Has God ever come to you in a dream? Have you ever heard God
in another mysterious way? Did it require you to defy social convention, or was
it an easy request? Did you dismiss that call, or did you respond? When was the
last time you stepped out in faith, beyond a Facebook post about Phil Robertson
or a Twitter rant or an email forward?
Read Isaiah 7:10-16 & Matthew 1:18-25.
This is how Matthew describes
the birth of Jesus – from the perspective of Joseph. Imagine all the feelings
that Joseph must have been feeling. He was a righteous man, and here was his pregnant
fiancé. He must have felt foolish, embarrassed, angry, scandalized, cuckolded –
like the husband who hears Maury declare “You are NOT the father!”
Yet righteous Joseph defies
social convention because of God’s call to him in a dream. He ignores ‘what
other people might think’ and stands by Mary – he continues to be with her, to
share in her journey to Bethlehem and to birth. Joseph responds to a higher
righteousness, one that goes above and beyond in response to God’s call. And he
could do it because God was with him.
In the birth of Jesus, God chooses to be with us. God acts
out of love, and a little baby is born. A little baby is born, and a righteous
man responds to a higher righteousness. A righteous man responds, and a
pregnant woman is not left alone in her time of need. A pregnant woman who is
not left alone births a bouncing baby boy, and this boy saves us from our sins
and continues the relationship of “God with us.”
And God was not just with our biblical ancestors – God is
with us today as well. How have you experienced God with you? Goosebumps?
Things coming together? Dreams and visions? Protection? Guidance? Camp
Heartland? How have you experienced “God with us” at Trinity? How can we continually prepare for God to be with us?
God has promised us Emmanuel, and God keeps God’s promises.
May we see beyond the reality tv show drama, beyond the tinsel and the
trimmings, beyond the commercialism and the family drama, to behold the babe in
the manger – to behold “God with us” yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Amen.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate
Pastor Kate
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