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SHE SHALL BEAR A SON, IMMANUEL
Isaiah 7:10-17, Matthew 1:18-25
December 23, 2007
Betty Berghaus
King Ahaz was generally a very faithful man, but with enemies lurking all around, his faith was wavering. Isaiah said to him, “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all” (6:9). Then God told Ahaz to ask for a sign, for anything in heaven or on earth. But Ahaz refused, saying he did not want to test God. God, perhaps a little frustrated, decided to give a sign anyway. God could have given some great and powerful sign, with displays of lightning and thunder, skies splitting, or even something like mass healings, or as Ahaz probably would prefer, the mass destruction of enemy forces. But the sign God told was that a young woman would bear a child, a son. It was a very humble sign, really. Though many translations add “virgin,” the Hebrew (alma) simply meant she was of marriageable age, which could be as young as 12 or 13. She was to name the son Immanuel, which, as we know, means “God with us.” By the time the child would be old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, by 2 or 3 years old, the whole confrontation would be over, the enemy forces gone, said God. This was the sign for Ahaz and Isaiah’s time. Because of Immanuel, God with us, the troubles would soon be over – not immediately, but soon. They had but to wait in faith. Yet Ahaz did not believe.
This Old Testament passage gets re-used by the writer of Matthew in the birth narrative of Jesus Christ. While in Isaiah, there is no mention of a father, Matthew relates the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph and so has to establish Joseph as the most important player. So instead of the angel appearing to Mary, as in the Gospel of Luke, Matthew relates the angel appearing to Joseph in a dream. In the usual practice of that day, a young woman could be betrothed to a man for a year before they married. Though she stayed with her own family for that year, she was still considered his wife. And so when such a betrothed young woman appeared pregnant, and especially when the husband knew he was not the father, law allowed him to cast her aside. By law, she could even be put to death. Joseph was, as we are told, a righteous man, and he did not want to have her put to death, so he was planning to quietly dismiss her. But then came the dream and the angel. Angels must be fearful to behold, because they always seem to be saying “Do not fear.” This angel told Joseph not to be afraid to go against the law and the culture. The angel told Joseph to trust in God that this child was conceived not by any other man, but by the Holy Spirit. In a great act and example of faith, Joseph obeyed. And in Matthew, Joseph was the one to name Jesus, thus establishing Jesus’ place in the lineage of Joseph all the way back to Abraham. The Gospel of Luke too establishes Joseph as father by the relation of the family traveling to Bethlehem to be registered in a census. While there, the time came for Mary to deliver. “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).
So in all the texts in both Gospels that relate the birth of Jesus, it was a very humble occurrence. No trumpets blared, no bells rang; the baby was not born in a palace and hailed as the next king. This birth was a very humble way for God to come to earth. Neither text even gives a lot of attention to the birth itself. When one visually looks at the Matthew text, the phrase that stands out is the quote from Isaiah, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” First, we notice that the quote is not precise. In Isaiah it was simply a young woman. The Hebrew text did not declare her a virgin, even though she might have been. (Some O.T. translations add “virgin” to the text to foresee this birth narrative.) Perhaps to emphasize the uniqueness of the divine child, the author of Matthew stressed that she was a virgin. The other difference in the quote is that in Isaiah, the young woman named the baby Immanuel. In Matthew, “they,” meaning both Joseph and Mary, named him. And Matthew wants to make sure we know that Emmanuel (the “I” or “E” makes no difference in the meaning) means “God with us.” And so it seems to me that, for Matthew, the most important aspect of the story of the birth is that this humble birth brought God to be one with us.
So, why would God choose such a humble way to enter humanity? All of our theology tells us that God is sovereign, powerful, omnipotent, all-knowing. Surely God could have found a more spectacular way to enter the human race, something with great flair and show, so that the whole world would notice. But, no, God chose to enter as one of us, born just as we are all born as a helpless, vulnerable baby in need of care and love.
This act tells us a lot about the nature of God. God does not send lightning bolts of power and change into the midst of our lives. God does not come with marching bands and loud speakers and glowing fireworks. God does not control the events of our lives with an iron hand. Rather, God gently enters in and participates in life as we experience life. Our Creator is willing to live as we live, “to walk the walk and talk the talk,” as the saying of some years ago said. And that speaks of a very powerful love.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Christmas story tells us of God’s great love for us, that God would be one with us. To those who do not know God as we know God, and do not know the stories, such humble stories may not relay very well the reality we know as the love of God.
The night after Paul’s stroke, which started here at church, the staff probably slept very little. We all reported waking in the night and stopping to pray for Paul. We all did that many times through the night. Unable to sleep, I finally turned on the TV and discovered a movie I had not seen in a while. It was the 1997 movie based on a book by the renowned scientist Carl Sagan. The movie, called “Contact,” centered on contact with life beyond earth. It told about a woman whose mother died at childbirth and whose father died when she was 10 years old who grew up to be a scientist and an atheist. Her passion for the stars and radio communications from the time she was little led her to found a team that searched for proof of life in other parts of the universe. She found that proof, and with their guidance, a machine for contact with that other, more intelligent life-form, was produced. Before this scientist, played by Jodi Foster, entered the machine, she had a conversation with a famous evangelist and advisor to the president, so charmingly played by Matthew McConaughey. He asked her why she did not believe in God. She said, “I need proof.” He asked her, “Did you love your father?” She replied, “I did love my father.” He said, “There’s your proof.” When Jodie’s character finally reached the destination where she was in contact with this other life, it was presented to her in the form of her father, a form she could readily recognize and relate to, she was told. She asked about their search of the universe and if there was other life. He said to her, “In all our searching the only thing we’ve found that makes the loneliness bearable is each other.” This woman scientist returned from this experience a changed woman. But the device recording her experiences showed only static, so there was no proof of her encounter, and it was doubted. She testified at a hearing that she had no proof or evidence, and she talked about how tiny and insignificant life is, but also how beautiful and precious. She said she finally recognized the existence of something greater than ourselves, something or someone who cares and who gives us hope, because we are not alone.
It seemed to me that this scientist came to the same conclusion that the author of Matthew wants us to reach. When we realize, without any real proof, and without any pomp or circumstance, that there is a God who loves us enough to be one among us, one of us, we too are humbled and awed, and hopefully filled with great peace and joy. The letter to the Hebrews referred to this incarnation as giving us Jesus as “a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.” High priest seems like an oxymoron, a contrast in terms here, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14, 15).
I’m a Trekkie (or Trekker), I admit it. I like all the Star Trek shows and movies, and I find them very insightful and even very theological. One of my very favorites and one that always sticks in my mind was an episode of the original series called “The Empath.” Captain Kirk and others of his crew were cast into a room from which they could not escape, and with them was a mute woman. When one of the crew was severely injured, the woman came to touch him, and she began to writhe with pain as she took his injury away from him and onto her own body. This always struck me as an analogy for “God with us.” In Christ, God came to be one with us and to take away the pains of life. God did not come to bring a paradise or utopia with no pain or suffering (Not yet! That is yet to come!), but to share with us in our very pain and suffering as one who loves us and cares for us without question or hesitation. God gave us a Son, and God gave us that Son’s very life in order to save us. There is no greater love. And that is the example we are given as we strive to love one another. As one of the songs in K. Lee Scott’s “Christmas Cantata,” sung last week by the choir, said, “Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas – star and angels gave the sign….Love shall be our token, love be yours and love be mine; love to God and neighbor, love for plea and gift and sign.”
If we had read a little further in Isaiah, we would have come across these also familiar words:
“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
What a lot to weigh upon a little baby! And yet, we celebrate that love was born at Christmas, that God very gently and yet very powerfully came to be one with us. And God is with us still in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and has done and will do wonders for us in our lives. Emmanuel, God with us, gives us the greatest gift anyone could want, for Christmas or forever.
May your Christmas be lovely and peaceful, and may this be your Christmas thought – She bore a son, Immanuel, God with us, and they named him Jesus, which means “he saves.” Love came down at Christmas, and in that love, our lives are made whole. Glory be to God! Amen.