Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Preached by Winton Boyd Sunday, December 9, 2007
Matthew 1:18-22; Luke 1:26-35

The content of these two Christmas stories have many differences.

In Matthew – everything happens to Joseph. The entire Christmas story is told from Joseph’s point of view. Matthew names Joseph 8 times in the birth accounts, while Mary is named only 3. Contrast that with Luke, who names Mary 11 times, and Joseph 3. In Matthew’s account Joseph presumes Mary has committed adultery.
In Luke – everything happens to Mary. Nowhere in his gospel does he raise the question of adultery. It starts with “a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph.” But we never hear how Joseph reacts, or even how he finds out about Mary’s pregnancy.
Matthew draws parallels between Jesus and Moses in order to exalt Jesus over Moses.

Luke exalts Jesus over John the Baptist. In Luke, John was born of an old, barren mother and is the “symbol, synthesis, conclusion, and consummation of the Old Testament.” Jesus was born, to a young virgin, as the beginning of the New Testament.

Matthew’s story of the birth mirrors Moses.

Luke’s naming is reminiscent of the naming of John the Baptist.

Entire volumes of books have been written on the different theological purposes and intents of these two stories. The discrepancies make it clear that these are probably not historical accounts but “parabolic overtures” designed to set up each gospel’s theme. As parables modeled on the parables of Jesus, they are narrative stories. Something happens. The purpose of the language is about meaning, not factuality. Just as we need not believe the story of the Good Samaritan ever actually happened to find it worthy of meaning, the same is true for these birth accounts. They are “historical” in that their meaning was set in a first century context. By saying they are “historical” we acknowledge that we must take seriously the context in which they were first told and heard. We don’t have to deny their factuality, but we also must not focus on that. Rather we focus on their meaning.

Matthew, simply put, begins with a birth narrative that lifts up Jesus as the new Moses with Herod as the new Pharaoh. Through Jesus, freedom will come again to the people of God.

Luke, simply put, begins with a birth narrative that emphasizes the marginalized (women, shepherds), and the dawning of a new age of the Spirit.

But despite their many differences, one theme runs through both of them -fear. In both accounts, there is a the statement: Do not be afraid of that which you have heard in this dream.

In Matthew we read, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife…Your son shall be named ‘God is with us!’”

In Luke we read, “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God… Your son shall be named ‘Jesus.’”

In both cases, this admonition to not fear also asks them to suspend their understanding of how things work in the world.
• Betrothed women do not get pregnant
• Virgins do not get pregnant
• The “overshadowing” of the Spirit is not how women become pregnant
• Their humble lives should not have much significance in broader scope of things.

As parables then, these stories highlight the way in which the Spirit invites people of faith to move into both fear and mystery. Isn’t this the basis of true hope also (the candle we lit today). Hope is rooted in the unknowable, the unfathomable, and the unseen. Hope is illusive, and as such, requires deep faith.

Where do we look for hope? Where do we look for the courage to move through our fears, to move into the mysteries that lay ahead of us? To find hope requires spirit filled eyes and expectant hearts, just as we see in Mary and Joseph, Matthew and Luke

I have very clear memories as a freshman in college in 1977 when, to the surprise of everyone in the world, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (a former field general in the Egyptian Army and someone with much experience fighting Israel) made an unexpected statement to his own people,Israel would be astonished when they hear me say this. But I say it. I am ready to go even to their home … to the Knesset and discuss peace with them if need be.

One week later, after a flurry of diplomatic negotiations, he stood before the Israeli Knesset and said,
I wish to tell you today and I proclaim to the whole world: We accept to live with you in a lasting and just peace.

Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, following Sadat to the rostrum and hailed the courage shown by his old foe in coming to Israel: We Jews appreciate courage, and we will know how to appreciate our visitor’s courage.

For both of these men, hope for peace in the Middle East involved facing their fears and embracing an unknown relationship. What we have learned in the ensuing 30 years, of course, is that living into the courage and mystery of peace in the Middle East is complicated. But if there is any hope for peace in that region or any other region in our world, it is because a few key folks, usually people of some faith that allows them to embrace deep mystery, willing to face down their fears

At the same time, there are examples much closer to home of facing fear, walking into mystery, and embodying hope. I have seen numerous widows and widowers experience the death of a long loved spouse – who have subsequently faced the fear of being alone, the uncertainty of the future and have found new ways to live, new ways to spend their time and give their energy. Their hopeful lives do not deny the past, but they are symbols of this same advent journey from today’s text.

I have watched a brother and other friends and acquaintances face the unplanned or forced loss of a job or career – who have waded through the morass of uncertainty – asked hard, soulful questions, gotten the training needed and found new, vibrant and meaningful careers. They too are living “candles of hope” in the spirit of Mary and Joseph.

Any who have been parents have faced, or will face, the moment when a child suffers a stinging defeat, a crushing rejection, a serious mistake – and know and pray that these are moments when courage is learned, fears are faced and new beginnings are possible.

Even in our baptismal litany today, we asked John and Darcy if they would help their daughter Jadyn embrace the inevitable questions and mysteries of life – to see them as spiritual invitations rather than crises.

Elie Wiesel, one of the most courageous and hopeful men on the earth – Holocaust survivor and for over a generation a leading figure in asking the world to face its failure in the holocaust, once wrote, When God created us, God gave Adam a secret–and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again. In other words, it is not given to us to begin; that privilege is God’s alone. But it is given to us to begin again–and we do every time we choose to defy death and side with the living.

The stories of Mary and Joseph, written by two different gospel writers for two different purposes, both lift up the reality we know in our lives - Hope is both illusive and all around us. Last week, I mentioned that part of the purpose of Advent is an invitation to ‘wake up’ to the work of the Spirit all around us. This is as true for hope as it is for anything. People of faith over the ages have not been immune to disappointment, discouragement, failure, and despair. But as a Palestinian poet once wrote, “we have an incurable malady – hope.” As Elie Wiesel said, “it has been given to us to begin again.” As people awaiting the birth of Jesus, as people remembering a sacred story, we remember that from the beginning what distinguishes Christians is hope – hope in the face of fear, at the foot of mystery, in spite of great odds. Can we invite the Spirit this season to help us be such a people? Amen.

Matthew
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this 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.
19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.
20 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.
21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

Luke
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.