Homily For The First Sunday after Christmas

Today, we are presented with the account of Our Lord’s birth from the perspective of St. Matthew.  St. Matthew was a Gospel written for a Jewish audience, who would have been keenly interested in the testimony of the prophets and how these things were fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus. For a few moments this morning, I think it would be helpful to consider our Lord’s work, his instruction to his disciples during the great 40 days between Christ’s resurrection and His ascension. He opened the scriptures to them and showed how all the Law, the Psalms and the prophets pointed to him.  How the prophetic witness of the Old Testament pointed to the exceptional circumstances surrounding his coming to us at Christmas and all the manner in which he satisfied the Law, indeed, performing all manner of righteousness.

St. Matthew wants his readers to know there is nothing wanting in the genesis of Christ becoming man.  His conception was the result of the work of the Holy Spirit.  This virgin birth was the result of a promise to those who eagerly awaited the Messiah’s birth.  The fulfilment of prophecy is a signpost from God showing that Jesus is truly the way to God. The Messiah, the perfect one.   So we read of the betrothal of Joseph to Mary and his discovery that she was pregnant.  His reaction to the shame of this event shows true love for Mary and confirmation that he was as St Matthew says, a just man, not willing to subject her to public humiliation. Just in this sense means that he was zealous in keeping the Law.  Yet, his commitment to the Law led him to show mercy for Mary.  He was not going to marry her but refused to make a public spectacle of her apparent unfaithfulness.  St. Matthew tells us directly that Mary had conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, Joseph didn’t know this as he wrestled with what would be the God-honoring approach to the situation.  

Joseph desired to be faithful. He wanted his life to conform to the Law, as much as lie within him.  As he wrestled, God in his mercy condescended to help him believe.  An angel appears to Joseph in a dream.  The angel addresses Joseph as “son of David”.  Truly, Joseph was in the lineage of David, for he went to the city of David, Bethlehem to be counted in the census of Caesar Augustus, as we read in St. Luke’s Gospel.  The angel indicates the possibility of another type of family resemblance in addition to lineage.  David was the epitome of Jewish faithfulness in whom the love of God was wed to obedience in things great and small, and like David, Joseph loved the Lord, loved the Law and was committed to being faithful to God.  

Amid his struggles, the angel gives Joseph a command: to fear not, the most common command in Scripture.  

Sometimes we look at our circumstances and we don’t see how it will work out and we become afraid, but the angel tells him to look beyond the fear and see how God will convert the awkwardness, the absurdity of his betrothal to Mary in her condition to bring about God’s redemption.  Generation of people had looked forward to the Messiah’s coming and the angel tells him to not be afraid but to accept Mary. To take her as his wife, to provide shelter and comfort to her.  The reason being is that what appears to be shameful is the plan of God to bring about salvation.  The angel says “ for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”  It is God’s work; he honored Mary by calling her to be the mother of the Incarnate Son.  His name shall be called Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua for he will save them from their sins. 

Jesus' namesake, Joshua, you may recall, led the people of God into the Promised Land, through his faithful leadership, they conquered the tribes that were more numerous and powerful than Israel.  God gave them the land, it was his power that gave them the victory.  The angel Gabriel is promising that one with the power over sin and death will be the son of Mary and will be THE ONE that will truly conquer man’s truest enemies.  

St Matthew goes out of his way to make sure his readers know that this was in fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7.  By linking it to a prophecy, Matthew is reminding us all that the pressures and the perplexities that are faced by the faithful are not by accident.  This awkwardness that confounded Joseph was the plan of God from generations before.  Joseph and Mary are living in the tension of God’s word, as peculiar as it was, coming true, coming to pass as it always does.  

Truly, the virgin conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and she brought for a son and called his name Emmanuel, that is God with us.  So I always found this portion confusing.  The Isaiah prophecy says his name is to be Emmanuel;  the angel said that his name was to be Jesus.  How do we understand this?  Jesus was the name of Mary’s son and Emmanuel was a title representing one aspect of what Jesus would accomplish for his people.  For indeed, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus the conqueror of sin and death is both man, born of the Virgin Mary and God who always has existed with Father.  This speaks to Jesus being fully God, fully man. A new type of humanity - able to bridge the gap between the perfect holiness of God and our humanity.  

St Matthew then tells what Joseph did with this news. He awoke from the dream in which he heard the words of the angel and lived as though it were true.  He believed the word of the angel, the messenger of God and bravely, faithfully, married Mary.  

He obeyed the word of God.  Simple, yet painful, perplexing obedience.  His marriage did not silence the whispers about the pregnancy of Mary.  Recall the abuse heaped on Jesus by some of the Pharisee, when they said, Say we well that thou art a Samaritan.  In other words, by implying that she was pregnant by a Samaritan, they impugned the reputation of Mary and Jesus at the same time. If they spoke of this openly, it was most likely because the unusual circumstances were known broadly.  Yet, Joseph obeyed and endured the tension between the word of God and the gossip of Galilee.  Joseph, like his father, David, was “all in” when it came to loving and serving the Lord.  He is an excellent example of simple yet burdensome obedience.  The Lord said it, and he believed and obeyed.  He offered Mary the protection of a home and named her Son, Jesus.  

We are four days into the Christmas season.  Today, we celebrate the faithfulness of God through two common, yet uncommon people, Mary and Joseph.  Mary the mother of God, the theotokos, the God bearer, was a simple maiden who believed God and obeyed what was revealed to her.  We read that she treasured up in her heart the events in Our Lord’s life that pointed to his Messiahship.  Joseph believed the Word of God and committed himself to doing everything in his power to offer common obedience to the Law so that the Incarnate Son might satisfy all of the Law for the sake of Israel, indeed, for all who look to Jesus for salvation.  Common activities born of uncommon commitments to truth; fullest belief that God’s word demanded obedience.   

The same grace of God that called them to be faithful calls us to be faithful in the present. Our circumstances may be different, our cultures, our geographies distinct from theirs.  Yet our call is very much the same.  God’s word has gone forth and we must conform our lives to what it says.  We must trust God to lead us in His ways, proclaiming in word and deed the redemption offered in Jesus Christ our Lord.  In the sweetness of the coming days, with family, friends around fireplaces and tables, let us remember the vocation we have as Christians: to be people of simple obedience to the Lord, to do the simple acts of faithfulness with the uncommon resolve of Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary.   Amen.