Sermon - December 18, 2016
SCRIPTURE TEXT: Matthew 1:18-25
18 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. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But 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. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’
24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;* and he named him Jesus.
When exhaustion could be the defining trait that fits God’s mindset it is not. As God witnesses the impatience of humanity, how we, so often choose selfishly doing the “humanly” expected thing over the Christian-thing, God intervenes. In an unexpected way God demonstrates what faithfulness looks like when one does not succumb to the temptation for shortcuts but instead trusts in God’s ability to provide.
Using Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 I am going to speak about God’s intervention in the life of His people- people whose choices could, and scripture tells us do, exhaust God’s patience. Yet in the face of those potential, undermining, choices, God acts to save us. The incarnation is close at hand.
Move 1- Weary God
When Isaiah 7 was read as our advent candles were light, the phrase that should have suck out to you was a single line from verse 13 that associates with God traits much like our human traits. Listen to it again, “Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?”[1] The prophet’s frustration boils over a bit. A weary God, a God worn out because of the unfaithfulness of humanity? Those words are words of conviction, that along with Matthew 3 from our first week in Advent, words about the “axe being laid at the root of the tree,” should force your eye to look inward yet again.[2]
Or maybe the way Eugene Peterson’s translation of that verse brings home the pain of what God is feeling in a more appropriate manner, “It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired.”[3]
God is worn out by the actions of His people. The Hebrew word Isaiah uses is: “La’aw.” The part of speech this word takes is one of accusation. “La’aw” is always followed by words of admonishment in the scriptures. A similar phrasing for this concept would be: We, by our decisions to live according to our purposes, exhaust God because of our lack of faithfulness.
Move 2- Weary Joseph
But right amid the chaos of human choices, at just the moment when spiritual fatigue sets in again from hearing the strong word of God address a lack of faithful-living, God intervenes, saving us from our own behavior. This is the message of Christ’s birth for you.
The story from Matthew 1 is a familiar story for us and should help us as we reflect on a weary God contrasting that with weary humanity.
The earthly father of Jesus is a character often neglected in Christmas stories. We are comfortable thinking of Mary, dressed in her traditional light blue veil kneeling before or beside the manger in a state of humble worship. Shepherds and Magi, characters familiar in the story and yet socially diverse by design, are also welcomed nativity guests. They tell us that all people are welcome at the manger regardless of their station. But where is the earthly father of Jesus; a man who would know something about feeling weary because of the life he was living? Where is he?
On my piano at sits our nativity set. The characters ranging in height from a 3-inch angel who kneels before the tiny baby, to the Magi who stand closer to 7 or 8 inches and are standing a distance away still travelling to Jesus’ bedside. The two camels and cattle are larger than expected so much so that no one notices Joseph.
But he is always the one I see. He stands next to the kneeling mother of Christ, head down; robed in simple burgundy and off white not making a scene even though I would understand his desire to do so. I would want to make a scene. If anyone in the Christmas story has a justifiable complaint with their place in narrative, it would be Joseph.
I can imagine the angelic message. I can see the Magi bending their knee to present the Child with gifts, and I can understand the social humility dirty shepherds have before Mother and Child. But for Joseph his hands catch my eye. Both arms are out. But it is those hands, simple, and un-demanding, that speak to me when I feel spiritually weary.
Joseph, a descendant of King David, could demand a better lot from God. After all it is he, and only, he who receives not one, but several divine visions about the Child to be born. And it is he who obeys. When frustration, and exhausting, at being over-looked would be understandable. He seeks none of that.
“The narrator knows that [this] is a child of the Holy Spirit, but such things are unheard of at this point to [Joseph].”[4] While you and I know that Joseph has been overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that his response is quite natural to God’s presence, he does not. “He violates convention and remains faithful to Mary because God, as often does, intervened in an unexpected way.”[5]
In the face of a weary God, a potential-weary Joseph lives against the current, and is therefore blessed in an unexpected way.
Move 3- Unexpected answer
Unexpected moments happen all the time. During this season of the church calendar we call those moments- Christmas miracles- and they make us feel warm and fuzzy inside because they are unanticipated and we know they are sent from God. But they can happen frequently to us outside of this holiday season and that is where holding fast to the message from advent can help us as the church live.
I don’t want to weary God with my weary attempts to seize the spot-light and make myself the center of attention. But this season does wear me out. I don’t know, honestly, if it is the weight of the incarnation or the expectation to find the perfect gift, that is more tiring. But I am still worn down by all of it.
Christmas presents us an opportunity to stand, as Joseph did, before the world testifying to God’s activity and presence without needing the pomp and circumstance many of our community believe is necessary and justified.
Unexpected answers and dreams are God’s way of holding us close.
Conclusion
We often do choose the humanly-expected thing above the divinely-based one that God desires from us. In doing so we are dangerously close to the words of Isaiah as they speak of about a weary God. Joseph could as well find a place where he could join the rest of humanity in expressing frustration at his lot in life. But as God does not complain about us, Joseph does not complain about the will of God. He trusts and because he does so, Joseph receives multiple visions from the Lord- multiple blessings.
As we come to the Table of the Lord today, I want you to find those places in life where you too realize you draw close to place of “wearying God.” He knows you will do it- just has knew his human father could.
Today, with His birth so close, and knowing our choices to sin, speak to God, around the table in gratitude for what He has done for you.
[1] Isaiah 7:13 NRSV.
[2] Matthew 3:10 NRSV.
[3] Isaiah 7:13 The Message.
[4] David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor ed., Feasting on the Word, Pastoral Perspective: Year A. Volume 1, page 94. Emphasis added.
[5] David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, 94.
18 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. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But 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. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’
24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;* and he named him Jesus.
When exhaustion could be the defining trait that fits God’s mindset it is not. As God witnesses the impatience of humanity, how we, so often choose selfishly doing the “humanly” expected thing over the Christian-thing, God intervenes. In an unexpected way God demonstrates what faithfulness looks like when one does not succumb to the temptation for shortcuts but instead trusts in God’s ability to provide.
Using Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 I am going to speak about God’s intervention in the life of His people- people whose choices could, and scripture tells us do, exhaust God’s patience. Yet in the face of those potential, undermining, choices, God acts to save us. The incarnation is close at hand.
Move 1- Weary God
When Isaiah 7 was read as our advent candles were light, the phrase that should have suck out to you was a single line from verse 13 that associates with God traits much like our human traits. Listen to it again, “Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?”[1] The prophet’s frustration boils over a bit. A weary God, a God worn out because of the unfaithfulness of humanity? Those words are words of conviction, that along with Matthew 3 from our first week in Advent, words about the “axe being laid at the root of the tree,” should force your eye to look inward yet again.[2]
Or maybe the way Eugene Peterson’s translation of that verse brings home the pain of what God is feeling in a more appropriate manner, “It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired.”[3]
God is worn out by the actions of His people. The Hebrew word Isaiah uses is: “La’aw.” The part of speech this word takes is one of accusation. “La’aw” is always followed by words of admonishment in the scriptures. A similar phrasing for this concept would be: We, by our decisions to live according to our purposes, exhaust God because of our lack of faithfulness.
Move 2- Weary Joseph
But right amid the chaos of human choices, at just the moment when spiritual fatigue sets in again from hearing the strong word of God address a lack of faithful-living, God intervenes, saving us from our own behavior. This is the message of Christ’s birth for you.
The story from Matthew 1 is a familiar story for us and should help us as we reflect on a weary God contrasting that with weary humanity.
The earthly father of Jesus is a character often neglected in Christmas stories. We are comfortable thinking of Mary, dressed in her traditional light blue veil kneeling before or beside the manger in a state of humble worship. Shepherds and Magi, characters familiar in the story and yet socially diverse by design, are also welcomed nativity guests. They tell us that all people are welcome at the manger regardless of their station. But where is the earthly father of Jesus; a man who would know something about feeling weary because of the life he was living? Where is he?
On my piano at sits our nativity set. The characters ranging in height from a 3-inch angel who kneels before the tiny baby, to the Magi who stand closer to 7 or 8 inches and are standing a distance away still travelling to Jesus’ bedside. The two camels and cattle are larger than expected so much so that no one notices Joseph.
But he is always the one I see. He stands next to the kneeling mother of Christ, head down; robed in simple burgundy and off white not making a scene even though I would understand his desire to do so. I would want to make a scene. If anyone in the Christmas story has a justifiable complaint with their place in narrative, it would be Joseph.
I can imagine the angelic message. I can see the Magi bending their knee to present the Child with gifts, and I can understand the social humility dirty shepherds have before Mother and Child. But for Joseph his hands catch my eye. Both arms are out. But it is those hands, simple, and un-demanding, that speak to me when I feel spiritually weary.
Joseph, a descendant of King David, could demand a better lot from God. After all it is he, and only, he who receives not one, but several divine visions about the Child to be born. And it is he who obeys. When frustration, and exhausting, at being over-looked would be understandable. He seeks none of that.
“The narrator knows that [this] is a child of the Holy Spirit, but such things are unheard of at this point to [Joseph].”[4] While you and I know that Joseph has been overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that his response is quite natural to God’s presence, he does not. “He violates convention and remains faithful to Mary because God, as often does, intervened in an unexpected way.”[5]
In the face of a weary God, a potential-weary Joseph lives against the current, and is therefore blessed in an unexpected way.
Move 3- Unexpected answer
Unexpected moments happen all the time. During this season of the church calendar we call those moments- Christmas miracles- and they make us feel warm and fuzzy inside because they are unanticipated and we know they are sent from God. But they can happen frequently to us outside of this holiday season and that is where holding fast to the message from advent can help us as the church live.
I don’t want to weary God with my weary attempts to seize the spot-light and make myself the center of attention. But this season does wear me out. I don’t know, honestly, if it is the weight of the incarnation or the expectation to find the perfect gift, that is more tiring. But I am still worn down by all of it.
Christmas presents us an opportunity to stand, as Joseph did, before the world testifying to God’s activity and presence without needing the pomp and circumstance many of our community believe is necessary and justified.
Unexpected answers and dreams are God’s way of holding us close.
Conclusion
We often do choose the humanly-expected thing above the divinely-based one that God desires from us. In doing so we are dangerously close to the words of Isaiah as they speak of about a weary God. Joseph could as well find a place where he could join the rest of humanity in expressing frustration at his lot in life. But as God does not complain about us, Joseph does not complain about the will of God. He trusts and because he does so, Joseph receives multiple visions from the Lord- multiple blessings.
As we come to the Table of the Lord today, I want you to find those places in life where you too realize you draw close to place of “wearying God.” He knows you will do it- just has knew his human father could.
Today, with His birth so close, and knowing our choices to sin, speak to God, around the table in gratitude for what He has done for you.
[1] Isaiah 7:13 NRSV.
[2] Matthew 3:10 NRSV.
[3] Isaiah 7:13 The Message.
[4] David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor ed., Feasting on the Word, Pastoral Perspective: Year A. Volume 1, page 94. Emphasis added.
[5] David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, 94.
