From the Cross to the Cradle
The Rev. Mark Sherwindt, Pastor
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Advent 4: December 23, 2007Romans 1:1-4 - Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isaiah 7:10-16 - Then LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.”
Matthew 1:18-23 - 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; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 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; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God is with us).
______________________________ Sometimes we are surprised by the obvious. This past Thursday, I was enjoying a company Christmas party with Marilyn at Akron Children's Hospital, when one of her colleagues drew my attention to the obvious by observing that Christianity stands alone as a religion that introduces God as a baby. His comment reminded me of a wonderful choir anthem we sing from time to time.
They waited for a King with crown of gold to save the world as was foretold, a Sovereign wise, a ruler bold, but only a baby came…. They waited for a Prince to gain the throne, a Savior sent by God alone, a Lord with Kingdom yet unknown, but only a baby came….
They waited for a world of truth divine, a heavenly dove, a sacred sign, a living brand, from Jesse's line, but only a baby came….
Only a babe to bear the shame, only a babe with love His name, only a lowly, holy baby came.
Our texts this morning make a more sophisticated case for a more complex history that leads from the cross to the manger. Paul's introduction in his Epistle to the Romans offers one of our earliest formulations of when that moment was when Jesus was recognized and acclaimed as the Son of God, our Savior. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, set apart for the gospel of God, which was promised beforehand through the prophets in the Scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David, a son of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the witness of his resurrection from the dead.” It was the resurrection that revealed and declared Jesus to be the Son of God, the world's Savior, Christ our Lord.
The Gospels follow that same line of witness. The Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel to be written (around 60 CE), makes no mention of Jesus' birth, none at all. It is the Cross that takes center stage in Mark, revealing the meaning of his mission, serving as the culmination of his ministry, with the resurrection proclaiming God's divine seal of approval, establishing Jesus as the one sent to reveal the power of God's love and the wisdom of God's ways. The Gospel of Matthew doesn't include all the quaint details of the Annunciation, the Spirit's power, the shepherds quaking, the angels singing as does the Gospel of Luke; but he does offer a marvelous context within which to understand the full meaning of our Lord's birth. “Look, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God with us.”
This scripture has a strong and complicated connection with Isaiah 7, mostly as the chain of evidence, which Matthew uses to document and establish Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy promising the sending of a Savior, the Anointed One, with a messianic mission, who will sit on the throne of David, and rule God's kingdom with righteousness, deciding with equity for the meek of the earth and delivering justice for the poor among us. As it turned out Isaiah's reference to a young woman of child-bearing age, who would give birth to a son, whose name would be Immanuel, was not originally intended in the Hebrew to bear all the freight that came with Matthew's case, written in Greek, who saw in this prophesy proof that because God alone was Jesus' father, Jesus was the Son of God. It is a very nice twist, but nothing that Paul appealed to in Romans 1:4, nor anything that Mark needed in order to know that Jesus was the Christ, God's Son, our Savior. This Good News was clear from the love he lived, the life he gave on the Cross for us, the life God returned through the power of the Resurrection.
As many of you already know I am fascinated by the history of New Testament writings, by the development in style, presentation, thought, and ideas that becomes so evident when reading them, comparing them, and examining the historical connection between them. Paul's writings are the earliest. He was focused on the Resurrection as the key moment in our knowing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. As Paul says, Jesus was born a son of David according to the narrative of his birth in Bethlehem, but declared Son of God in power with his Resurrection. Mark's Gospel came next, and, unlike Paul, who offered next to no references to Jesus' earthly ministry, Mark begins the story of Jesus' ministry with his Baptism. That is the moment when Jesus is declared the Son of God. The Spirit descended from above, accompanied by heaven's thunderous applause, “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
Both Matthew and Luke get back to the circumstances of Jesus' birth as the moment when Jesus became the Son of God. Luke is much more talented as a story-teller, but Matthew follows the more powerful theme of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Here in Matthew 1:23, we encounter the first fulfillment of biblical prophesy, which is found in Isaiah 7:14, foretelling the birth of Christ in language that Matthew took to anticipate the Virgin Mary, whose Son was to bear the name Immanuel, which means, God is with us. Matthew's choice of beginnings is perfect, and this concept, that God is now known by his promise to be with us, is repeated again at the very end of Matthew's gospel with the Great Commission. “Go ye therefore into all the earth proclaiming all that I have taught you, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, lo, I am with you … always … to the end of the age, to the ends of the earth … and beyond.” (28:19-20) That is the key promise, a promise that Matthew uses to form the bookends that let us know the point of everything that comes in between.
So, while it is true, and interesting, and unique to the history of Christianity that God comes as a baby, these are not the stories that define the essence of our Christian faith. While it is true that Jesus' birth marks the origin of his life, it is the cross that identifies that origin of revelation, and it is the resurrection that marks the origin of insight proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is God's Son, our Lord and Savior. The stories of Jesus' birth are, in the end, not biographically driven, but theological in nature. They follow the claim that if Jesus is declared the Son of God in power with the fact of the Resurrection, then he must have been the Son of God before that - with his Baptism at the Jordan, with his birth in the manger, with his conception by the Holy Spirit. In fact, given that our faith claims that Jesus shares in God's divinity, it must be the case that Jesus was God's Son from before the beginning of time, and even before that. That is the meaning of the well-known Prologue in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. The Word was made flesh and has come to dwell among us” - in other words, to be with us, now and forever.
The stories of Jesus' birth are not intended to elevate the human to divine status, but to proclaim the Good News that in Jesus God has visited us, the divine has come to be with us, to live with us, making it clear that God is love, and that in love he clothes Himself in all that we endure and suffer, so that we might know, find comfort in, and derive strength from the blessed assurance that there isn't anything God wouldn't do - there isn't anything God has not already done - to embrace us with a love that will never let us go. Paul didn't include any stories of Jesus' birth, but he knew the Good News that Jesus' life proclaimed, namely, that neither life nor death, nothing in this life nor anything in the next, nothing we've ever done or ever could do will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.