Matthew 1:18-25
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.
Joe's clothes smelled like oak. It was from the custom front door he had been working on all day. He had saved this bit of the remodel for the very end. He would not have handled some careless sub-contractor putting a gouge in it very well, especially with the other stuff going on in his life right now. It was work that required his full concentration and that’s exactly what he needed. Not just to finish the door without messing it up in the home stretch but also because of that other thing. It turned out, you see, that his soon-to-be wife was pregnant. It also turned out that his soon-to-be wife was pregnant and he hadn’t been a part of making that happen!
Joe was generally a relaxed guy. Mostly go with the flow. Weather the stormy times and enjoy the sunny days just the same. People were used to seeing him brush off the sawdust every evening as he went into the grocery store to figure out his dinner. The fact that sawdust always ended up under his hat as well was a mystery he had not yet solved. But in spite of his usual easy going nature, this news about Mary had thrown him… and thrown him hard!
But now, as he put a piece of meat in the cart with a yellow sale sticker for dinner, he settled finally on what he would do. He’d call the wedding off and move on. It was an impossible decision. He loved her. Even after she had gone and gotten pregnant without him. He still somehow loved her. But a decision had to be made and he had made it. It was done. When he got home he grilled the sale meat, cooked up a summer squash and some onions to go with it, ate dinner, showered, and climbed into bed… still firm in his decision.
THEN, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “you know that decision you just made after agonizing over it for a week? Yeah, we’re changing that!” Isn’t this just the way it goes? Not just for Joe but for all of us too? We agonize, worry, and fret for days or weeks or even years and then when we’ve finally come to a solution, THAT’S when God lets us know what would be best! It’s never before all the worry and sleepless nights begin. It’s always after! Where was that angel of the Lord last week when Mary first told Joe she was pregnant? Couldn’t he have popped by then? Cleared it up before all the worry and pain? Where was God then?
That’s not just a Joe question either. That’s an everybody question. Where is God!? Where is God now, when we could use Him the most? It’s actually a faithful question. If you didn’t believe in God you wouldn’t be wondering where God was, would you?
Anyway, back to the story. This angel, apart from scaring the bejeebers out of Joe, told him that he should not be afraid (which he found hard to do since there was a %&*@%! angel of the Lord in his bedroom). Then the angel said he should marry Mary because she is pregnant from the Holy Spirit (which makes it okay, I guess?)… and, “by the way… while I’m here,” says the angel, “You should name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” FINALLY! Here was the answer to the question Joe had been agonizing over for a week, “Where is God when I need God the most.” The answer, it turns out is that God was right there all along. Right there, between Mary and Joe, bulging out from Mary’s maternity cloths. God with us.
You see, this story isn’t just a set up for Christmas. This story is the set up for the whole of Matthew’s Gospel and it sets all of us up as well, for our entire lives. This story is trying to get us to hear that no matter what happens, God is with us. God with us, is the promise that embraces us, shelters and shields us, holds us through anything we could imagine and even through the unimaginable. It is the promise so important we find it here at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel AND at the very end of this Gospel when Jesus says, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
A long time ago I had a friend who used “God with us” as a prayer. For her it was a prayer of gratitude for the promise given, a prayer of hope that the promise would always be there and a confession of faith, that even when it didn’t feel at all like it in her life, the truth remained… God is with us. Big prayer. Tiny Package. Feel free to use it yourself. It’s good through Advent, Christmas… well and pretty much every time and every place so you’ll remember, no matter what’s going on, God is with you… Always. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment