The Rev. Dr. Brett Cane, December 19, 2010
Fourth Sunday in Advent; 8:30 a.m. Holy Communion
“The Message of Christmas”
Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25
Opening Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to us; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to grasp the true meaning of his coming, for his precious sake. Amen.
Introduction
We hear a lot around this time of year about “the message of Christmas” or “the true meaning of Christmas.” This usually means a spirit of giving and sharing, and the desire for peace in the world and the breaking down of barriers. There is nothing wrong with this and we can certainly see those themes in the Christmas story. There is the giving of gifts by the wisemen, the angels announce “Peace on earth and good will to all,” and lowly shepherds are present to worship the newborn king.
But, going a little deeper, we would say that giving began by God’s gift to us of his Son and that true peace and breaking down of barriers has to do with that gift. We can understand these three themes better by looking at the Christmas story as told by Matthew – one we do not usually read, but we should from time to time, because it gives us a new perspective on the meaning of Christmas. This new perspective comes from names – the names of people in the genealogy in the first half of chapter one of Matthew’s gospel and the two names Jesus is given in the last half of the chapter, which we heard read: “Jesus” and “Immanuel.” We will now look at how these names point to the real “message of Christmas” – God’s presence, God’s peace, God’s promise.
We will begin with Jesus’ two names which are found in the second half of the chapter with its focus on Joseph’s version of the Christmas story. Obviously, the original message of Christmas for Joseph was bad news! His fiancée, Mary, had gotten herself pregnant! In those days, engagement was as binding as marriage, even though the couple did not yet live together. That is the reason Joseph was contemplating divorce. The “Christmas message” for Joseph was betrayal, deception, sin and misunderstanding. Then God intervened and delivered quite a different message which focused on names – the names given to the child who was to be born.
God’s Presence
Let us look at the second name, “Immanuel,” first: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23). Now this was like a title or description of the baby to be born, rather than his actual name. It comes from Isaiah’s prophecy in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14) about God sending a sign. The woman giving birth was a sign of hope – that God had not abandoned his people, even though difficult times were ahead – difficulties many of which they were going to bring upon themselves.
Now, in the New Testament, not only is this a sign of God with us, in Jesus God actually comes among us as a little baby. In spite of the difficulties we all face, God has not abandoned us. We might think he has been a long time in coming, like Mary and Joseph and the other Jewish people of their time, who were wondering when God was going to help them, but God had not forgotten them. In Jesus, God has come himself. God has not forgotten us – he has come amongst us. This is the first great message of Christmas – God’s presence.
God’s Peace
It is the second name which tells us one of the things God came to do as one of us. The passage reads: “Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). I have mentioned before that “Jesus” is the Greek from of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” If we had been around when Jesus walked on this earth, that is what we would have heard people call Jesus. It was quite a common name – we think of Joshua the successor of the Moses as one example of a person with that name.
But why was he given this name? Because of its meaning. It means: “God saves” or “God rescues.” This gives us a clue to the second real meaning of Christmas. In Jesus, God has come to rescue us from our sins. We have got ourselves into trouble and said “no” to God in so many ways. But instead of sitting up in heaven saying “tut, tut” or “I’m going to get them,” God became one of us so he could die in our place on the cross. We can have forgiveness and new life because of what God has done in Jesus. This is true peace – peace which begins in the heart; this is the second great message of Christmas – God’s peace.
God’s Promise
The third great message of Christmas is God’s promise. This is the promise of who can benefit from God’s presence and peace. This message comes also through names – this time the names found in the genealogy which comprises the first half of chapter 1 of Matthew’s Gospel. They speak about how God has broken down barriers. I don’t think I have ever heard this passage read in church. It starts out:
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram… (Matthew 1:1-3)
and continues (some would say, “goes on and on”) for a total of 42 generations! When I was a new Christian, I couldn’t understand why this and other long passages with lists about “who begat whom” were in the Bible at all. Now I know better!
Matthew’s list of Jesus’ legal ancestry is remarkable because it reveals at least three barriers to receiving God’s presence and peace that he has removed. First, it includes women – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and “Uriah’s wife,” whom we know from elsewhere as Bathsheba (verses 3, 5, 6) – which was totally contrary to Jewish custom of the times. These woman are considered so important that they merit a mention. The promise of removal of barriers between the genders is part of the message of Christmas. These women prefigure the breaking down of gender barriers that Jesus accomplished when he reached out to the ostracized Samaritan woman, welcomed Mary sister of Martha as a disciple, and allowed a woman, Mary Magdalene, to be the first witness to the resurrection. Most importantly, Jesus came to us through the womb of woman, Mary, his mother. God’s presence and peace is offered to all, regardless of gender. God promise involves removal of barriers of gender – no one is second-class in God’s sight.
But there is more to the promise. In the genealogy, at least three of these women were foreigners – i.e. non-Jewish (Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth). Uriah was also a non-Jew, a Hittite, so Bathsheba could have been, too. Rahab and Tamar were Canaanites and Ruth a Moabitess – all nations with enmity towards Israel and hardly candidates for inclusion in God’s Kingdom. But here they are – playing pivotal roles in the kingly line and human ancestry of Jesus. God has not restricted his love to only one nation. This is followed up in chapter 2, when the Wise Men from the East are among the first people to come to see the baby Jesus. God’s promise is that his presence and peace is offered to all, regardless of ethnic background. God has removed barriers of race – no one is ineligible to receive the good news.
But there is still more. We see that many of these people in the genealogy were known for a sinful lifestyle. Just looking at the women alone, Rahab was a prostitute and Tamar was involved in seduction – although it can be argued it was necessary because of the greater sin of Judah in denying her her rights as his daughter-in-law. Bathsheba was involved in adultery, but she may not have had much choice. The real sin lay with David, God’s chosen king. The mention of faithful Uriah in the same verse as David stands as a contrast to his lack of faithfulness. Also included in the list are men with spotted records like Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, Uzziah and Hezekiah, as well as outright rotters such as Rehoboam, Manasseh and Ahaz. The latter have no record of redemption but the former do – they repented and God was able to use them in spite of their sin. God’s promise is that his presence and peace are offered to sinful humanity. God has removed barriers of failure – no one is too far gone not to repent and receive forgiveness.
So the genealogy in Matthew 1 reveals the third great message of Christmas – God’s promise of removal of barriers – gender, race, and failure. God reaches out to all regardless of who we are or what we have done.
Conclusion
So here is the true meaning of Christmas seen through the names used in Matthew’s Gospel: God’s promise that all may benefit from God’s presence and God’s peace. Take up that promise and receive that presence and peace.
