Sermons

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Sunday 23rd December at 8am

Lesley Ashton
Readings: Isaiah 7.10-16; Matthew 1.18-end

If our understandings of the birth of Christ were according to Matthew alone then our Christmas activities would look very different. There would be no nativity scene as we know it and most of our observations would be upon the visit of the angel to Joseph and later the visit of some men from the east. We seem to hear about Mary only in relation to Joseph and the difficulties he has to face and work through when he discovers from the angel that Mary is pregnant.

I say 'seem to hear about Mary' because actually if we had read the genealogy that Matthew writes in his opening verses we find in verse 16 at the end of the listing 42 generations the mention of Mary whom Joseph married and who was the mother of Jesus. A mere mention we might think, but in the genealogy there are a further 4 women mentioned, each particularly significant. Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba and Ruth. Each like Mary playing a particular and often scandalous part in Israel's history and Matthew is showing how God used strange circumstances in the past and that the messianic line has been preserved through these means. Scandalous liaisons have already taken place and we are being prepared for the irregularity of the conception of Jesus, revealed to us by Matthew through the story of the visit of the angel to Joseph in a dream.

One of the recurring themes in Matthew's gospel is the bringing together of the old and the new. In the reading this morning we get that first of a number of old testament quotes which brings together the prophecy and what is about to take place.
'Now all this happened in order to make what the Lord had said through the prophet come true.
"A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel" '

Matthew is not concerned with the context of the historical setting of the text, of what Isaiah might have meant at his time of writing. Matthew simply uses the prophecy to illuminate the story of the conception of Jesus.

Secondly Matthew relates the old to the new in terms of a typological relationship between Joseph in Genesis and Joseph the husband of Mary. Both see and interpret dreams, both travels to Egypt, both prove to be upright.

By reading Joseph through the lens of the former Joseph, we can see that God's plan for the redemption of Israel is being worked out.

These more subtle messages are important for Matthew is writing for Jewish Christians and he is putting their history in the context of their present, helping them to understand how prophecy has been fulfilled and to enable them to remain steadfast in their new found faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

Matthew is handling the text of the Old Testament in a way that helps it to make sense for the people of his day, in their own particular setting and circumstance. We might look askance at this suggestion but one of the wonderful things about God's word is that it forever remains relevant. Two thousand years after the birth of Christ, God's word continues to speak to us in our own particular culture and situation. The motifs present remain relevant and important.

The story of the angel's visit to Joseph highlights such particular motifs. In it we observe the righteousness of Joseph, a person who firstly wants to do right in his relationship with Mary, he does not want to bring disgrace upon her or to apportion blame. He seeks first to respond to her pregnancy in a quiet and dignified fashion. But his sense of righteousness is such that above all else he puts the request from God first and foremost and is obedient to that which God requires of him.

Joseph therefore was someone who is in touch with his inner self, a man to whom God can speak to in a dream. He must have had that gift of discernment, which enabled to him to act against his own instincts, moral and upright though they were, and to face with courage a different calling and future.

Joseph protected and looked after Mary so that her child could be born and he continued to be obedient to God to ensure the safety of God's son. Quietly and invisibly he brings up the child who is to be called 'Immanuel' God with us.

Some may ask why the genealogy of Christ is so important, especially if Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, surely at that point it all falls apart? Well the academic answer is that Joseph took Mary to be his wife and therefore he was the legal father of Jesus and that for Matthew is simply sufficient to make the point.

Yet he was so much more than a legal Father. In the very little we hear about Joseph we have a sense of a man chosen by God to be the earthly father of Christ. A man who was righteous, obedient, a man who lived in deep communion with his God. In his own way he was special and chosen just as Mary was special and chosen. His was the deep privilege and responsibility of bringing up and providing for the Son of God.

Joseph gives us an example to follow both by the qualities he showed but also by his trust. Trust that his God who had asked so much of him would by his grace and gift, provide all Joseph needed to fulfil that which he had been called to do.
May his example and trust be also evident in our lives, now and always.

Amen

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