“…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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins…When Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took her as his wife...and he named him Jesus.” (Matt 1:20-21; 24-25)
During these final days of Advent, we are anxiously awaiting the birth of the baby Jesus. In our hearts and in our minds we hear the prophet Isaiah's words:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel, 'which means 'God is with us.”
We also hear the refrain from the well-known hymn O come! O come! Emmanuel.
O come O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel. (TH #56)
O come! O come! Emmanuel. A plea for the predictions of the prophets to be realized. A plea for God to be with us. A plea for Jesus to be born. A plea for God to save us.
Throughout Advent, as we await the birth of Jesus, we are encouraged through prayer, meditation, discussion, and communal worship to prepare – to be ready for Jesus' coming anew into our lives.
We are also encouraged - sometimes in great detail – to refrain from falling into the commercialism of the season. For instance, how many times have you heard the phrase, “Christmas has lost its meaning – it just all about buy, buy, buy these days.”
We are encouraged to prepare, and we are instructed how not to prepare, but are we guided in what we are preparing for? Do we think seriously about what Christmas – the birth of Jesus - means for us, right here in Nevada, in the year 2010?
I don’t think we do.
Of course, we all think of Christmas as the time of Jesus' birth – his coming into the world to save us. However, I am not at all certain that we consider the fact that Jesus has already come. That Jesus' first coming – his actual birth - occurred over two thousand years ago.
During our Advent preparations, how often do we think about the fact that through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus so many years ago, we have already been given the grace of redemption? How often do we remember that the longed for Emmanuel has already come? The blessing of God's grace is already with us. God is with us - now.
These days, as we prepare for the birth of Jesus, we are not the ancient people of Israel awaiting the prophesy of Isaiah, or Hosea, or Joel to be fulfilled. We are not Joseph being told by the angel of the Lord to await a child who shall be named Jesus and who will save his people. We are not a bewildered young man acting on faith and obediently taking Mary for his wife.
Unlike Joseph in today's Gospel reading, we are not awaiting and preparing for the unknown.
Rather, this Advent season we are awaiting and preparing for the arrival of the known - the wonder of the gift of the Christ child.
This Christmas eve, we will, once again, witness the arrival of God incarnate - God made man – the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. This Christmas, we will, once again, begin our journey – a journey we know all too well - to Jerusalem as we follow the Son of God through his ministry.
Finally, next spring, we will, once again, in grief, stand by as our Savior is betrayed, tried, and crucified. Finally, on Easter morning, we will, once again, proclaim the glory of Christ's resurrection as we sing together:
“He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice:
He has burst His three days' prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice:
Death is conquered, we are free,
Christ has won the victory.”
This Advent season our preparations should be centered not on waiting for the unknown - for the prophesy of Isaiah to be fulfilled. Rather, we should be centered on the known – the gift of Christ in our lives.
We should be considering our role as prophets – the Isaiahs of 2011 – as we, once again, receive the gift of Christ, and continue to spread the Good News that Christ is with us; death is conquered; we are free.
This coming year as we journey beside Jesus from his birth to his resurrection, it is we who have a responsibility to proclaim the message of redemption though our lives and through our words. Prophets do still exist – we are those prophets.
In today’s Gospel, Joseph is told to how to prepare for the birth of Mary's child by an angel. God sent the angel to prepare Joseph by instructing him to go ahead and take Mary as his wife, despite the fact that she was pregnant and no one knew by whom. And, God’s messenger instructed Joseph to name the child, Jesus.
Later in Luke's story, the angel will instruct Joseph to take Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath.
Finally, the angel will inform Joseph that Herod has died and he must return to Israel.
In all cases, Joseph obeyed the angel. Joseph was silently obedient. Joseph ensured the safe arrival of the Christ child; Joseph named him Jesus; Joseph kept him safe.
Joseph obeyed God's commands without question and without hesitation.
I believe that the same is expected of us. As we prepare, yet again, for the birth of the baby Jesus on Christmas Eve, the preparations that we must make are similar to those made by Joseph so many years ago. We must prepare ourselves to obey Christ's commands without question and without hesitation.
This Advent season, we hear not an angel of the Lord, but Jesus himself.
We remember him as Luke describes him: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)
We hear him when he said to his followers:
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
We hear him as he spoke his final words to us:
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:17-20)
This Advent season we should be preparing to receive the gift of the Christ child
with joy and the commitment to set our face to Jerusalem as we take up our cross
and go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and remembering that Christ is with us
always.
Amen.
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