December 1998 Issue

As the Gospel lection is read for the fourth Sunday of Advent, there will be some curmudgeon who will turn to the person seated on the pew alongside him and say, "Finally, we are going to hear the Christmas story." They are ready to hear the Christmas story, but this story is different than the more familiar Lukan account.

The Matthew text has several possible themes for preaching on this Sunday. The most appealing theme concerns Joseph and his response to the news that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant. Joseph is a righteous man. In seeking to do the proper thing, quietly resolves to divorce Mary. Yet, when the angel explains to him what is happening to Mary, he does the truly righteous thing by resolving to take Mary as his wife. We traditionally think of righteousness as living up to the letter of the law. In this passage there is the foreshadowing of Matthew's understanding of true righteousness. The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is a familiar debate, whether it is in appropriating biblical texts for faithful living or interpreting the United States Constitution. Some people think that the letter of the law is what God demands. The words mean exactly what they say they mean. The spirit of the law seeks to look at the intention or outcome. The words serve as a keyhole through which to look into a large room. What is God's intention? What is God seeking to accomplish? With an angel of the Lord appearing to him in a dream, Joseph is able to see what God desires as an ultimate outcome. It is interesting that Joseph, confronted with the choice between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law, chooses Mary rather than strict adherence. Joseph is the forerunner of what Matthew's gospel is about: Jesus ushers in the kingdom of God by living a life that is dedicated to the love of human beings rather than dedicated to the keeping of law. The birth of Jesus is the first event in something new that God has planned, calling people to live the heart of the law and not its letter.¹

As this text is preached, we can help people see beneath the words and see and hear about God who is calling for a faithful response oriented toward love and the concern for God's people. This occasions the second possible theme for this text. The names by which this child will be called are instructive about his future mission. "She will bear him a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Mt 1:21) Most persons in my congregation are not deeply troubled by guilt. Whether they should or should not be is a matter that must wait for another time. To speak of saving people from sins, one should look for ways that could communicate how salvation happens in the routines of daily life within congregations. This past weekend the members of several Christian faith communities in our city participated in a Habitat for Humanity project that will build five homes in the next three months. With 70 persons from area churches working with the persons who will purchase the homes from Habitat for Humanity, people were brought together because they follow One who is called Jesus. Those who gave their time and their money are delivered from the sin of selfishness and self-pride and the prevailing notion that they can be self-sufficient. Followers of Jesus did not publicly confess but by their actions repented from the sin of pride. Those who will purchase and live in those homes are saved from a cycle of homelessness and a loss of dignity. They are saved from low self-esteem and are given hope and pride. Can we talk about salvation or being saved from sin in ways that provide connections between theology and faith in action? Opportunities to live beyond ourselves call us to be saved from the kinds of behaviors and tendencies that we have regarding our self-pride or believing that we can do it all ourselves; therefore, we are connected to other people who have opportunities of being saved from despair and hopelessness.

The other name by which this child shall be called is Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." The presence of God is very much with us. I remember a person in a previous congregation I served who said to me how she hated this time of year. With her children grown and her husband dead, she felt as if there was really nothing for her; Christmas, after all, is for children. Each year she was more depressed than the previous December. Using her reasoning that Christmas was for children, we asked her to be responsible for our adopt-a-family projects. She met the families, discovered what they needed, and organized the congregation for action and for giving. The month of December became dilferent for her. Christmas was not just for children, but for her. She discovered God's presence by giving, and it continued throughout the year. On her way to being an embittered woman, God's presence was made real to her, and she was transformed.

The celebration of the birth of the Christ which will occur on this evening in many churches and also on Christmas Day, is not for children. It is for all people. This isn't about giving and receiving of presents. It is about the presence of our God who sustains us. What are the ways in which you have experienced that presence?

Of course there are some who may wish to talk about the virgin birth and the theological doctrine associated with that. People will come today to be reminded about this birth that happened almost two-thousand years ago. That birth has changed not only the scope of human history, but also has had a deep impact upon their individual lives as well. It continually calls for further change in their lives. The story expresses great theological truth about God, and it is important not to speak of it dogmatically, but to speak of this story in ways that promote understandings of what righteousness, love, salvation, and the presence of God are all about.

Michael McKee

1. M. Eugene Boring, THE NEW INTERPRETER'S BIBLE: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, vol 8, The Gospel of Matthew: Reflections (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), p. 136.