4 Sunday Advent
Matthew 1:18-25
"A Blender for Christmas"
18* Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit;
19* and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20* But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;
21* she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
22* All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23* "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us).
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
25* but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
A many of years ago for Christmas we received a blender from my brother and his wife as a Christmas present. A blender is a very useful item in the kitchen, as it can make bread crumbs for that great Italian disk eggplant or it can make some great drinks by mixing various juices together, or it can make sauces for meats and vegetables. Blenders are very useful for mixing things together, or they can be used to make food that is difficult to swallow easier say for babies or older people who have a . difficult time eating. A blender mixes items so much that the various items cannot be distinguished one from another after they have.been blended.
God sent the world a blender--.Jesus. In him God and man, divinity and humanity, were so perfectly blended that no one can separate the human and divine natures in him. Jesus is all human and all God, perfectly blended into one integrated personality, a God-man.
Our gospel lesson this morning ,deals with this fact as it tells the story of Joseph and his struggle with his brothed being with child. We need to understand the Jewish courtship to understand what was happening. A Jewish couple is engaged as very young children by their parents. As they grow up they get to know one another, and if they like each other, then the engagement is still on. After some time, the betrothed period takes place, the man takes the woman to his house to live together under one roof, but without all the benefits of marriage for about one year to see if they can get along, then after this period the marriage ceremony is conducted and the
couple become truly husband and wife.
So you can see Joseph knew this child was not his, he was upset, but being a kind and gentle man he wasn’t going to publicly hurt Mary by divorcing her publicly, but
would hand1e it very quietly since that was also a right of a Jewish man As Joseph was weighing all of this he has a vision an angel explains that Mary’s child was from God and would be given the name of Jesus will save the people from their sins. After this vision, Joseph did as the angel commanded because he was a religious man, kept Mary as his betrothed, and eventually married her and named the child she was carrying Jesus.
Of all the characters in the Christmas Story, I can relate to Joseph the best. Who ever gives him any credit? From the biblical record he is the most nondescript person you will ever find. Why, even his identity with his son is lost. Most Jewish boys were called son of Joseph, as in Matthew’s gospel when Jesus was referring to Peter at the time of Peter’s great confession of faith, he said, "Peter bar Jonah," Or Peter son of Jonah, but what about Jesus himself, in our hymn of the day; the last line of the 1st verse says "Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the Son of Mary." Son of Mary, not son of Joseph. He might not of bore him, but he helped raise him, he was a son in the sense that Joseph trained him in the skills of a carpenter.
Besides having a problem with the marriage and not having the right to name the child, you can see why Joseph is a very upset about all that has happened. But as a religious man, you need to give him credit for going along with the wishes of the angel. He followed through.
As Jesus grew we know from scripture that Joseph trained him in the trade that he knew as a carpenter. Joseph passed on to Jesus all of his learning. To this blended person, God and man, Joseph passed on his trade.
This story of Joseph illustrates the blender effect of Jesus He was true God and true man. He was true - man because he was born of a woman. God came into our world like we do, through the birth process. God didn’t use any super means, nothing spectacular, nothing out of this world to enter this world. He came into this world like the rest of us, God truly wanted to be like us, he wanted to take on all the form of a human being so became into the world- as humans do. God, because he came into the world as humans do, became truly human. God had skin on. He wasn’t any different than any:of us. As a baby he cried, he laughed, he ate, he crawled, he walked he talked. He learned how to get around in the environment he was in. God grew up in Jesus as a human being grows up. The God who made all of life, the God who created everything out of nothing, the God who loved what made gave it all up so that in Jesus he wanted to know, to understand, to be like the creatures he created in his own image, human beings. God became man, God put skin on, the same kind of skin we wear.
In the following story we see how God put skin on in a different kind of way.
"A old cobbler named Conrad had a dream that the Lord was coming to visit him. So he washed the walls of his small shop and his shelves until they shined. He decorated his shop with holly and fir. He put milk and honey on his table to offer to his special guest. He sat down and waited.
As he was waiting, he saw a poor barefoot beggar walking in the rain outside his door. He felt sorry for the man and invited him and gave him a pair of shoes. His clean floor was now dirty from the rain and mud.
As he was about to clean it up, he noticed an old lady who was bent over carrying a heavy load of firewood. He invited her in to sit and rest, shared some of his food with her and walked with her, helping carry some of the wood.
When he returned to his shop, he thought of all that needed to be done. He began to clean again and hoped he had tome to find more food. Just then a knock at the door. He answered hurriedly and it was a small child crying lost and cold. He picked up the child, dried the tears, gave her something to drink, the cup of milk and walked her to her home down the street and around the corner.
He hurried back to the shop. He was too tired now to clean or find more food but he still waited. Evening came and he began to wonder if the Lord had forgot.
Then he heard a soft voice break the silence in that shop, ’Lift up your heart, for I kept my word. Three times I came to your friendly door, Three times my shadow was on your floor. I was the beggar with bruised feet; I was the woman you gave to eat, I was the lost child on that homeless street."
Conrad smiled to himself, put his feet up on the table and settled back in his chair to pray and talk with the Saviour so fair. "(1)
But the other side of this story shows the divine nature of this babe. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and then given a heavenly name. I imagine like all parents, Mary and Joseph probably had some names picked out for this child, but through the vision Joseph was given the name by God to name this child, he was to be called Jesus which means one who brings the new covenant. Or as the early church understood Jesus to be also the Emmanuel which means God with us. Never the less, the name of this child was important, He was given a God given name, a name which no other human being has had.
These two nature of Jesus his human nature and his divine nature were blended together so as one studied his life, you not decide at what moment Jesus
was human and at what moment he was divine. His natures were blended together so that he was God-man all wrapped up together.
Now that we understand the two natures of Jesus, the question needs to be asked so what? Why is it important to know that Jesus has two natures, one divine and one
human.? It is important because as we live now, we know we believe, we trust that Jesus understands all the struggles, all the heartaches, all the tension, all the frustrations, all the joys, all the events that make up our lives. Jesus understands sorrow because he lost a friend in Lazarus. He understands human suffering because as a man he suffered on the cross. As a man he was loyal to his mother, he knew what family ties were all about. Jesus lived a human life so he can understand our human life. He understands our joys, our happiness, our heartaches, our sorrow, our pain, our suffering. Because Jesus was human, he doesn’t just imagine what we bear as his children, he has gone through it himself.
"God hears our cries. He hears our cry no matter the time of the day or night He hears our cry no matter where we are. He hears the cry of every creature on the face of the earth.
He hears the cry of a child who cries as her daddy drives away on yet another business trip. She will see him again on Saturday morning. Make that Saturday afternoon. He has a golf game on Saturday morning. God hears her cry.
He hears the cry of the teenage boy who cries himself to sleep in the security of his bedroom after spending his weekend with his step-dad and his mother. The rest of the week he will be with his Dad and his step-mother. He will repeat this same scenario next weekend, and the weekend after that, and the weekend after that. God hears his cry.
He hears the cry of the wife who cries as she wonders if the man she married so many years ago will come home today. They had a big fight and he left angry. Words were spoken that neither one meant to speak. She wants to call him, but she is afraid he will not answer his phone. God hears her cry. God hears his cry... wherever he may be.
He hears the cry of the executive who closes the door to his office and turns his chair away from the window so no one will see his tears. He has just gotten a notice that his position is being phased out. His wife moved out last week. He has no place to go. He has no one to tell. So he sits alone in his office and he cries. God hears his cry.
He hears the cry of the husband who walks down the hall toward the exit of the nursing home where he left his wife. She has not recognized him for quite sometime. He puts the key in the ignition and cries for his wife. God hears his cry.
He hears the cry of a lady who walks into a church and finds a seat. She sits alone. No one speaks to her. No one notices she is there. No one notices when she leaves. As she walks through the parking lot to her car she cries. She cries for the love of someone... anyone. God hears her cry."(2)
The human God hears our cries so that the other side of God, the divine can reach a hand into our live with his saving grace and peace. So through the spirit, Jesus as God can walk with us, can be with with us, can give us the assurance, if we trust in Him, we will not walk alone in this world. God will walk with us. God through the Spirit will walk with us. God will be with us through the divine side of Jesus.
The gift of Christmas is that we have a God that is both human and divine. We have a God that understand the human condition so as God he can walk with us and give us a measure of his peace.
We have a blended God.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale December 17, 2006
(1) A poem by Edwin Markham , "How the Great Guest Came."
(2) He Hears Our Cry by Tom Norvell from firstIMPRESSIONS
