4th Sunday of Advent
December 22, 2019
Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-24
This week’s theme is peace and it’s been hard to think
about peace this week. I looked it up and discovered that last year I had
trouble preaching on peace, too, because the times don’t feel very peaceful.
The kids are excited to be on winter break! News pundits and politicians are in
an uproar. Retail outlets are clamoring for your last dollar. And time is
running out on your to-do list. Christmas is only 3 days away. So, in the
middle of all that, let’s talk about peace. On the one hand, your reaction may
be like Jeremiah when Jerusalem is under siege, “They dress the wound of my
people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is
no peace.”[1]
Saying peace when there is no peace. Except we know where peace can be found,
even in the midst of turmoil and chaos, because the Prince of Peace is being
born again in our hearts this day. There is a way to be peaceful even amidst
the storm. It’s a deep, inner peace. It’s tapping into that deep well of joy
that we’ve talked about this Advent, because in that deep well of joy you can
also find peace. And remember what Paul says about God’s peace – it’s a peace
that passes understanding.[2]
So you can be calm in the middle of the storm, and it may not make sense to
those around you who want you to be just as frantic and scared as they are. But
when you’re connected to God’s peace that is beyond understanding, well, the
rest of that phrase that Paul writes is that God’s peace “will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And you can calmly respond to what’s
going on around you, picking out your priorities, without getting caught up in
the whirlwind and the chaos. Because you have inner peace, the kind that only
comes from God.
What’s that look like? Well, it does not look like King
Ahaz in our Isaiah reading this morning. King Ahaz of Judah is under siege by
Ephraim and Syria because he wouldn’t join their alliance of small nations to
unite against the mighty Assyrian Empire around the year 735 BC. If we were to
have read the beginning part of the chapter, it says that “the hearts of Ahaz
and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”[3]
Now, the trees of the forest are not shaken easily. They have strong roots and
tall trunks. And because they’re all together in a group, it’s harder to shake
them than one tree by itself. But King Ahaz and his people are shaken, like
trees in a forest shaken by a wind. This is bad. And the Lord tries to give
Ahaz some hope. The Lord says, “Ask me for a sign. Any sign. You can even ask
me for the moon!” God’s really trying here. But Ahaz says no, and quotes
Scripture that says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”[4]
Well, Scripture may say that, but when God says test me, ask me, I want to give
you sign, don’t you think you’d better ask?
But, here’s the problem. Ahaz doesn’t really trust God to
save him. He gives the Sunday school answer, quoting Scripture, and already has
in mind a different savior. Ahaz, who’s under attack because he wouldn’t join
an alliance against Assyria, calls on Assyria to protect Judah! And Assyria
does, but then Assyria doesn’t leave Judah. They take over and conquer Judah. Ahaz
was shaken and he was leaning on his own knowledge and understanding. God
invited him to a different way, a way of faith, and Ahaz said no. He chose not
to lean on that rock of ages and connect to that deep inner well or joy and
peace. God says, “I’ve got this!” and Ahaz says, “No thanks. I can handle it.” Can
you imagine? Yet how many times do we do that? God says, “I’m here. I’ve got
this.” And we reply, “No thanks. I’ve got it.” And then it snowballs. And gets
out of control. When we really should have just turned it over to God in the
first place! Oh we of little faith.
Yet, the curious thing is that God gives Ahaz a sign,
anyway. I told you, God was determined to give this sign. It’s like Ahaz says
no and Isaiah says, “Too bad! You’re gonna get one, anyway! The young woman
will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel, which means
God is with us.” Isaiah gives an unwanted, unasked for sign that affirms life
in the midst of certain death and destruction. The enemy is attacking, I am
shaken to my core, I have my own plans for my escape, and God gives a sign of
life and hope. God offers a reminder that God is with us. That’s what Christmas
is each year: a reminder that God is with us, Emmanuel. And that can draw up
that sense of deep inner peace. God is
with me. God is with you. Ahaz didn’t
listen to it, didn’t trust it, didn’t want it. His loss.
And so God saves that sign and gives it again in a
different time and place, to a man named Joseph, whose family was from
Bethlehem. Now, Joseph is a person of
peace. He’s engaged to be married but his fiancée has turned up pregnant and
the baby isn’t his. Rather than raise a fuss about it, rather than publically
humiliate Mary, rather than turn it into this big tabloid scandal, which he
could have done, he decides he wants to spare Mary from all that. Joseph is a good man. And even though Mary has shown
up pregnant before the wedding night, he doesn’t want to expose her to public
disgrace. He wants to keep things quiet, although he doesn’t know how exactly. One
night, while he’s trying to figure it out, he has a dream. An angel of the Lord
appears to him in the dream and tells him, “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. 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.” This is to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel.” God gave Joseph the same
invitation to trust and to faith. And Joseph accepted it. After he woke up, he
did what the angel said. He took Mary as his wife, and when she gave birth, he
named the baby Jesus. Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.” A promise and a sign
that God is with us. And we never hear Joseph fuss. Even later, when God
appears in another dream to tell Joseph to take Jesus and Mary and flee as
political refugees to Egypt, Joseph just does it. He doesn’t say, we don’t have
the papers. He doesn’t ask how they’re going to cross the border. He just does
it. Joseph is connected to that deep well of joy and peace, at least as far as
what we’re told about him. He takes Jesus as his own son, teaches him his trade
of carpentry. Is it any wonder that the Catholic Church canonized him into
Saint Joseph? He’s the patron saint of families, fathers, expectant mothers,
explorers, pilgrims, travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers,
craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.
While it’s easy to canonize Joseph and demonize Ahaz, the
point is that God issues this same invitation to trust and to faith to each of
us, too. We’re also invited to receive this sign of life in the midst of chaos
and endless to-do lists. We’re also invited to draw water with joy from the
wells of salvation.[5] To
connect to that deep well of joy and peace, knowing that what is going on
around you does not have to affect your level of peacefulness. As we heard our
Peaceful Advent candle say, “We can shift from joining the chaos to being in
the quiet eye of the storm where Emmanuel, God with us, has set up residence.
And we can be Emmanuel for each other when the storms threaten to overtake the
people, community, and creation around us.” It’s easy to get caught up in the
whirlwind of this season, but that’s the commercialism. God is not inviting you
to a whirlwind, but to a manger, to a setting of all is calm, all is bright, to
a season of peace and joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment