Mark A. Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University
December 17, 2000

Isaiah 7:10-17

10 ¶ Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. 13 Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah — the king of Assyria.”

Matthew 1:18-25

18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

INTRODUCTION–THE TEXT

The lesson we just heard was from St. Matthew’s account of the Nativity. In it there are a number of things that are typical of Matthew’s gospel: a focus on Jesus’ lineage through Joseph, people receiving messages through dreams, and quotations from Hebrew scripture.

In this passage, Matthew quotes a passage from the prophet Isaiah with words that are familiar to each of us:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”

It is a quote from the seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah, a text we heard earlier. Now, in the interest of intellectual honesty, we must acknowledge that the focus of the Isaiah text is much different than that of the text in Matthew. Listen again to those words we heard earlier:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

King Ahaz of Judah, to whom Isaiah addressed this oracle, was in a crisis. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Syria were trying to compel Judah to attack Assyria with them. They were threatening Judah unless Ahaz did what they wanted. Isaiah responds with a prophecy indicating that a young woman, perhaps a woman in the royal court, is pregnant and will have a son. Before that child is old enough to know right from wrong, the threat from Israel and Assyria will be over.

Now, Matthew can read as well as the next person. He can read a text in its context. Why does he think this text is relevant to his message about Jesus of Nazareth? Well, he has found something in it that speaks to him in his present faith: that is the name Immanuel.

IMMANU-EL

For Immanuel immanu-el is Hebrew for “God is with us.” And that, more than anything was determinative. See, Matthew understood that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, God was with us. He may not have been sure how, exactly–it was a while before the church had theologians who really tried to explain this–but he knew what all the early Christians believed, In Christ–God was with us, reconciling himself to the world. Immanu-el.

INCARNATION

Immanu-el reminds us that Christmas is not about the birth of a baby. It is about the miracle of the Incarnation. How many of you know what incarnation means, where the word comes from? Ever have Chili con Carne? What does a carnivore eat? Meat. Flesh. The incarnation, then, is the enfleshment. The word of God in flesh.

The Incarnation is as important to our faith as the Resurrection. It challenges us. It reminds us to put flesh on our faith. The spirit of pious word must take on the flesh of righteous action. Our Christianity must be incarnationalist–fleshing out our faith, providing the same kind of witness to the world that Christ provided to us, revealing the love of God in our human lives. The Incarnation challenges us to live a full and involved faith, a faith with some meat on it, a faith with substance. It challenges us to live our lives in such a way that we can proclaim to all humanity, immanu-el, God is with us.