaginative—you might say crazy—new thing God is doing. God is doing a radical new thing: being born to a human mother and looking to a human father to adopt this child into his family, into the line of David. More than that, God invites Joseph to join in God's new thing, this thing beyond God's law and covenant, beyond who the people know God to be. God invites Joseph to participate in this radical, creative act in the world. Think of it. Joseph's life is a mess. As one preacher says, "his wife [is] pregnant, his trust [is] betrayed, his name [is] ruined, his future [is] revoked." And he had no part in creating this mess. "With every reason to disown it all, to walk away from it in search of a cleaner, more controlled life with an easier, more conventional wife, Joseph does not do that. Joseph decides to walk out on faith, to abandon the rules, to abandon the safety of following the law and believe in the dream. He decides to trust in God's imagination and join in God's work. Right there in the middle of that mess is where the savior is born. Because Joseph chose to have faith and act on the wild and big imagination of God.

Matthew's story is about Joseph and God, but Matthew's story is also about us.

God invites Joseph to participate in God's new thing. God works with people to work

God's purposes out. Mary's womb gives life; Joseph gives the name. God calls each and every one of us to participate in what God is doing. We're called not just to participate, not just to carry out the letter of the God's law, but to believe in the dream, to believe in the crazy and imaginative and illogical love of God.

Catching the largess of God's vision can be challenging for us. Think of the moments when your imagination has been lacking. I think of the first time I saw the desert in New Mexico. I knew about deserts: dry and sandy and big. But, the first time I saw it, why, my imagination hadn't been big enough. It was vast and it was open and it was beautiful. There were more shades of browns and reds and oranges than I knew existed and the sky was blue and crisp in contrast. My imagination underestimated the desert. Or perhaps think about the incredible gift of holding your child. Every new parent says that it is more precious and overwhelming and wonderful than they could have imagined. Our imaginations have boundaries on them. Boundaries we don't even realize are there.

We are logical, methodical, reality-based creatures. We live in a world of budgets and checks and balances and social expectation and rules. We pride ourselves on our practicality and pragmatism. We like the safety and security of the status quo. None of us wants to be outside the safety of what we know, the security of the status quo. Out there, out on the edges, outside of our comfortable boxes, life is scary.

God asks us to look beyond what is safe. To trust beyond where laws and rules can guide us. To have faith in the possibility and imagination of God. To trust in the largess and creativity of God's grace. And God asks us to participate in the new thing God is doing in the world.

In fact, you could go so far as to say that God needs us to participate in what God is doing. God needed Joseph to participate. God needed Joseph to take Mary as his wife and to accept her son as his own, inviting the child into the family of David, from whose house the messiah will come. God needed Mary's womb to give life to the infant child. God needs humans—needs us—to take part in what God is doing. But in order to participate, our imaginations have to be bigger. Our imaginations have to imagine not the worst-case scenarios, but the goodness of God's grace. In order to participate in God's imagination, our willingness to trust the dream of God has to expand, our desire to believe in God's kingdom has to overtake all of our rationality, and we have to risk being outside the bounds of the status quo, to risk being unrealistic, to risk being rule-breakers, to risk being dreamers. Because God is doing a new thing this Advent, this Christmas. God is coming to earth to be Immanuel—God-with-us—to restore us to right relationship with God and one another. And God wants us to join in this new thing.

Matthew's story is about what we're willing to dream.

On this fourth Sunday of Advent our expectation runs into our joy at the birth of the Christ child. And we are invited, again, to dream, to imagine. To dream of the lion lying down with the lamb. To envision the desert all in bloom. To consider the boundless kingdom promised us in Christ. To picture the new heaven and new earth. To imagine, of all wild things, a Savior born as a babe in a manger, a lamb on the throne. And it may just be that allowing ourselves to imagine, God is inviting us to join in God's grace and God's work in the world. God is coming down to earth, to be Immanuel, to be God-with-us. If we fail this Christmas, it will be a failure of imagination, because God has come to us.

Matthew's story is about what we're willing to dream into reality. "Do not be afraid."