Advent 4-A:                   Isaiah 7:10-17; Ps 80; Rm 1:1-7; Mt 1:18-25
Epiphany, South Haven                                       Fr. Joseph Neiman (12/23/07)

Homily: “They shall name him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’” (Mt 1:23; Is 7:14)

My brothers and sisters in Christ, ministers also in Christ’s name.

“They shall name him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us”. This quote from Matthew’s Gospel we just heard is, as you heard earlier, drawn from Isaiah’s passage about a son being born to his people who were living “in dread” or fear given the political and economic times they were facing (c. Is 7:16).

Isaiah’s people were faced with two kings and their armies for indeed the land of Palestine was regularly caught between countries to the north and the south, Assyria or Persia and Egypt. Matthew’s Christian-Jewish congregation was faced with oppression by King Herod and the Romans.

We today live with entirely too much fear. We fear the demise of the economy, and there is some truth in it. We fear terrorist attacks, and there is some truth in that as well. Some fear next year’s presidential election, which the media is shoving down our throats, will not turn out with the “right” leader for our country. Others believe it will not make any difference as the dread we feel is out of our hands and led perhaps by the multinational companies or other world forces. Indeed the massive poverty experienced by millions of people around the world easily feeds revolution and terrorism as means to make a difference.

Yet in the fullness of time, Matthew tells us, Jesus was born and he is Immanuel, God with us. When we hear this we should not think we are hearing about an event in history which we are simply recalling at this time of year. There is history in the Gospels but they are “Good News” not because of that history, but because of what they tell us about God’s continuing relationship with us, now, in our history and in the history of our world today. Matthew ends the Gospel with the powerful mandate by the risen Lord to his disciples, and to us:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” we hear from Jesus. So we need not fear any earthly power can overcome God’s presence and purposes among us. He continues: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We’ve heard this mandate, but do we seriously do it? Do we truly believe if more and more people entered into a life-changing relationship with the risen Lord the human community would be much better as a result? And finally, what I want you to hear especially this morning, the Gospel ends with the wonderful passage similar to how it began. The risen Lord tells his disciples – and us: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20).

That is the powerful, transforming, hopeful, and amazing message of Christmas: God dwells with us! We are not alone! We need not live in dread! Later in the Epistle to the Romans, from which we also heard the opening verse this morning, Paul reminds them that “³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rm 8:37-39).

God is with us, we who are created in the image and likeness of God, as we hear in Genesis, God is with us. Now especially gathered here together on this Sunday morning, we know, as Matthew tells us Jesus said: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20).

The impact of that reality is hard to grasp in the midst of our frantically busy world. We blinded by our culture which demands activity and results. As Fr. Henri Nouwen tells us: “We consider waiting a waste of time, perhaps because our culture is always saying, ‘Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don’t just sit there and wait!’”[1]

Yet we are waiting. We are waiting for Christmas, yes, but more. We are hoping and waiting for life to get better in many ways, depending upon our particular circumstances. All of us are waiting and wanting to know that our lives are meaningful, that we are special, that we are loved and capable of loving.

Again, quoting from an Advent booklet, Fr. Henri Nouwen writes: “Jesus came to share his identity with you and to tell you that you are the beloved sons and daughters of God. Just for a moment try to enter this enormous mystery, that you, like Jesus are the beloved daughter or the beloved son of God. This is the truth. Furthermore your belovedness preceded your birth. You were the beloved before your father, mother, brother, sister or church loved you or hurt you. You are the beloved because you belong to God from all eternity”.[2]

Jeremiah said a similar promise long ago. Speaking the word of God, he says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer 31:3).

At the beginning of the Eucharist this morning, we prayed: “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself….” (BCP p. 212).

We prepare that mansion for the risen Lord to dwell in when day by day we claim our belovedness and reach out from that mystery to the mystery that others are beloved sons and daughters of God as well. This is what Jesus taught us, John tells us in his Gospel. Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:9-12).

That is a profound teaching, and yet profoundly simple as well. Let me give you specific ways this morning that you can begin to appropriate this mystery and continue to build that mansion for the risen Lord to dwell in with you.

This is your homework for this weekend (I give homework and let the good Lord do the testing). I ask you to do two things.

First, take a quiet moment – you can find one if you really try. Sit peacefully, light a candle or the advent wreath if that helps you focus, remember the Lord is with you, and dwell on this quote from Psalm 139, verse 13: “I will that you because I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well” (BCP p. 139).

 The more you can appreciate your own belovedness, the more you will be able to appreciate that of others.

So much of our culture around us tells us we are not pretty or handsome enough, now bright or successful enough, don’t own enough, and in short are not lovable. Let the Psalm phrase sink in. Perhaps write it on a piece of paper and put it on your refrigerator.

Secondly, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, whenever you open your gifts, pause to read the card or the note attached that tells you from whom you have received that gift. Focus on that person for a few moments before you open the package. Reflect that this person is also God’s gift to you. That he or she is a beloved son or daughter of God as are you. That person has not only given you a package, but he or she has given you much, much more and for all of it you need to be joyful and thankful. Even the person who has annoyed you has given you the gift of patience, if you will recognize it and open it. If the person is present with you, tell him or her what a gift they are to you!

Christmas reminds us: God loves us! God is with us! Each person in our life is a profound gift! What else is important? What do we need to dread? Let us celebrate this holy day with the joy which the risen Lord wants to give us: the gift of understanding and claiming our identity as beloved daughters and sons of the all powerful and everlasting God who embraced humanity in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth!

God bless you and keep you this day and always, and remember that the good Lord does indeed love you more than you can ask for or even imagine. Do you believe it?