Matthew begins the gospel as a new Book of Genesis. “Genesis” means birth or beginning. This new beginning begins with the birth of Jesus. The first verse could be translated as: “Now the genesis of Jesus the Messiah takes place in this way.” The word choice signals both a continuation of what came before, beginning with the Book of Genesis, and something radically different, God becoming human in the birth of Jesus. Commentator Eugene Park underscores this connection.
We then hear an unusual birth story. Jesus’ mother Mary was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. How many people are going to believe that one? Apparently Joseph doesn’t believe it at first. He considers quietly divorcing Mary, assuming the baby is another man’s. Here is a difference between the Matthew and Luke account of the Annunciation. In Luke, Mary is the recipient of the Annunciation. The angel visits her. And that is the story that gets told in evening prayer settings around the world, including Holden Evening Prayer which we sang just this past Thursday. “An angel came to her, to a town called Nazareth…” But in Matthew, the annunciation centres Joseph. Because a man is about to sabotage the whole story arc of the Incarnation. Without divine intervention Joseph is about to disrupt the salvation of the world in a serious way. An angel literally needs to to descend to tell Joseph to stop. The angels tells Joseph to stop what he’s doing and listen. Mary didn’t cheat on him. The baby is from God. And Joseph needs to become a faithful stepfather right now. The angel in tells him the baby’s name. “You are to name him Jesus.” All Joseph needs to do, is follow these instructions from the angel. To Joseph’s credit he does become the steps dad who steps up. Joseph becomes Jesus’ father and helps raise him together with Mary.
Part of the story is Joseph gets over himself, and realizes he’s part of God’s plan for salvation. Jesus is the centre of the story and who is becoming. How often is this the case for us? We may not literally be Joseph, with an angel delivering a world changing message to us individually. Collectively we are recipients of this divine message. There are ways in which our own egos get in the way of being part of God’s work in the world. Whatever that might look like for each of us. We are the ones who get caught up in our minds. “What will the neighbours think? What will my coworkers think? What will fellow students think? What will my family and friends think?”
The anxiety around what other people think about our actions can have a serious impact on possibilities in the world. On the one hand this can be a good thing when it comes to ethics. We need to be bound to one another living in community in terms of having empathy for our neighbour. When people have no empathy for neighbours that can lead to sociopathic behaviour, which is not good for obvious reasons. On the other hand, leaving aside the ethical considerations, sometimes we do not pursue an aim or goal in life, because we are worried about what other people might think. This is true with kids where one remark like, “You’re no good at that,” can have a devastating effect on a child’s self-esteem. What about our self-esteem as followers of Jesus? We’re living in a time where being Christian is not always seen as a great thing. Where we attach qualifiers like, “We’re not like the white nationalist Christians who want to control every aspect of your lives.” When the conversation begins by saying, “We’re not the fascist Christians,” that becomes a hard hole to climb out of, comparing ourselves relative to some of the worst people.
Like Jospeh we need to hear the angel’s reassurance. “It’s okay. You don’t need to be anxious or afraid. You’re doing the right thing by raising this child. God is with you.” After the intervention with the angel, Joseph wasn’t walking around being defensive as a stepdad. He became confident in who he is as Jesus’ father. Maybe some of you have adopted children, have blended families, or you yourself were adopted. You know what it’s like, the small comments that may not be ill intentioned, but aren’t kind either.
We all need the reassurance of the angel that we’re doing a good thing. That we have what it takes as parents, as children, and as followers of Jesus.
Imagine what becomes possible when we are confident in who we are. Awhile back the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) had a campaign called “Reclaiming the “E” word.” Once we start explaining the name of the denomination, trying to reclaim popularized by the evangelical church, you know we’re starting from behind. No shade to whoever helped lead that campaign, but that ship has sailed. Let’s take confidence in who we are as Lutherans, as follower of Jesus. Let’s focus on who we are called to be. As it says in Matthew, we are welcoming Emmanuel – “God with us.” Let’s focus on how God with us is a game changer. How an Angel descended to Joseph and to us, proclaiming God is with us. God is with us – ordaining liberation for everyone. Jesus is the one who embodies this promise as a child, a theme we’ll explore more fully in the Christmas season.
On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, I am giving you one more chance to talk in small groups for five minutes with those seated near you. The question for discussion is, “Where do you experience Emanuel, “God is with us,” present to us today?”
Wrapping up, know that Jesus is Emmanuel, “God is with us.” This is the genesis, the birth, of a salvation story that includes each one of us. Amen.
