God is with Us - the sermon


This sermon can be listened to here
Gate Pa –  4th Sunday in Advent - Year A - 2019

Readings:
Psalm -                        Psalm: 80:1-7,17-19
First Reading -             Isaiah 7:10-16   
Second Reading -       Romans 1:1-7
Gospel:                        Matthew 1: 18-25
What I want to happen:
Ahaz acted out of fear and refused the sign of a young woman giving birth to a son named Emmanuel. He could not see the sign of this child being less than two when all he feared was eradicated. But others remembered and retold that story, in exile, on their return, and then at the birth of a new baby named Jesus.
God with us invites us to not act out of fear, despair, and longing for all that was. God with us invites us to live in hope in whatever situation we find ourselves.

What I want to happen:
What does “God with us” look like in Jesus?

What does “God with us” mean for us today?

The Sermon
1.     Introduction:
This week we hear Matthews version of the Christmas story
Very different from Luke
·        What is different?
·        Why?
Discuss

Some things we might notice
-         This is Joseph’s story – Luke is Mary’s story
-         Joseph and Mary are from Bethlehem not Nazareth
o   No census
o   No journey
o   Not staying in stable but in Joseph’s parents’ house
-         No shepherds, but are wise men
-         Is star
-         Flee to Egypt to avoid Herod’s pogrom
-         Don’t go to temple
o   Jesus not presented
o   No song of Simeon or Anna
-         Nothing about Elizabeth and John
o   No song Zechariah

2.     Matthew
Basic question of all gospels is
“who is Jesus and so what”
Each answer it differently
Mathew answers it
-         Through Johns announcement
-         Through Jesus actions
-         Through whakapapa/ genealogy
-         Through constant linking story Jesus with story people Israel
-         One favourite lines is
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet”
What Advent has been about as well
Look to celebrate Christ in history, mystery and majesty
Who is Jesus
What teach us about God and way of God
So what
Want to spend moment looking at this story of Isaiah 7
Story of Ahaz

3.     Ahaz gets his comeuppance
In hard place
Northern neighbours want his help with Assyria
Not interested
Try depose
Goes Assyria help
Meanwhile Isaiah prophet turns up
Do not fear Ahaz
God is with us
Trust God
Ask for any sign and God will give it
Doesn’t want sign
Already made pact with Assyria
Hides behind pious position
Isaiah sees through
God sees through
Give sign anyway
Young women
-         (Hebrew not about virgin – although if not married then all likelihood virgin)
Give birth son
Name him Emmanuel – God with us
Before 2
Northern neighbours Samaria and Syria gone
Southern kingdom and Jerusalem will be safe
So it comes to pass
Does he see sign?
Sign remembered

     ð 100 years later in exile
What mean for God with us when Jerusalem is destroyed
Temple obliterated
Under foreign ruler in foreign land
     ð 80 years later return
Not what hoped for
Hard
No walls
Temple shadow former glory
What mean for God with us in this new hard place
Away really easy life in Babylon
Surrounded by ruins?
Again Matthew remembers and applies this sign to new baby
Jesus - God saves
God with us in a new way
What does that mean for us?

4.     Things to note
Some things to remember about God with us
           a.     First is that God with US
Not you,
Not me
But with “us”
Us - in this place
Us - people God
Us – people of this land
Us – people of this world
How do we live out this God with us?

          b.     Second is that “God with us” does not mean bad stuff will not happen
Exile happened
Return from exile wasn’t all hoped for
Roman destruction Jerusalem and temple happened
God with us does not mean that nothing bad will happen
but that through whatever happens
God is present offering peace
offering hope
offering joy
offering love,

offering strength to carry on.
Because God is with us

          c.      Third – God with us - invites us to not be like Ahaz
o   Not act out of fear,
o   trust God
Live in world easy to give into fear
-         Future church
-         Climate change
God with us invites us to act out of hope
-         Still have to act
o   Ahaz had to act
o   Exiles had to act – working for Babylonian empire
o   Returnees had to live in new situation
o   Joseph had to act
§  Taking Mary
§  Naming Jesus
o   Acting out of promise that God is with us

5.     Questions to finish
-         What does “God with us” look like in Jesus?
-         What does “God with us” mean for us today?

Go
Don't sit being sad
don't be stuck in this moment
lost in the what ifs and
if only
It is!
So get up
Go!
Take your sadness into the world
share it in the street
find others who too are filled
let go of this moment
and embrace the next
for there you may
live love

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