God With Us!
Sermon for December 19, 2004
1. Let’s Pray: O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: Well this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent and we lit the “love” candle and it’s no accident that our Lectionary readings for today focus on the birth of Christ who is the most perfect expression of God’s love for us.
This morning we’re going to reflect upon God’s infinite love for us and what this means to us.
Let me ask us a framing question to give some definition to our reflections this morning:
How do you know when you’re truly loved?
Try
to envision a time in your
life when you felt most loved – come on now, when was it that you felt most
completely loved by someone? Was it when
you were a child? Can you think of a
particular time.
For me I think it was when my father sat down with me after school when
I was 12 or 13. I used to make him some
tea and we’d sit and watch “Shintaro”
together – Ha! Why do I still remember
that? Because it was a
time when my father and I were “really” together – just him and me. How about you? Can you think of a time in your childhood
when you felt very very
loved? . . . . Try to remember.
Now
let’s move on in our lives –
how about when you were in your twenties?
When did you feel most loved? For
me it was when Randi and I met and I found someone
who really loved me just for me! I was
stunned and basked in it! How about you?
Now
for those of us who are older
– can you remember a time when you felt especially loved in the last 10, 20, or
30 or perhaps 50 years?
Now hold these images – these memories - in your minds and let them sink down into your hearts so that you can feel them.
Now what is it about each of these memories . . . these images - that made that time so sublime – so permeated with love?
Wasn’t it that “the other” was completely PRESENT to you? It may have even felt as if you were melted together and became one.
You felt their
love for you REACHING OUT TO YOU
and you felt your love REACHING OUT TO THEM. And in the mix of this being lovingly
present one to another that exquisite and perhaps tantalizing sense of love was
palpably present wasn’t it?
At times like that in my life I’ve expressed the desire to “freeze the moment” and there’s a strong sense that I just want to remain suspended, as it were, in that moment for eternity. Can anyone relate to what I’m getting at here?
Well that’s what happened to the watching world when Mary gave birth to Jesus! God became present to us in a most intimate way. He didn’t stand off at a distance and tell us about His love but rather He came right into the “nowness” of our world!
God’s love became incarnate – took on flesh - in His Son!
God came down into the mess and murk of our fallen and sinful existence and became one of us! That’s love!
God didn’t stand off at a distance and distain the squalor and horror of our fallen condition but rather He came right down into the middle of it. And He came the same way that we came into existence – through the birth canal of His mother.
3. Focus on Scripture. Let’s explore this a little further by listing again to our Gospel reading that tells us about how God Almighty did this.
But before we do that let me read the Old Testament prophecy that is quoted in the Gospel reading. We find that in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14:
Isaiah
You see Ahaz, King of Judah, was about to be attacked by a combined army of his
enemies and he and his people were quaking in their boots and God sent the
prophet Isaiah to comfort and encourage them by a sign that all was going to be
well. And Ahaz
was invited to tell God what sign he
needed but instead of taking God’s offer Ahaz
feigned piety and refused and because of this arrogance God decided to bring greater devastation
to the King and His people.
Now the fact that Matthew
chose this verse in His Gospel which we will soon read means that this was seen
as a Messianic prophesy. In other
words, this verse was seen by the Church throughout the ages as a prophesy of the coming of the Messiah!
Technical
Clarification: Now a little technical clarification needs to
be made here. In the verse ‘The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” the
Hebrew word for “virgin” is “almah.” It’s argued by
some that the word “almah” was apparently mistranslated “virgin” when in fact it means “young woman.”
Now the argument goes
that this is clearly an inaccurate translation of the Hebrew word “almah” – but listen to Jerome’s (a great early Church
Father) give his, clarification on this point:
“I know that some are accustomed to meet us with the objection that in
Hebrew the word ‘almah’ doesn’t mean a virgin but ‘a
young woman.’ And, to speak truth, a
virgin is properly called ‘bethulah’, but a young woman,
or a girl, is not ‘almah’ but ‘naarah!’ what then is the
meaning of ‘almah?”
A hidden virgin, that is, not merely a virgin, but a virgin and
something more, because not every virgin is hidden, shut off from the
occasional sight of men.” (from Jerome’s “Against Jovinianus
1.32).
Ah! Mary is not
only a virgin but a hidden virgin! Especially selected for
this awe-inspiring task. The
Church, throughout the ages, has always referred to her as the
Just as God had the
Remember Mary’s song of
ecstatic praise after she discovers that she’s about to become the mother of
the Savior of the World – it’s referred to as the Magnificat
– remember those pivotal words “future
generations will call me blessed.” Blessed – “makaris”
– full of God’s grace! So Mary is
“blessed” – full of God’s grace! And
what were the words that
Ah! can anyone hear anything “echo” in these words? Yes, the “hail Mary” of the Rosary – “Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with you, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.”
The early church quickly began to honor Mary’s role in God’s Salvation history. How hard it is for us to “honor” her today
for fear of being accused of being a Roman Catholic or a Mary worshipper! How can we stop this insanity and simply
honor her as the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Honor her – thank her – bless her - for her
critical “Yes, be it unto me as you have said!” (Luke
1:38). After all the
5th Commandment is: Exodus
Ex.
20:12:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the
land the LORD your God is giving you.
Truly, Jesus wants us to honor His blessed Mother Mary.
4. Focus on the
Gospel
Matt. 1:18 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. The actual Greek for the phrase “with child through the
Holy Spirit” is literally “found to have in her womb by the Holy Spirit.” This is the only description we have of
Mary’s conception of Jesus. Let’s read
on verse 19
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her
to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered 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 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.” 22 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.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
The Apostle Matthew saw
by the revelation of the Holy Spirit the fulfillment of that enigmatic
statement by the prophet Isaiah “The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – God with us!
Did you hear that my dear
friends – “God with us!” God came amongst us – God is with us!
This is what the Season
of Advent is really all about – reflecting upon this profound fact – that God chose to come amongst us – to be one WITH us! In the midst of our fallenness
God deigns to come to us and become one of us!
5. What does this mean for you and me right now?
It means that God loves us so much that He desired to be PRESENT with us.
Remember that we began this reflection with this question:
How do you know when you are truly loved? And
do you remember our answer? When someone
is fully present to us!
Ah! Immanuel – God WITH US! This is love -
1John 4:10 not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
That He sent His Son to be Immanuel – God with us!
For this Advent Season to mean more than it has ever meant before let
us be fully present to God as He has offered Himself to be fully present to us
– first by The Son and NOW by His Holy Spirit and also in His most glorious sacrament – the Holy
Eucharist!
“Lo – I am (ego ami) with you always to the very end of the
age! “ (Matt 29:20)
This is love that God is always and ever present to us whether we
recognize Him or not!
Our great gift to God this Advent season is to be the gift of our PRESENCE fully to Him!
O can we do this my dear friends?
Let’s just bow our heads and come into His Presence and be fully present to Him!
Let’s pray . . .