Pastor
Steve Geiger Fourth Sunday in Advent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 1:18-25
18
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ
came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before
they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19
Because Joseph her husband was a
righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind
to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. 21 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.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had
said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth
to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the
Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union
with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
God Works Mysteriously and Miraculously Matthew 1:18-25
1. God does not always give immediate explanations
2. God does always keep his promises
Whenever I asked her this,
she smiled but never said too much.
“So, Grandma, how did you Grandpa get together?”
She’d talk about
letters. She’d talk about where they
met--I think, at a choir practice. She
never said much.
Those sorts of things are so
special and often private and so very beautiful, the coming together of a boy
and a girl and those special feelings that are a most glorious part of the
human experience.
Though the Lord makes very clear that charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting and marriage is a decision where love for the LORD matters most, not simply feelings, the Lord does not deny the beauty of the human relationship between man and woman.
In Proverbs 30:18 a wise man
named Agur, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said, “There are three things that are
too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the
sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the
way of a man with a maiden.”
The way of a man with a
maiden. Mysterious, unpredictable,
marvelous. The way of Joseph with Mary.
Do you think Joseph was the
first to think of asking Mary on a date, or did Mary start it by giggling with
all her friends that that boy, that carpenter boy, was so fine? Perhaps some marriages in those days were arranged
by parents. But may some have come
together no differently than they do today, starting with a sparkle in one pair
of eyes? Young eyes, most likely. Some, married while still in their teens.
The big moment, not far
away. Engaged to be married.
Imagine finding out that
your fiancee is pregnant, and it isn’t your child. You may imagine, you may remember the hurt of losing a boyfriend
or girlfriend. Something different,
when your promised companion apparently gave her body to somebody else. How could she? My life is over! Can you
imagine?
Joseph had to make his
plans. She had broken the engagement,
so it seemed. He had to say good-bye.
Poor guy. Why didn’t God tell Joseph this was going to
happen before Mary got pregnant?
“Joseph, you need to know that you’re going to find out tomorrow . . .
” Why didn’t God tell him ahead of
time?
Has that ever troubled you,
why God permits us to suffer trouble without telling us exactly how it all will
work out? Has your flesh in your life
ever concluded, “God is so cruel?”
Notice how Joseph’s faith
shines ever so brightly in that moment when he had no idea what was really
going on.
All he knew was that it
seemed Mary had sinned against him. We
would expect that--and our flesh would add, “we would understand if”--Joseph had
treated his suspected fiancee like dirt, like apparently she had treated
him. Or that Joseph would just break
down. Fall apart. Or anger against whoever the guy was. Or frustration, because he so much could
have wanted to make that guy pay, but breaking down in tears because he
couldn’t undo it. He could hurt the
guy, but his Mary would never be pure again.
Something so different we
see. Hurt, no doubt. Vengeful?
We see none of it. Bitter at God
so that he tossed all he knew about unselfish love out the window? The opposite. His life in turmoil, he focused on what wouldn’t change. God’s will.
To love his enemies, if that’s what she was. Overwhelming love, thinking first of her. Wishing none of his actions to appear as
bitter revenge. He wanted to do
right. To treat her with grace. To let her go, quietly. The love of his life.
Could you do that?
Has it ever happened to you,
where your life is made miserable by the sin of another and you know all of
God’s promises but at the moment you don’t see how it could turn out for your
best? And at the moment we forget that
what is best is simply for us to do God’s will. Whatever is right. To
show love for God and for our neighbor when we’re hurting.
Unfortunately our flesh,
when it is suffering because someone else sinned against me, thinks last about
what God might want me to do. God,
honor him when I’m hurting because somebody evil is making my life
miserable? We blame God. Why didn’t he do anything? Why didn’t he stop this? It’s God’s fault that my life so hurts.
Though your anger at God
might not be in words. It may be
reflected in an unconscious shrinking of your desire to do what is right. The pain wears. The resentment festers.
You become a couch potato, as if doing nothing will somehow help. Though doing nothing neglects your gifts and
your responsibilities. You find no joy
in anything. You insist on waiting for
God to do what you want, to do his job and fix it. Your mind, you don’t even try and you think evil about the one
hurting you. Though Romans 12: “Do not
repay anyone evil for evil . . . do not take revenge, . . . but leave room for
God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the
Lord.”
We will even defend our
frustration. Well, God, if you don’t
want me to act this way, why don’t you just warn me when something like this is
going to happen and then tell me how it will all turn out for good. To let me sit here and not see with my eyes
your plan is cruelty.
We blame God. We are bitter at God. We forget that God didn’t even tell Joseph
ahead of time the details of events which would bring him for a time great
pain.
When we permit the pains of
life, especially pains due to sin of others . . . when we permit them to make
us comfortable with despair, disobedience, and impatience, we act like God is
mishandling our lives. You do not
accuse God of mismanagement and live.
Let us go on in Matthew
chapter one.
Joseph had made up his
mind. He would do it quietly, giving up
all his hopes and dreams, and say good-bye to his dear Mary. But as the angel of the Lord interrupted the
knife of Abraham before it struck the heart of his only son Isaac, so an angel
of the Lord interrupted this stunning act of faith on the part of Joseph. Joseph, ready to treat Mary kindly though
she had broken his heart. God
says, “No, Joseph, you don't have to go
through with it. You don’t have to say
good-bye.”
Her baby is from the Holy
Spirit.
You can imagine our flesh
thinking, “But that’s not fair, God. How
come you allow me to go through all of this, when the answer is something I’d
never even imagine.”
But isn’t that so
comforting? Our flesh tricks us into
despair and sadness and disobedience because it assumes that God’s actions and
our reactions are rightly based on what makes sense.
The baby was from the Holy
Spirit. Who would ever have imagined?
Which makes us feel even
worse, because so often we live like we have to understand everything. Sinners we are.
Let us go on in Matthew
chapter one. “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.”
Do you feel like a sinner
right now? “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.”
And then God tells Joseph
that this shouldn’t be as much a surprise as it seems, because a prophet in the
Bible had said this would happen, that a virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son.
A miracle, yes. But this shouldn’t surprise us. This is how God is accustomed to
working. Miraculously. This is how God will continue to work. Miraculously. And this is why we have nothing to fear when we are sinned
against, and this is why we have nothing to fear as we now see that we have
sinned.
For God came to be one of
us. Miraculously. His name, “The Lord saves.” Saves sinners. Miraculously. People like
you and me who have fallen apart when for the moment we couldn’t understand
what was happening, when we were suffering because someone sinned against us.
You are forgiven. By a miracle baby. Born to die in your place.
A substitute sufferer for all your sins. Died to rise to leave no doubt that your sins have been paid
for. Jesus has conquered. You are forgiven.
You now are given power,
having seen that God works miraculously.
It may happen again. Someone may
sin against you, and it will hurt. You
will be tempted to frustration that God is permitting this to occur without
giving you in detail his plan to work this evil for your good.
You will fight frustration
by reminding your flesh that God didn’t even tell Joseph ahead of time the
details, that his fiancee would have a miracle baby. You will remind your flesh that those moments of fleshly uncertainty
are opportunities to demonstrate in the face of your flesh your absolute
certainty that God’s way, even in trouble, is always best. I don’t need to know the details of my
future to trust the Lord. I don’t need
to see his plan to be confident in it.
All I want to know is what
God wishes me to do in any given situation.
God tells you: When
confronted by challenge, let us say with Paul that if my enemy is hungry, I
will feed him; if he is thirsty, I will give him something to drink. I will not be overcome by evil. I will overcome evil with good.
As you stand tall and
confident, seek not only words of guidance for godly behavior in the face of
mistreatment. Seek also promises, those
jewels which bring an, “Oh, yah, that’s right” to relieved Christians hearts
now grinning. Promises, as Isaiah
reminded Joseph that a virgin would have a baby. Promises, as Paul and Barnabas remind you that we must go through
many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).
So do you think that Joseph
was the first to think of asking Mary out, or did Mary start it by giggling
with all her friends that that boy, that carpenter boy, was so fine?
Their lives were no
different from yours or from mine. No
different in that God does not always give immediate explanations. No different in that God does always keep
his promises. No different in that God continues to work mysteriously and
miraculously.
Amen.