ADVENT 4A - 12.18.22

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:18–25 NRSV

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. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Consent - Mary consented. God calls us to do ridiculous things, but we have a choice - to be a part of the story

Belief in the sinless birth - can be hard to process

Good morning,

We are SOOO close to Christmas and yet....still almost a week away! I wonder if that is how John the Baptizer felt - grateful but also weee bit impatient. Today, we are looking at the description of the drama that unfolded following Mary’s immaculate conception. On thing that I think is worth stressing is that everybody involved had a choice - Mary gave consent to become the mother of Jesus from the Holy Spirit, for when an angel laid it all out and reassured her beforehand in Luke, she ultimately responded with:

The New Revised Standard Version The Birth of Jesus Foretold

38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Let it be with me according to your word (rhema), she declares and identifies herself as the bondmaid of the Lord, in the modern German Bible translated as “I belong to the Lord and as you said, may it happen with me” Perhaps a more grounded translation that points towards a clearer picture of her consensual surrender to God’s will. A paradox that we inherited from our Jewish siblings that seeks to balance the Jacob in us that wrestles with God and the Abraham in us that would go all the way and sacrifice his son for God. Mary wrestled with what the angel said and once satisfied, THEN she consented, hence consensual surrender.

In the same way, Joseph had a choice, inasmuch his conscience allowed him after he got to know the truth about the situation - he obviously had his misgivings about the situation and maybe wasn’t even judgmental towards Mary, just perhaps coldly practical, but then…then he saw the truth of the situation and made a choice to also consensually surrender to God’s plans. And the rest is history, Biblical history. Cue the theme song!

But really that is the murky line between God’s will and our will - I think we have a choice to participate in God’s plans, but ultimately they are going to happen with or without us. So what are we gonna do with it this Advent season?

Well, we have a few examples just this Sunday, of leadership in response to God’s call. Later in this service, we will witness to the installation of new council members as they commit to church leadership. We will also dedicate a new nativity that has been donated to the church - generosity of money is also a type of leadership. And lastly, of the irregular parts of the service, we will enjoy a dance performance of Christine with a music accompaniment by Jim, exemplifying leadership through the sharing of talents.

As Jesus would say - the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few! But it is not all just about activity, it is also about being present in prayer and contemplation of the events to come as Christmas nears. Perhaps Joseph was little hasty in his actions and almost did the undesirable thing - if he contemplated his actions just little longer and maybe listened to Mary, perhaps an angelic intervention would not be needed and the story would be a little different. I believe there are still dimensions to be uncovered in the events of the birth of Jesus through telling, contemplating, and living the story.

Let us contemplate the story as it unfolds, piece by piece. Today, we may choose to contemplate how God was upfront about the plan for Jesus to be born. God could have been all sneaky and make it so that Mary and Joseph can get married and have a son and maybe tell them down the line, when it was too late to do anything about. The virgin (parthenos) from the prophecy can also be translated as maiden, after all, so it is not quite THE focus of the messianic prophecy and we do not have to feel beholden to the Augustinian understanding of original sin passed through sexual intercourse.

However, I believe that would go against the nature of God, who isn’t one to sneakily deceive. Obscure, perhaps, when it is called for, but not deceive. God wanted consent both from Mary and Joseph, not to just entrap them in a strange situation. It is not just a happy story as there is death, power struggles, poverty, and hostility circling around the birth of Jesus, but God makes sure that it is a chosen story as God knows that having a choice makes the consequences easier to bear. Let us be comforted that is our God as we wait for Christmas in a world that seems far from God’s glory - we have a choice to believe in Kingdom of God and work towards it and so do others. Amen.

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