God With Us

By the Rev. Lee Woofenden
Christmas Sunday
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 20, 1998

Readings

Isaiah 9:2-7 A child is born to us

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Matthew 1:18-25 God With Us

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. 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.

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. 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."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Sermon

A 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)

God with us. This seems like a distant concept--especially right now when our country is in turmoil, both domestically and overseas. For only the second time in our country's two hundred year history, our President has been impeached. And as if that weren't bad enough, the impeachment involves lying under oath about a sexual scandal that has been aired to the public in all its sordid--and frankly, rather boring--details. Further, though there is a national consensus that the President acted badly, there is no such consensus that his misbehavior adds up to an offense that warrants removing him from office. And so we have the sorry spectacle of partisan squabbling, national confusion, and now the resignation of the newly elected Speaker of the House under his own sexual scandal.

But that's not all! On the very eve of the scheduled impeachment debate, our President ordered air strikes half a world away in the Persian Gulf. So now, at the same time our government is locked in internal combat, our nation has gone to war, and we are raining death and destruction down on another nation. And just as there is no consensus in our country about the current goings-on in Washington, there is no consensus in the world community about the current offensive that the United States and Britain are waging against Iraq. Some argue that our country's actions are good and right; others believe it is a cynical last-ditch effort by America's leader to salvage his presidency.

In other words, as we approach Christmas--our celebration of God with us--both our country and our world are in turmoil. I don't know about you, but for me it is a little harder to get into the Christmas spirit this year with all these depressing events going on. We never like to see these kinds of events in our news at all, but if they are going to happen, couldn't they happen some time other than the Christmas season?

I wonder if Mary and Joseph were having similar thoughts as they headed toward Bethlehem two thousand years ago. It was not a trip they took willingly or with joy. They were not visiting friends and family, nor were they making a business trip on which they could earn some much-needed income. In fact, they were being forced to make the trip by an oppressive government--a government based in faraway Rome. That government had decreed that everyone in the empire must register in a census whose main purpose was to make it easier for the Roman government to tax the people under its yoke.

And as if that weren't bad enough, the Roman emperor's census decree had come at a particularly bad time for Mary and Joseph. You see, Mary was in the last stages of pregnancy, and had every reason to expect that her baby would be born while they were on the road. This is not something that any woman, or her husband, would look forward to. Perhaps if they had family to visit in their hometown it wouldn't have been so bad. But if they did have family in Bethlehem, why were they looking for a room in an in?

Imagine the scene: Mary, extremely pregnant with her first child, perhaps already in labor, among strangers in a faraway place, with only her husband to help her. Joseph, frantically trying to find a place for his pregnant wife to lay her head and have their first child--perhaps without even the benefit of midwives. . . . Joseph, coming up empty until finally, in desperation, he managed to arrange a place for them in a stable. Childbirth itself was enough to worry about--especially in those days, especially with the first child--without the added anxiety the two of them had to go through surrounding the birth of this particular child.

And yet, those were the circumstances under which the all-knowing, all-powerful God of the universe chose to be born into our world. Not in the plush surroundings of a royal palace--as he certainly could have arranged. Not in the comfortable mansion of a wealthy nobleman. Not even in the snug, tidy home of a well-to-do businessman or government official. No, the God of the universe chose to be born in the dirt and squalor of a noisy, smelly stable, far away even from his earthly parents' home.

Does this picture seem a little too familiar . . . a little too much like the dirty, squalid, even smelly affairs that are going on in our country and in our world right now? We would like to get into the Christmas spirit by romanticizing the story of Jesus' birth perhaps a little too much. We would like to think of the event we are preparing to celebrate as a lot of good, clean fun, with a Walt Disney beginning. But the reality of Jesus' birth was quite different--just as the reality of our world, especially in the past few days, is quite different from what we would all wish for as we prepare for the biggest holiday celebration of the year.

But God did not make a mistake in coming into our world at the lowest ebb in human history, in coming during a time of oppression for the nation among which he came, and at perhaps the worst possible moment in the lives of the two people who would raise him. For it is exactly when we are at our lowest ebb that we need God's presence with us the most. And it is exactly when everything seems to be going wrong in our world and in our own personal lives that God can show himself to us in the most deeply moving way.

God did not come into our world to merely share a few laughs with us and enjoy a quiet, comfortable life. God came into the world to rescue us from everything that damages and destroys us. God came into the world to save the entire human race from destroying itself through selfishness and greed. And God comes into our own personal world to save each one of us individually from going off in wrong directions and wrecking our lives.

Like you, I wish we didn't have to listen to news of war and killing, affairs and adultery, lying and mistrust just as Christmas approaches. But it is precisely because of these human failings that we need the presence of God with us so very much. God is born among us when things look darkest because it is at the darkest times in our lives that, by contrast, the light of God's love and understanding shines most brightly in our hearts. On our own, we humans tend to do so many foolish and depressing things. That is why now, of all times, we need the God of the universe to come among us and be with us personally, teaching us and showing us by his own example how to live in a more thoughtful, kind, and loving way.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. . . . For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:2, 3, 6, 7)

Amen.

Music: O Come Emanuel
Sequenced by:
Keith Spillman