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.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins.
·
Alright. We’re down to the wire and
it’s time to get real. Who here is ready for Christmas? All their shopping…
decorating… baking… done? Has everyone who is supposed to be at your house for
Christmas already arrived? Are you already where you intend to be at Christmas?
·
If you are all ready, good; you’re
better than I am. If not, there is still hope.
·
The season of Advent is a time of
hope. The colours, the lights, the readings all work together to build up hope.
·
The question, though, is what do we
hope for? There’s plenty around us that needs a dose of hope for despair can be
found in almost every corner of the world, whether because of fires on the
Oneida of the Themes reserve, Port Colbourne, or in other towns or because of
the terror and suffering in the city of Aleppo in Syria. The uncertainty our
neighbors south of our border are feeling surely needs a dose of hope, one way
or another. There are some of us who simply hope to get through the day.
·
What did the people of Jesus’ day
hope for? And was their hope fulfilled? Jesus was not the Messiah most of them
had hoped for and some were disappointed to the point of rejecting him.
·
What did Joseph hope for? We can only
make the assumption that he hoped for a marriage that might be considered
within the bounds of what would be considered usual for the society. To his
surprise and anxiety, this was not to be. We hear in Matthew’s Gospel about his
plans to dismiss Mary quietly when he discovered she was with child. Can you
imagine how he felt? It appears that his hopes for a “normal” married life were
dashed. He still remained a gentle and righteous soul and did not wish to
expose Mary to what Matthew calls “public disgrace” which is a
polite way of saying public trial, humiliation, and execution. In an odd way,
he received new hope in the message of an angel coming to him in a dream. Such
a hope as Joseph received could not be expected or anticipated. He came to know
hope where his original hope had died.
·
We have all experienced hopes that
have not been fulfilled or have been crushed. This season of Advent is meant
for people just like us – the poor in spirit (even if not so much as poor in
things), the troubled in spirit, those who know the troubles of life to
whatever extent we’ve experienced them. We know we live imperfect lives in an
imperfect world.
·
We could despair. We could lament the
worthlessness of all things. And yet, our presence here this day shows that we
have done neither of those things.
·
One elegant explanation for this
comes from the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote: The celebration of Advent is possible
only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and
imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.
·
We are celebrating Advent and we do
it as a season of anticipation. We anticipate the usual trappings of the season
and we take some joy in them. Our anticipation and hope goes beyond those
things. The Scripture we hear take our hope in a different direction.
·
God goes beyond our hope and we do
indeed look forward to something greater to come. We even look beyond the
celebration of Christ’s nativity to the promise of salvation carried in his
ministry, preaching, death and resurrection. That is where our hope truly lies.
·
Why do we hope? We hope because we
are not complete. Those who are complete in themselves have no need to hope.
After all, what could they hope for? We know we are not complete in ourselves
and that we cannot save ourselves from our faults and failings, from our sins.
For that, we must turn to the one whose name tell his mission: you
are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Jesus’ name alone is a give-away of his mission. His name in Hebrew, his own
language mean “God is savior.” Where could we better place our hope… and our
trust.
·
The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are
troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look
forward to something greater to come.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins.
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