Last
Christmas Season Carol were in Cincinnati, OHIO, and strolled
through a shopping maul to admire the Holiday Christmas displays-- huge
Christmas trees with colorful ornaments; small trains chugged into a
dreamy miniature village, housetops trimmed in jelly beans; a light
snowfall on the fields; ice ponds with children on skates.
It
was all so enchanting-- so heartwarming --until I paused and sensed
that there was something missing. I looked for a church steeple, or a
building with a cross on it; but couldn’t find one. I turned
to
look for a star on top of one of the Christmas trees, but not a
one. I thought perhaps there might be a manger scene
somewhere
next to one of the trees: but again, there weren’t any.
The
Christmas scene I was admiring was totally secular; devoid of any
religious symbols. It’s a strange thing-- Christmas without
any
reference to the birth of Christ. A bizarre thing--Holiday
happiness with no clear indication as to why we should be
happy.
I thought to myself, “How can you have faith and hope and
self-giving love without God?” I don’t think that you
can.
This
morning, I would like to go back to our roots; I would like to look at
the Christmas story as given to us by St. Matthew, the writer of the
first Gospel. In the midst of increasingly secular cultures around the
world-- we need to be reminded of why we celebrate Christmas.
1.
Matthew’s Christmas Story begins by informing us that Christmas Is
About a Very Special Birth, and it is very straight forward.
Mt
begins in v.18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His
mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came
together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Before
Mary and Joseph had sexual intercourse, Mary was pregnant. How did it
happen? Matthew tells us that it was through the Holy Spirit. In v. 18,
the Spirit is explicitly called the source of Jesus, the initiator of
Jesus in Mary. The HS is mentioned again in v. 20--
what is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20) . God
the Spirit is the one who brings Jesus to birth; who brings
Jesus
into history.
And if that’s true for Mary and it is also true
for everyone of us. When Jesus Christ comes to anyone of us,
it
is always the work of the Holy Spirit. So if Jesus real to you -- and I
know that he is -- to many of you -- if he precious to you;
if he
alive to you; if He is Lord to you, --that is the work of the
Holy Spirit in your life.
The Holy Spirit does not bring
Confucius into your life, or Buddha into your life, or Aristotle into
your life, or Mohammed into your life—There is only One human-divine
being that the Holy Spirit glorifies and serves and his name is Jesus.
Ah,
you say, but don’t I have to do something? Yes, you must cooperate with
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the initiative, the Spirit keeps
bringing Christ to us in the Communion service, during prayer, in the
reading of Scripture, through the preaching of God’s Word, but he
doesn’t force Christ on us.
Christ comes to those who open
their hearts to him, who desire him. On Friday night I was talking to a
person who has a long history with this church and he told me how he
had hit bottom. His life had become a mess. He was desperate. He called
on God with passion, and turned his life over to Christ. And God met
his needs in miraculous ways. God made himself known to this person,
and now he is a man at peace with God and at peacer with himself and
his life is in-tact. What was the key? He was hungry for God,
he
had a deep desire for God.
Scripture says, “You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13 I think Mary
must have been a person who had a deep desire for God; who wanted to
serve God with all of her heart. You can feel that desire in her
Magnificat.
2. This Special Birth Almost Brought About a Divorce
What
complicates this story is that Joseph almost cuts himself
away
form Mary, he almost divorces Mary. Matthew tells us that Mary was
pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was
found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew1:18)
How
devastating it must have been for Joseph to find out that Mary was
pregnant! -- What must he have thought? Betrayal,--
frustration,-- confusion, deep hurt, --anger. In that day,--
an
engagement was as binding as marriage. It could only be dissolved by
divorce. And divorce is what Joseph intended.
Interesting
isn’t it? -- that this subject of divorce — as complicated
and
painful as it was then and continues to be today-- is
introduced
in the very first chapter of the very first Gospel in the New
Testament.
The question with which Joseph grappled was
this-- should he expose Mary to public disgrace, to be
publicly
judged and stoned?-- or should he divorce her quietly; simply sign some
legal papers? He chose the quiet way, which meant he was
willing
to take on the social shame for being soft on her, for not exposing
her.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book on Ethics spoke
often of the importance of Christians being willing to bear the guilt
of others. Joseph was prepared to do that.--- But,--
fortunately,
-- he didn’t need to. V. 20 tells us that …..
3. The Birth Child’s Name: “God-Saves”
20
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph...do
not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived
in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give
birth to a
son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins."
No need to be reluctant or hesitant,
Joseph. Take Mary home to be your wife. Mary is clean. She is
pure. Her conception is from God the Spirit. She will give birth to a
Son and his name will be Jesus In the Greek it is ISOUS., the
hellenizing of the Hebrew Yeshu, a shorter form of Yeshua.
Yeshua
translates into “God saves!”
We have two of the deepest truths
of the Christian faith in the name of “Jesus.” The Name tells us who
Jesus is in His essence—God. And the Name tells us what Jesus
does – He saves us from our sins.
Let’s take this in two
parts. Whom does he save? He saves us, his people. Later
Jesus
will describe them as his church. The ecclesia -- those called out of
this world. Ek out, kaleo called. The church is made up of those who
are called out. The purpose of this man named “God saves” is to salvage
a community, a people, a congregation, to call out a people for
himself. His ekklesia.
From what does he save his people?
He saves them from their own evil, from their sins, sometimes from
their own foolish mistakes, from the mismanagement of their resources,
from their disobedience! This must have struck the people of that day
as weak and ineffective. The Messiah according to popular thought was
supposed to save his people from their political enemies -- The Romans.
But Jesus did not focus on an external enemy as most radical movements
do, but instead concentrated his fire on his church’s sins.
Jesus
wants to teach his church profound self-criticism, -“Why do you see the
speck in your brothers eye and do not see the log that is in your own
eye?” You hypocrite.”-He does not want us to demonize our enemies.
That’s cheap, That’s easy. Instead, he commands us to “love our
enemies.”
How terrible it would be if we were to be held
accountable for every sin that spotted our daily lives. Who
of us
could pass muster? Who of us does not need daily cleansing.
Thank
God, we have a Savior. Jesus came to save his people from the
power of sin in our lives” Who of us is not tripped up by besetting
sins? Jesus came to save us from them, to help us, to strengthen
us. And he also came to save us from the penalty of the sins
we
commit. That’s his mission, his task. He was born for this
purpose. That’s why Christmas is a time of celebration!
But there is even more in the following verse. A second very
significant name is revealed in this passage
The Birth Child’s Second Name: “THE WITH-US GOD”
v.
22 tells us that All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will
be with
child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"
--which means, "God with us." [Meth hmon, o Theos]
Joseph needed
to know that the birth of this child was according to God’s design. It
was a fulfillment of Scripture. What Scripture? Isaiah 7:14
--
said a virgin would give birth to a son. That was written 700 years
before Christ. they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with
us." [Meth hmon, o Theos] Matthew includes the definite article “the”
before the word God, making it “with us-- the God.” When the shepherds
looked at Jesus-- when the wise men looked at the child, --Mary held
that little babe in the manger, she was holding “with us -- the God.”
In
Islam, Allah means god. But the word Allah means the
“Above-us-god.” The glory of the Christian faith is that the eternal
God who is Above Us came down and became “The With-Us God.”
He
became one of us.------ In Islam, Allah sends angels,
prophets,
books. But he is too holy to come Himself. For
Allah to
touch earth is, in Islam, called “shirk,” or blasphemous, and anyone
who says that Allah has a son or became a human being commits shirk. It
makes Allah gross; it blasphemes Allah’s glory.
But the God we
worship and serve as Christians is so great that he can come down. His
glory is not diminished. --it is made even greater by this act of love
and humility. Indeed he even allowed himself to be “shirked” by men,
condemned, blasphemed and nailed to a cross.
So, why do
we celebrate Christmas? Because God becoming one of us. God
stooped; God condescended. God shirked himself so that he could be with
us.
5. The Christmas Story also Teaches What God Wants from Each
of Us
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded
him and took Mary home as his wife (Matthew 1:24)
- Joseph took Mary home as his wife before the birth
- Later he was commanded to flee to Egypt with the child and his
mother.
- Still later, he was instructed to return with the family to the land
of Israel and to settle in the north, in Galilee.
In every step along the way, he acted promptly, obediently.
And this is the meaning of righteousness in Matthew.
Righteousness
is simply to obey. That’s how we please God. Obey-- simply,
quietly, promptly, fully. Joseph does that unostentatiously.
Joseph, the divinely chosen father of Jesus, lives out a life of
righteousness simply by doing what God tells him to do. In
his
obedience, we have a very helpful example of what God wants from each
one of us.
So, what is success? Some say it’s making a lot of
money. Others count success in terms of popularity. For others its
doing well in sports or in music. Here’s the biblical
definition.
It is doing what God tells you to do—simply, quietly, promptly, fully.
That’s what will bring the Lord’s commendation, “Well done, good and
faithful servant. You have been obedient.”
There is one more important lesson in Matthew’s Christmas Story.
6. The Story Teaches that Sex in Marriage is Holy
25
But he [Joseph] had no union [eyinosken] with her [Mary]
until
she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:25)
God
selected Mary for the highest honor a woman could possibly have. She is
referred to as the “Theotokos,” the “Mother of God,” according to the
Council of Ephesus, AD 431. But what about after the birth of Jesus.
Did she live as a virgin ever after?
Matthew tells us that he
[Joseph] had no union with her [Mary] until she gave birth to a son.
The word, “until,” most naturally means that Mary and Joseph enjoyed
normal conjugal relations after Jesus’ birth.
Did Mary and
Joseph have other children? Matthew 13:55 tells us that Jesus
had
four brothers and also sisters. I believe that the couple enjoyed a
full and fruitful marital relationship after the birth of Jesus.
There
are those who fear that Mary’s full marriage would make her less
dignified. On the contrary, I think there is more damage when Mary is
portrayed as one who was physically isolated from her husband. What
kind of a marriage would that be?
What’s at issue here is
whether the marriage bed is holy. Is sex in marriage holy?
Yes,
it is. And since Mary was a real woman with normal sexual desires it
would be essential for her to express her love and oneness with Joseph
through intercourse. The text is clear. 25 But he had no
union
with her until she gave birth to a son. The inference to be
drawn
is very clear! After the birth of Jesus, she had a normal husband-wife
relationship with Joseph.
There it is: Mathew’s Christmas
Story. It tells us why there is so much happiness during
Christmas. It gives us the explanation for why we shout and
sing
and exchange presents and decorate trees and hug one another during
Christmas.
The world sometimes pauses and asks, “What’s
this celebration all about?” Matthew’s answer is this: it’s all about
the birth of JESUS. He is “The God who Saves.” He is “The
with-us
God” -and he is not only for us but also for a very needy race of
people occupying planet earth.
And what does he expect of us? That we be successful, --in
this simple way—By being obedient to what he tells us to do.
And
what else does he expect? He wants us to enjoy life and the
gifts
that he has given us—and for those of us who have spouses, he wants us
to enjoy the special intimacy that married life provides.
Merry
Christmas and Amen.
