God With Us!

          Many of us get just a little too overzealous in our preparations for Christmas.  By now, I imagine that most of you have finished your shopping—at least I hope so!

          Let me tell you a story.  It was a few days before Christmas. Two guys who were next door neighbors decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. An unexpected storm surprised the weekend sailors. Before long, the sea became angry, and the two men had a difficult time keeping the sailboat under control.
          As they were heading into the harbor, the sailboat hit a sandbar and got stuck on the sandbar. Both men jumped overboard into the icy-cold water and began to push and shove in an attempt to get the sailboat off the sandbar and into deeper water. The two men were knee-deep in mud struggling with their boat, repeatedly bounced against the hull by the waves, freezing cold, and soaking wet.  One of them turned to the other and said, “Sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”

          It was a few days before Christmas. A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" "Oh," her husband replied, "you'll know the day after tomorrow."
          The next morning, she turned to her husband again and said the same thing, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" And her husband said, "You'll know tomorrow."
          On the third morning, the woman woke up and smiled at her husband, "I just dreamed again that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" And he smiled back, "You'll know tonight."
          That evening, the man came home with a small package and presented it to his wife. She was so excited. She opened it gently. And when she did, she found-a book! And the title of the book was "The Meaning of Dreams."

          In our story today, God speaks to Joseph in a dream.  For the past three weeks, we have been reading the accounts leading up to the birth of Christ as written in the book of Luke.  Today, we switch over to the book of Matthew, chapter one.

 ¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

 ²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

 ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

 ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

          To this day, people are divided over whether or not they believe in the virgin birth.  A recent Barna poll found that seventy-five percent of adults polled believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  In other words, three out of four people polled believe Jesus really was born to a virgin.  That’s a pretty substantial majority.

          In fact, it’s possible that a higher percentage of people today believe the virgin birth is true than did when Mary first told her story.  After all, why should they believe her?  Nothing like this had ever happened before, that’s for sure!

          In that time and culture, marriages were arranged by the families.  Mary may have known Joseph only from a distance, even though she was promised to him in marriage.  In fact, the promise of marriage was so firm that our texts call Joseph her husband and say he was considering divorcing her.  That is because even though there had not yet been a wedding and the couple had not consumed the marriage, they were legally bound to each other.

          It is quite possible that Mary and Joseph never spoke directly to each other up until after the time of our story today.  They may not have known each other personally.  So there may not have been an opportunity for them to really know the character of one another.  Our text calls Joseph a righteous man.  Joseph has every right to expect that Mary is a righteous woman.  He expects that when the time comes for them to marry, she will come to him as a virgin. 

          So you can imagine his distress when he hears that Mary, who he has never touched, is pregnant.  I had always assumed that Mary was the one who told him about the visit she had from the angel Gabriel, who told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would be the mother of God’s Son.  I assumed this because in our culture, that’s how it would probably happen.

          But the more I have thought about the Middle Eastern culture into which Jesus was born, the more I think this scenario is unlikely.  I think it is more likely that Mary has told her parents about what has happened to her.

          It’s likely that her parents don’t know what to believe.  Mary has come to them with this rather unbelievable story, and how can they know what to think?  Mary is their daughter, and they have done everything they could to bring her up well.  They have arranged what they hope is a good marriage to a good man, Joseph.

          Now, Mary is pregnant.  But can they believe her story, that the Holy Spirit has impregnated her and the child is to be called the Son of God?  And what about Joseph?  What will he think?  Now, the daughter they have been preparing for him is going to have a baby, and she says the baby is not Joseph’s.  So they tell Joseph. 

          And Joseph is a righteous man.  He has high standards for his own moral behavior, and he expects no less for the woman he plans to marry. Probably Mary’s parents tell him her claim, that odd story about the appearance of the angel, Gabriel.  But Joseph is not sure what to believe, and perhaps he sees that Mary’s parents are also somewhat doubtful.

          So he wrestles with the problem.  The law says he can have her stoned to death for immorality.  But that seems to be terribly cruel.  He has certainly seen Mary, and she seems to be a wonderful person, and most likely he has tender feelings towards her already. He has been looking forward to their marriage.

          Then he feels anger.  How could she do this to him?  How could this pretty young girl who was to be his bride have betrayed him with another man?  Yet, what if her story is true?

          Joseph ponders this dilemma long and hard.  Finally, he decides that he simply cannot go through with the marriage.  But on the other hand, he does not want to publicly shame her.  He decides that the only solution is to quietly divorce her—that is, to break the legal bond to which he has agreed.  And certainly no one can blame him for that—it is the kind thing to do.

          We don’t know how many sleepless nights Joseph has suffered over this, but he comes to this decision, perhaps planning to take action in the morning.  He falls asleep.  And the angel of the Lord comes to him in a dream.

          And the angel says, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

          Joseph woke up, and he knew the truth.  Of course, the truth in this situation was not entirely without problems.  Joseph knew full well that many other people would never believe Mary’s story.  They would certainly think Joseph was a fool to believe her and even more of a fool to take her as his wife.

          But Joseph had heard the voice of the angel of the Lord, and he believed the message.  Joseph chose God’s will for his life, even though he knew it was not going to be an easy path to follow.

          It can’t be easy to live in a small Jewish town and marry a young woman who says she is going to be the mother of the Son of God.  Yes, there were some vague prophesies in the scriptures about a Messiah who would come and save them, and about a virgin who would give birth to a child.  But certainly no one would expect such a thing to happen right there in the little town of Nazareth!

          Joseph knew all of the difficulties, but he had heard God’s call.  So it says, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

          Joseph truly was a righteous man.  He obeyed God in every way.  He didn’t choose this path—it was chosen for him.

          We don’t know much about what it was like for Joseph, being the father of Jesus.  We know it was not always easy, but there must have been tremendous blessings as well.  Joseph was there when the shepherds came rushing in to see the baby, babbling about the angels they had just seen.  Joseph was there when these strange, foreign Magi came following a star, calling this little child a king, and presenting the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

          Let me ask you a question.  If Barna had called you with his poll question, what would your answer be?  Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ?

          There was a time in my life when I would have hesitated.  Yes, I was a Christian, but I had some doubts about things like the virgin birth.  Maybe it was true, but I wasn’t sure I really believed it.

          If you asked me today, I would not hesitate.  I do believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  And I believe it is essential to my Christian faith.

          Here’s the reason.  Either Jesus is truly the Son of God, or he is not.  If he is not, then he is not our savior—he is just a wise man who taught a good moral system.

          If what the Bible says about Jesus is true, then in the birth of Jesus Christ, we see God entering human history in the form of a man for the express purpose of saving us.  So not only do I believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, but I also believe he died for our sins and was resurrected from the dead and lives today.  As the apostle Paul says, “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (I Cor. 15:14)

          When Jesus was born, God came to earth in human flesh.  That’s why they called him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."  When Jesus was born, God came to be with us by becoming one of us.

          As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us reaffirm in our hearts the truth of the gospel, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and to give us eternal life in heaven.  The true gift of Christmas is salvation, freely given to each one of us.  Salvation through Jesus Christ is the gift God gives to each of us, and he invites us to believe in him and accept this precious gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

Prayer:

          Thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus, your son.  Thank you, Jesus, for being willing to leave heaven and come to earth, to be born in human form to a humble family.  Thank you for living among us, teaching us and showing us the way, the truth and the life.  You are Immanuel, God with us.  Thank you for the gift of forgiveness of our sins and of eternal life in heaven with you.   

          Lord, may we believe in you with all our minds and with all our hearts, and may we have the humility to accept the beautiful gift you have so graciously given us.   Amen