Fourth Sunday of Advent

“This is how the birth of Jesus came about.”  And Matthew sets out precisely to tell us what it’s about.  But, being an ancient writer, he does not do this directly.  Rather his birth announcement in today’s gospel is more a kind of overture, a symbolic statement of what is to come.  He sounds themes that look to Christmas, themes that explain who and what the child in the manger is and would grow up to be, what we should expect.  So, let’s unpack Matthew’s gospel and his clues. 

There are four things to look for hidden in his gospel.  The first is a focus on God.  Matthew writes, “Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit here is not the third person of the Blessed Trinity.  It is simply the divine action that, time after time, all throughout Israel’s history, has broken into human affairs.  Only this time, this time, it’s unique, it’s definitive.

This time God’s breaking into the human world is by actually taking on the human condition itself, becoming a human being with all of its fears, joys, and limitations.  The world’s been waiting for an intimacy like that, although it never dreamed it would take this form, and it will be fulfilled in Jesus.  That’s Matthew’s first point: God is still active, is still longing for us, still taking the initiative.  All this drama is God’s doing.  How God must love us!

Second point.  Matthew’s angel announces, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife…” with the emphasis on the phrase, “son of David.”  These words bring to the fore an important message: Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic prophecies.  He is not an outsider bearing a new religion.  He is not a novelty.  He is deeply rooted in his people, in Judaism, in the Old Testament.  What was promised of old will at long last be fulfilled in Jesus.  Matthew is saying that God has been faithful to his word.  Jesus is part of and the climax of God’s ongoing love affair with the human race.  That’s why Matthew throws in that “Son of David.”

Third point Matthew is making.  He tells us that Mary is found to be pregnant and her fiancé Joseph knows he’s not the father.  It’s a scandalous situation.  But Matthew doesn’t linger over the sordid story but wants to say that, yes, God chose to come into the world in scandal.  Why would God do that?  Because God wants to get us ready for a scandalous God in the flesh.  Jesus, born in scandal, would continue to scandalize.  He would challenge the prevailing understanding of the law, break bread with sinners, touch lepers, call tax collectors to follow him, forgive a woman caught in adultery, and make claims that sounded like blasphemy.  Matthew’s mention of Mary’s pregnancy is getting us ready to be scandalized by the Messiah’s overwhelming compassion for people like us.

Fourth, Matthew, as you heard, cleverly records a second part of the angelic salutation to Joseph.  He has the angel add, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”  Emmanuel is a thematic description that bookends Matthew’s gospel.  Emmanuel, or “God is with us,” is here at Jesus’ birth and it will reappear after his death when the risen Jesus tells his followers to go and make disciples of all nations adding, “behold I am with you all days till the end.”  Ever since Jesus, God has been visibly with us in the flesh, in the church.  Matthew is saying that, come Christmas, we human beings will never be bereft of God’s presence, God’s compassionate presence.  In our best and our worst moments, God will be with us.  That’s what Jesus is all about.

So this thoroughly Advent gospel is not the Christmas birth story.  It is a pre-Christmas preface.  Matthew is telling us what to look for and pray over this week: divine action, divine promises, divine scandal, and divine presence.  Matthew wrote in troubled times – just like ours: war, betrayals, greed, death – and I think he is saying, “In spite of all this, connect the God to life.  Believe that God is in the makeshift manger.  God is in God’s promises.  God is in these scandals.  God is Emmanuel, among and with us.  God will save the people from their sins.”

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor