Week 4 of Advent - Do Not Be Afraid!

The passages are Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1: 18-25

The two passages we read today are some of the most amazing words we read in the Bible and not just because it means that Jesus Christ has come to be with us. They are amazing in many other ways as well. If today, someone told you that a virgin gave birth to a child, we would laugh and say, “It’s impossible”. If today, someone came up to you and said that an angel came to me and told me to do this” we would tell them they are hallucinating and need to take it easy for a few days.

This is not a world where miracles are welcomed. This is not a world where people believe in the mystical or intangible. If you poll most people in America today, they will tell you that they have a more spiritual belief rather than a firm religion. But I have come to believe that they do not mean spiritual as you or I would think of. No, I would define most Americans’ idea of spiritual as the ability to vaguely believe in God without letting that belief interrupt their daily lives and desires.

Jesus Christ blows that right out of the water. Jesus is all about interrupting human life. We often call Jesus the Great Peacemaker but he’s more of a trouble maker at times. Jesus came not to bring peace because in Matthew 10:34 Jesus distinctly says, “I do not come to bring peace, but a sword.” But let’s get back to Jesus being the Great Interrupter rather than the Great Peacemaker.

The whole idea of Immanuel, which means God with us, is that God comes into our world. It means that God broke into history to be here with us. When we think of God we have to acknowledge that every word we use to describe God is completely ineffectual. All these words and adjectives and verbs and nouns that we have to explain who God is and what God means and her characteristics are just pale imitational words for what God really is. We can’t grasp God. We can’t hold onto this concept of who God is for very long. It hurts the mind, the idea of God bends all rules and laws of nature and science. And so it hurts our very logical and scientific minds to try to figure out God.

And that is why we NEEDED Jesus Christ. Jesus is God, made flesh. Jesus is God, made understood. Jesus brings light where before there was darkness. He brings understanding of who God is and what God has done for us. Jesus being born, to a lowly carpenter and his virgin wife means that God interrupted human history to help us, to save us from ourselves and to show us who God is.

How amazing! How extraordinary! This is exciting stuff! The baby in the manger is the God who rules the universe. The baby in the manger is the one who takes away all our sins and that baby loves you so much that He will grow up and sacrifice Himself to save you. If that isn’t amazing, then I don’t know what is.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that God uses all of us to make Himself visible to the rest of the world. There is a reason that Jesus’ last words to the disciples before his ascension into Heaven are to go forth into the world and preach the Good News. God wants us to witness to what he is doing in this world. God wants us to help others to see His glory and majesty by sharing the great things he does for us with those around us.

The example I’m about to share with all of you about how God breaks into the world through ordinary people is more than a little controversial. But just as Jesus did not come to bring peace, I’m here to witness to God despite controversy. I’m here to show you where I see Jesus Christ working, and this is where I have seen Him. The news broke late last night that Don’t ask, Don’t tell has been repealed. That means that men and women in the armed forces who happen to be gay will now be able to freely serve without fear of being dismissed.

President Obama had these words to say about it, "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed." I couldn’t sum it up more perfectly than he does there. (SAY AGAIN) That is God working through human beings. God rights injustice and he doesn’t always do it peacefully, but he does it powerfully. No matter how anyone feels about homosexuality, we need to recognize that there are many gays who have given their lives so that we can sit here today and peacefully worship. That is worth honoring them by letting them give their lives not under false pretenses but instead by accepting them as they are.

Jesus tells us to not judge, but instead we are to love one another. So whether we feel a person’s lifestyle is right or wrong, we are here to love them. After all, when Immanuel came all the Jews thought that he would be this Great King who would ride a white horse and round up all the Romans and cast them from Jerusalem. Instead, Jesus was poor and a carpenter, he rode a donkey and told the people to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. God does not always give us exactly what we want, but the Lord always gives us what we need.

We needed this law to pass so that injustice could be stamped out. We needed Jesus to come so that we could be saved, so that we could know that God is truly here with us. We needed to know that when we are dirty and tired and sweating, that God knows exactly how we feel because he has been there as well. Jesus got dirty. Jesus got tired and yes, Jesus would even sweat! He was walking in the desert after all and was also human so of course he would sweat.

As human beings we are not always capable of understanding the depths and wonders of our God. But as Christians we are given glimpses into God’s nature through Jesus Christ. We see and understand more about ourselves the more we understand Jesus. God has given us a great gift, the greatest of all gifts! He has given Himself, his Son so that we may know and understand and love.

That is where our peace lays. With God. With Jesus. The one who came not to bring peace, but a sword. The one who cuts out all injustice so that festering wounds may finally heal. The methods are not always pretty because as anyone with an infected cut can tell you, the way a doctor will lance an infection is often painful and gross, but it is always effective. Sometimes we must submit to God lancing our own wounds. It is painful, but change usually is painful even when it is absolutely necessary.

This Christmas I hope that you are able to find peace even if your life is in upheaval. I hope you are able to see where the Lord is working in your life. I pray that God shows you that although the paths you travel down are often long and filled with obstacles, that it is worth it because Jesus is with you each step you take. God has broken into this world, he has interrupted history and time so that he may take this journey with you. I hope that this Christmas as you celebrate with your family, you will also remember to celebrate with Jesus and find peace that God is with us.

Amen.