Peaceful Joy
(based on Isaiah 7:13-15, Matthew 1:18-25)
In our reading from Isaiah this morning; after
addressing King Ahaz, Isaiah addresses all of Israel. “Is it too little for you to weary mortals,
that you weary my God also? Therefore,
the Lord God will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and
shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
They fretted over their enemies. They worried that their enemies would come
and overtake them. They were fearful and
shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind, so says Isaiah 7 verse
2. They searched for a sign from God
that God was still on their side and that God would strike their enemies down. But God wanted them to rest and be calm, to
not worry, to not fear. But God does
not give them the sign that they are expecting.
This is the sign; a child. Immanuel.
The people of Israel are waiting for the
Warrior God to show up and destroy their enemies. They were terrified that the gods of Syria were
greater than their God. And God wants to
know: “Must I be like you, only bigger? Must I be vengeful in a world obsessed with
getting even? I myself will give you a
sign: “a young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall call him
Immanuel.”
Can we see this sign? The stories of God’s movement in history
invite each generation to enter the story. African slaves in America heard stories of God
delivering the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. They heard themselves in that story in a way
their slave masters did not. The exodus
became an African American story and Miriam’s song became a freedom song of
deliverance from the auction block. Every
generation enters the pages of scripture with longing and need, expectation and
hope.
Perhaps we find in this story a message for our
generation, too. That God is not part of
culture. That God is bigger than our
politics. That God is bigger than our
reliance on Walmart and Amazon. That God
is bigger than the bullies that threaten Civil War if we don’t do what they
want. That our God is a God of peace and
joy, hope and love.
According to the prophet Isaiah in our Old
Testament reading, Israel faced a significant threat. However, the birth of a child demonstrated
God’s intent to save the nation from Assyrian domination. The name “Emmanuel” and the expression “God
with us” signal both that a significant social transition is about to occur and
that the community can live through the anxiety of transition because they
believe that it comes from God.
The birth of Jesus, similarly, signals that the
end-time transformation is underway and that the community can remain faithful
even in the face of conflict and chaos because they can believe the
transformation takes place under the protection of God. What we do corporately and individually
matter. What we share with the world
matter. How we respond to the world
matters. What actions we make on a daily
basis matter. How we conduct our lives
matter. It is our responsibility to be
the fruition of that baby Jesus in our world today. It is our responsibility to manifest what it
means to have “God with us” to have Immanuel in our lives.
Brigitte Kahl teaches New Testament at Union
Theological Seminary. She grew up in the former East Germany. Like many ordinary Germans, her father had
served in Hitler’s army. When that army
invaded Russia the German soldiers wore belt buckles inscribed with the words
“Gott mitt unz.” God with us. Unless we
see the sign of the child it is all too easy to turn “Immanuel, God-with-us”
into a call to defeat our enemies.
God’s sign of a child surprised a king and an
unwed father named Joseph. This sign
matters of a child matters a lot in a world that continues to worship a
vengeful God who can crush its enemies. But seeing a child as the of sign of
God-with-us, I think, paints a different picture:
The Living Word of God comes to us as a child
who is received, but cannot hurt us; a Word that does not make us afraid. We should be prepared for the anger of God; I think
God has a right to wrath for what we’ve done to one another, how we treat one
another, what we’ve made of God’s creation. What is so amazing is that when God does come
among us, whatever God’s hurt or indignation, God comes not with violence, but
as a child, vulnerable, that we might receive rather than fear God.
Gayle Boss wrote a fantastic book titled, All
Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings. Each chapter describes the way an animal
adapts to winter—with the loss of both heat and light. One chapter describes the life cycle of a
firefly. Much like most insects, the
common Eastern firefly dies off every year.
But, in a sense, their little lights never cease. Because a firefly egg, buried deep in the
ground, gives off a faint glow. And
after only two weeks it will hatch and the little red larvae will radiate a
soft constant glow. Far beneath our
feet, they have spent the winter months crawling through the soil, eating and
growing.
When the larva has grown to a specific size, it
will construct a sort of mud cave for itself in the soil. It will lie in the cave, glowing and still,
while every part of its body melts and is remade. It will have crawled through the dark earth
for more than three hundred days to be made ready for a transformation that
happens in ten or twelve. A new
creature, nothing like its original form, will push out of its cave, dig, and
break above ground. It will rest a
moment and breathe, then rise on fresh wings, its light, long hidden, released
to dance, sparkle, and shine through the nights of summertime.
This quiet and persistent light of the firefly
is something like the peaceful joy we celebrate on this fourth Sunday of
Advent. We celebrate God’s light and
love, soft and persistent, “radiating love to all the earth.” We celebrate
God’s peace and we anticipate how it might be manifest in the world.
It might be hard to believe that God would come
to this world, to be with us. Harder
still to believe that God would come to us as a baby. No wonder then, that an angel had to visit
Joseph in his dreams to show him how the Messiah would be born into the
world. “Do not be afraid,” says the
angel. But, honestly, there is much to
be afraid of! The 9 months of pregnancy
allows plenty of opportunity for feelings of fear and anxiety to take residence
in hopeful parents. In this time of
transition, this time of waiting, God sends a messenger of peace. And the peace God offers, peaceful joy is
deep and wide, nudging its way through most of our lives and occasionally
bursting forth in radiant light.
Peaceful joy brings balance to what feels
out-of-sorts in the world. In a world
that so often feels scary, peaceful joy speaks words of comfort. In a world that values strength and
fortitude, peaceful joy portrays vulnerability.
In a world full of kings and rulers fighting for power, peaceful joy is
born in the form of a warm, soft cry of a baby.
There isn’t much time left in our Advent
waiting. Only a few days remain before
Immanuel arrives. This Christmas will
you receive the baby? Will you receive
the vulnerability of God? And finally, will
you respond to the threats of the world in peaceful joy?
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