Sermon, Matt. 1:18-25, 4 Advent RCL

We are now in Year A of our lectionary cycle. That means, among other things, that the majority of our gospel readings will come from Matthew. There will be times when we will hear from other gospels, John during the Easter season for instance, but our main focus this year will be Matthew. I'm prefacing the sermon with this because, as we wind our way through Matthew this year, keep in mind that his is the gospel of royalty. Matthew is the gospel of the King. And that royal lens of Matthew's colors most everything he writes.

Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy of Jesus. He states that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The son of Abraham -- the great patriarch of the Israelite nation who started it all because he had faith. The son of David -- the great king of Israel who had a heart after God. And Jesus -- the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one. As kings of old were anointed and set apart, so too is Jesus anointed and set apart as the ideal king who would fulfill prophecies and bring hope. So that's where Matthew begins, and that leads us to today with Matthew's birth announcement.

Matthew has an angel appear to Joseph and say, "Look, that young girl who is betrothed to you is pregnant by God, not by infidelity." A couple of things happen here. First, Joseph is addressed as 'son of David.' That solidifies his royal genealogy and places his unborn son into that royal line. And second, besides being the royal gospel, Matthew is also big on the fulfillment of prophecies. In this birth announcement, he pulls from Isaiah's prophecy about the young woman giving birth.

Now, if you read the bible literally and hold to an inerrant view of scripture, there are several problems here. I'm going to bypass those for now, but feel free to discuss them with me later. The point with Matthew, though, is a record of a divinely royal birth. He saw it as anticipated from ancient days. He saw this as a continuation of the royal line of David. He saw this as the promise fulfilled in Abraham's faith. He also saw it as different.

The old Roman and Greek mythological stories of the gods would sometimes invoke a story of a virgin birth. This was a half god, half man hero of the time. But in Matthew, however, we aren't getting a story of a half-breed. We don't claim that Jesus is divine because of his virgin birth. Instead we claim that God did something new through a human by the power of the Holy Spirit, and thereby ensuring both his humanity and his divinity.

So, Matthew sees this whole affair as something different and as God breaking into human history in a new way. This brings me to Joseph. Joseph was a righteous man, according to Matthew. In other word, Joseph was good about keeping the Law. The problem here is that the Law says that a betrothed virgin found to have committed adultery should be stoned to death. And since Joseph has kept his end of the bargain, it's clear that Mary needs to die; or, at the very least, put away.

This is where the angel comes in and announces that God is doing a new thing. Joseph is now asked to change his perception of righteousness. Righteousness is no longer found in the Law. Righteousness is no longer simply looking up the rules for a particular situation to determine who's in and who's out. Righteousness isn't about maintaining separation for fear of polluting hour holiness and purity.

Instead, with the advent of the birth of Christ, righteousness is found in the day to day living of this world. Righteousness is defined as accepting an unwed, teenage pregnancy as a gift of God. Through the birth of, and in the life of, Jesus, righteousness is recognizing that God is with us in the messy day to day complications we all face. And above all, it means prayerfully seeking to discover what God is doing in the difficult and complex situations we all face.

Matthew is writing about a king. That king, however, doesn't promise that everything will be easy or that he will miraculously solve all the problems. That king does ask us to voluntarily follow him and to work diligently for the kingdom.

As we move through this Year of the King, continue to ask yourselves these questions: "How do I honor him?" and, "How can I work to make his kingdom a visible presence here?" And while you're figuring out the answers to those questions, never forget that the King's name is Immanuel, God with us.