Sermon
12/24/16
Luke
2:1-20
His
Name Shall Be Called: Emmanuel
All
throughout the season of Advent, the weeks before this night as we’ve been
preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we’ve been studying some of the
names for Jesus we draw from the writing of the prophet Isaiah: Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Each week we asked
ourselves what it means to call Jesus by these names. What does it mean to
follow one who bears these titles?
Tonight we’re
thinking about another name for Jesus, which also comes from Isaiah’s writings:
Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Isaiah writes, “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.” Centuries later, Matthew, writing his
account of Jesus’ birth, sees Isaiah’s words fulfilled in the Christ-child. And
there, in just this one spot in the gospels, Jesus is called Emmanuel,
God-with-us. He’s never referred to by this name again. Jesus is never known by the name Emmanuel; it’s not
like a nickname he’s called. And yet, Matthew’s name for Jesus is so powerful
and compelling that followers of Jesus have continued to use this title for him
ever since. All these weeks, building toward Christmas, we have been singing of
Emmanuel: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” “Emmanuel, Emmanuel … God with us,
revealed in us – His name is called Emmanuel.”
I get it. I’m
with Matthew. God is with us. In
Luke, an angel announces the new, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you
good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” To us is born the child Jesus. Yes, surely the baby is Mary’s, surely
we did not do the hard work of carrying and laboring and delivering Jesus, but
the angel says the child is for us all
the same. A savior born for us, good
news for us: God is with us.
The whole of
the scriptures is a love story – the story of God’s amazing love for us, and
the story of God’s hope for relationship with us. Over and over, the scriptures
tell of ways God tries to connect with us, speak to us, call to us. What would
you do to be near someone you loved? What would you do to let them know you
loved them? What would you do to be able to spend time with someone you love
who is far away?
What God does
is come to us in person. At Christmas, we celebrate what we call the Incarnation. Incarnation means the embodiment of God. It means God comes to
us in-the-flesh. God is embodied in the person of Jesus. At Christmas, we
celebrate the event of God’s incarnation in the Christ-child.
Even
though the word Emmanuel doesn’t show up in the gospel of Luke, Luke’s account
of Jesus’s birth gives us the sentiment, the meaning of God-with-us from one
end of the text to the other. God is with Mary and Joseph, as first they
learned of the child Mary would carry, then as they make their long journey, as
Mary gives birth in a precarious setting, as strange people show up and make
themselves part of the story, as Mary treasures every moment. God is certainly
with the shepherds. They’re unlikely candidates, maybe, to be the first
recipients of the news of Jesus’ birth. They’re no one special. We don’t even
know their names or how many there were. But God chooses them, surely a sign
that God is with and for them, for those
on the margins, for those who are usually left out, for those who are poor and lowly.
God is with them.
God is even
with those who won’t listen, who won’t open the door, who don’t have any room.
With Herod, and Quirinius, and Emperor Augustus, and with every person who
turned away Mary and Joseph, too busy, too proud, too important, too stressed
to notice what was happening.
We also have
to think about the “us” in this phrase “God with us.” Sometimes, we get
confused, and we begin to think that Emmanuel means “God with me,” as if we are the only ones in this
extraordinary relationship with God, even as we can trust that we are each uniquely precious to God. All sorts
of damage and harm and violence in the world is done in the name of believing
that God is with me but not with you. Emmanuel is definitely God with us. And the very Christmas story we
cherish and celebrate tonight helps us understand who the us is exactly.
The Christmas
story is God trying to get our attention. Centuries of God’s people not getting
the message lead God to try the clearest message yet: God is with us in the
flesh! And so we read about God’s elaborate, majestic, powerful gesture: “Hey,
shepherds, look over here – there’s an angel! There’s a whole sky-full of
angels! Hey, Mary and Joseph: Look, here’s some shepherds! They came because angels sent them! Hey, you, reading this
story, hearing this word proclaimed: Here’s a neon sign! Here’s me in the
flesh! I AM WITH YOU!”
We’re getting the message, God! How
will we respond? Herod hears “God is with us” and we’ll see him respond in fear
and anger. He doesn’t want God to be so close. How close do we want God? The
shepherds hear “God is with us” and they want to see for themselves, and they
want to tell all about it, and they rejoice at the goodness of God. Is the news
good enough for us to tell about it? Mary hears “God is with us” and she
treasure and ponders over every detail. She knows that the world is changing,
that God in the flesh means nothing can be the same. What changes for you if
you know, if you trust, if you open your life to God with you?
God
is with us. This child we celebrate
is for us. The gift from God is for us. This story we tell is for us. As close as we want. Right in
our hearts. Moved in. Changing our lives, and changing the world. “Do not be
afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the
Lord.” God with us. Amen.
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