New world coming ...

Advent 4-A Dec. 23, 2007 St. Paul’s Isaiah 7:1-10
Psalm 80 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25

It’s not so easy playing second fiddle to a miracle. The English poet W.H. Auden put these words in Joseph’s mouth:

All I ask is one
Important and elegant proof
That what my Love had done
Was really at your will
And that your will is Love.

It’s not too much to ask, is it? It’s only reasonable. Joseph was a reasonable man – he would not have let Mary be disgraced or stoned, the punishment for adultery, even though that was obviously her sin. But in Auden’s poem, as in the gospel – and as in so many aspects of all of our lives, when we are thrown into something beyond our control or understanding, all the angel says is,

No, you must believe;
Be silent, and sit still.

Surely that’s the hardest thing of all, having to sit still and wonder, really wonder, if all this is God’s will, and that God’s will is really something so good after all. How do we know that when we are caught off guard, all shook up, knocked for a loop, stunned – into silence.

This angel must have been persuasive, because Joseph is … obedient. The angel gives him two commands: Do not be afraid. (Easier said than done.) Name him Jesus. And then the angel defines the name: Jesus means, “He will save his people from their sin.”

People who know Hebrew tell us that the name “Save” is not uncommon in the Bible. Joshua means “save;” so does Isaiah and Hosea. Joshua brought the Hebrew people into the promised land; after Moses died Joshua saved the people. Isaiah and Hosea are prophets, mouthpieces of God, as the angels are messengers of God. The prophets saved the people by reminding them to turn away from their sins and toward God. And then the gospel handily reminds Joseph – and us – just what Isaiah said about the One God would send: name him Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus, the one who saves. Jesus, God who is with us.

If this dream isn’t enough to scare the pants of anybody, I don’t know what is.

This salvation from God is coming in a pretty odd and counter-cultural way. But isn’t this “one who saves” being born into a world that is in pretty bad shape? After all, who gets saved in this movie, in this Gospel, this Good News that is unlike all other so-so news. Who gets saved? Everyone who feels unsaveable: sinners, yes, but sinners in whose eyes? The poor, the sick, the lonely, the unloved, the abandoned, the ordinary, the weak, the small, the hungry, the blind, the lame, the deaf. This kind of salvation is new news, and Good News indeed, for all those folks who have never been paid attention to, much less saved, by anyone else.

Who else is saved? Everyone else on the other side of that line as well. The rich, the healthy, the loved, the friend-beset, the strong, the large, the fat, the ones who see well, walk well, hear well. Salvation means that we are all saved, that there is no line anymore. Those of us on one side blend with those of us on the other side, and lo and behold, we see ourselves. We are saved from ourselves, from being stuck in a world where we don’t think we can help and being stuck in a place where we think no one will ever help us. Name him Jesus, which means “he will save his people from their sins.” Name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

God is indeed with us, now, born in the dark of night, born in the dark of the year, born to save us from ourselves, born to bring us a new day, a new life, a new world. We are no longer alone, fighting these battles, wandering, lonely. God is with us. Now.