December 18, 2016 – Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew 1:18-25
Emmanuel
Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 18, 2016
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Okay: finally we are getting around to talking about the birth of Jesus!
Actually, today, the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, we get Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth!
The wait is over!
Matthew is not one to linger over details:
“Joseph took Mary as his wife but had no marital relations with her until
she had borne him a son; and he named him Jesus.”
Merry Christmas! Hahahaha!
The birth, for Matthew, somehow is just not that important, right?
The glorious event gets half a sentence.
For any of us who have been present at a birth, that is kinda strange.
The birth of a child is always a miraculous event, a super miraculous event.
The night my son Theo was born was one of the all-time most miraculous nights of my life.
And yet, for Matthew, there is something even more miraculous and amazing that is going on,
besides the miraculous birth of another child.
And for what that is, we have to look to the naming of this particular child.
In the dream, the angel tells Joseph to name the child Jesus, meaning “God saves.”
Matthew helpfully adds that Joseph is to name the child Jesus because he will
“save the people from their sins.”
The word “sins” here is “hamartion” – as I’ve said before, it’s from the world of archery,
and its meaning is “missing the mark.”
Jesus will save the people from missing the mark with their lives.
Jesus will save the people from missing their purpose in life.
Jesus will save the people from wasting their lives on that which does not profit.
Jesus will save the people from the consequences of their stupid decisions.
Joseph is to name the child this – and obediently he does.
Jesus will miraculously save people from their sins – by forgiving them,
taking the arrow out of the target where they’ve missed the bullseye,
and giving them another chance to hit the mark.
And that is what Jesus does.
The other name is the one we associate with this Sunday, the name Emmanuel.
Most of us know that the name is a Hebrew name, and it means, “God is with us.”
Most of us take this to be good news, great good news, that in Jesus God comes to be with us.
Matthew refers to that part of the Old Testament where the name is first used.
It is used in a prophecy by Isaiah.
Okay: King Ahaz of Judah is threatened by two armies.
Isaiah says: The word of the Lord has come to me: Don’t worry about this threat!
See this young pregnant woman here?
She is going to bear a child named Immanuel and
before he’s even weaned the threat will have passed.
Trust in God.
Well, Ahaz does not trust in God.
He turns to the great Assyrian Empire for help, and disaster is the consequence.
And so in the next chapter Isaiah gives another prophecy referring to Immanuel,
speaking of the time in the not too distant future when
Ahaz and Judah are overrun by the Assyrians.
God is with us when we are saved – that makes sense, right?
But, Isaiah is saying, God is also with us when we are not saved, when we make bad choices –
when, I would say, we miss the mark, like Ahaz.
Isaiah’s promise is that God is with us in good times and bad.
God is with us when we hit the mark and God is with us when we miss the mark.
That was good news way back in the 8th century B.C.
That was good news when Jesus was born in the 1st century.
And that is good news today.
Emmanuel.
God is with us.
It is such a simple name: God is with us.
It is so important for us.
And yet, despite its importance, it occurs in the Bible exactly 3 times.
And we’ve talked about all three already.
It occurs twice in Isaiah – and exactly once in Matthew.
Isn’t it interesting?
The angel says to Joseph, “You are to name him Jesus.” And he does.
But the angel then says, “They shall call him Emmanuel.”
You call him Jesus, Joseph.
But they will call him God-is-with-us.
Well, this week I got to wondering: who is the “they”?
We are creatures who want to know that we are not alone.
We are creatures who want to know there is someone in our corner.
Our children, our teenagers, our aging parents: they all want to know
they have someone who is with them, through thick and thin,
when they succeed, when they fail, and when they screw up.
Each of us needs to know we have someone in our corner,
someone who will celebrate with us, someone who will mourn with us,
someone who will forgive us, someone who will stick with us,
someone who will help us, someone who will never let us go.
At this time of the year, we long for someone or someones to celebrate Christmas with.
For people who will celebrate with us the good things that have happened over the past year.
But also at this time of the year, maybe we look back and
think on those places in our lives where we have missed the mark,
where we know we were not all we could have been.
And long for someone to sit beside us and say,
Yes: you’re better than that – you were made for more.
But you are forgiven, and tomorrow is another day – and we’ll go into it together.
At Christmas, we celebrate God is God with us, through thick and thin,
when we hit the mark – and when we miss it.
God is God with us – God is God in our corner.
Celebrating with us, mourning with us, challenging us, forgiving us.
Who calls him God with us? Who calls Jesus Emmanuel?
I like to think in Matthew’s Gospel it’s
those disciples who sometimes succeed in following Jesus,
and who sometimes fail miserably.
Jesus sticks with them and thank God for that – I like to think they called him Emmanuel.
I like to think it’s those he touched and embraced and healed: as Matthew says, those who had various diseases and pains, those with bad spirits,
those with epilepsy and paralysis – all of whom he cured (4:24);
I’m sure they called him Emmanuel, God-is-with-us.
I like to think it’s the lepers and the slaves he healed, the women and the men,
the enemies and the friends, the girls and the boys, the blind and the mute.
I like to think it’s the little children he gathered in his arms and blessed.
And I really like to think it is the thousands he fed – men, women, and children.
I like to think it’s the women he commissioned at the empty tomb and
I like to think it’s the disciples he met in Galilee and forgave for abandoning him.
I like to think they all called him Emmanuel – God is with us.
God is with us.
This week, I have been fed by many – and I know God is with me.
This week I have been celebrated with – and I know God is with me.
This week I have been forgiven – and I know God is with me.
Jesus lives in you – Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel.
This week, I participated in a Christmas feast here at Sargent and Victor,
and to all those who came and enjoyed what we shared, surely there is no greater sign
that God is with us – yes God is with us.
God has not forgotten us.
God in Jesus is God with us.
When we hit the mark, and when we miss the mark, God is still with us.
Urging us on, never abandoning us, always forgiving us, always encouraging us.
Always always always.
And we get to the last verse of Matthew’s Gospel and we hear Jesus say,
“I am with you – always.”
I am God with you – always.
Through thick and thin. In good times and bad. When you hit the mark and when you miss it.
I am yours – always.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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