Rev. George Miller
Dec 18, 2022
Matthew 1:18-25
Love is the candle we light today; one of the greatest forces of the
world.
When we know we are loved, we feel joy.
When we know we are loved we experience peace.
When we are loved and love in return there is hope for the world.
Hope, peace, joy, and love illuminate us with their light as we await the
birth of Christ.
When I think of love, I think of an incident that took place when I was
16. I went to a house party, got drunk
for the 1st time, blacked out; threw up everywhere. Dad came to get me.
I ranted and raved, sharing deep dark secrets. I kept saying again and again “I’m not gay, I’m
not gay.” Woke up the next day with Mom
and Dad by my side.
Later, Dad stepped into my room to process the events. There was no shame, no punishing words- the hangover was consequence enough.
My Dad, a big, burly, New York City Police officer, Vietnam Vet, Eagle Scout,
Troop 100 Leader simply spoke what a concerned father would say.
Then he said, “In regard to you being gay, it doesn’t matter to me if you
are gay or straight, I love you no matter what.” He hugged me and kissed me.
My Father’s actions bore at least 2 gifts- one, knowing that when I was
ready to come out, I would never have to worry about being dismissed, kicked
out, or treated as less than.
Two, Dad demonstrated to me what God’s love truly looks like.
I never had to wrestle with if in God’s eyes I am unworthy, if I’m an
evil degenerate, or if God is displeased with me based on my identity.
Something else- though Dad was very traditional, when it came to
accepting me, he was a revolutionary.
At a time in American History when the topic was still taboo, feared,
ridiculed, silenced, “cured” or beat out of you, my Dad chose instead to love.
Love. Joy. Peace. Hope- they illuminate us with their revolutionary light
as we await the birth of Christ.
Revolutionary Love is today’s focus, using the stories of 2 parents who
make 2 similar decisions that will forever change it all. We start in Matthew, then go back to
Exodus.
The author of Matthew is excited about Jesus. He can’t wait to share the Good News, to convince
us that Jesus is such an amazing event.
With this knowledge, we hear today’s reading. We have Joseph, a righteous man, a holy
man. He knows the Law; he knows all that
scripture says.
But he’s in a bit of a quandary- he’s engaged to be married, but his fiancé
is already pregnant.
And the letter of the Law makes it very clear- she is to be brought to
her father’s house where the men of the village will stone her to death.
Mary’s pregnancy makes Jospeh very afraid. He’s afraid to violate the Law, he’s afraid
to take her as his wife.
He wrestles with his faith. He decides
that it is better to send her away than to have Mary experience death and
disgrace.
Talk about compassion in action.
He is visited by God’s Messenger who invites him to stop being afraid, to
wed Mary, that her child will free people from their “bad hearts and broken
ways”.
Which Joseph does, and it is revolutionary.
Jospeh may not have realized it, but he is showing us how to be righteous
in a whole new way. He shows how to
follow the spirit of the Law.
For what had seemed to be a moral outrage is really a heavenly
disruption. Mary’s son is not a violation
of God’s will, but a sign of Heaven’s love.
Joseph could have chosen the way of death. But instead he opted for life- just like the
mother of Moses.
1,300 years before Joseph, his ancestors were in Egypt, enslaved. They were so feared that a decree was sent
out that all the Hebrew boys are to be tossed into the river like trash.
But a brave woman from the house of Levi has a son; she looks upon him
with great love and chooses to hide him for 3 months, breaking the law.
When she could no longer hide him, she put her son in a papyrus basket
and placed him in the river’s reeds.
In doing so she saved not only his life, but the lives of thousands of people
who her son would later set free.
She was a revolutionary. She didn’t
need an angel to tell her what was right.
She didn’t need words to face her fear.
This mother boldly, bravely stood against the unjust law of death, choosing
instead to say “Yes” to life.
Revolutionary Love.
One parent wrestles with a law that would’ve meant death to his fiancé and
her child; another parent wrestles with a legal decree that would’ve taken away
the breath of her boy.
Both Joseph and the Mother of Moses had difficult choices to make,
choices that had moral and legal ramifications.
Somehow, some way, they both chose life, and in doing so they both played
a part in changing the course of the world.
In doing so they both played a part in bringing forth salvation.
The Revolutionary choice of Moses’s mother was to go against the law of
Pharaoh and to keep her son alive.
The Revolutionary choice of Jospeh was to stay righteous by following the
spirit of the law when it was clear that the letter of the law was inhumane.
Revolutionary Love. It literally
changes the world.
And we get to see here that God is so amazing, so astounding that even
before Moses and Jesus spoke a single word, their very existence was already
making things brand new.
At a time in which folk are using the Bible as a weapon and faith as a
moralistic measuring rod,
it is good to be reminded that when Joseph had the chance to hurt, had
the chance to harm, had the chance to send away,
he opted instead to love.
He opted to wrestle with God, wrestle with his faith, wrestle with what
was right and what was wrong,
He opted to show compassion, and instead he chose life.
He chose hope, peace, joy, and love- illuminating us with the light of
Christ.
Amen.
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