Sunday
12/18/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Can it be true?”
(“The Messiah is coming” Series – Part 4 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-16
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 1:1-7
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 1:18-25
This morning my friends, my sisters and brothers, we find
ourselves in the Fourth Sunday of this season of Holy Advent. This season of
hope, joy, love, mercy, kindness, peace, and justice. In this being the Fourth
Sunday of Advent, this also means that Christmas Day is next Sunday. Is anyone
not ready for Christmas Day next Sunday?
Well the season of Christmas, which is of course only a
twelve-day season, begins at midnight on Christmas Eve and goes until January 6,
2017. Until Christmas Eve at midnight then, we are still now in the season of
Holy Advent. This season of waiting, of hope, of wonder, and of joy.
It would seem though, as the Book Ecclesiastes discusses in
chapter 3, that our lives, like the church, have seasons to them. There is a
time to cry, a time laugh, and etc. etc. (Eccles. 3, NRSV). Many of us have
heard this scripture, read this scripture, or even have heard the Beatles sing
this scripture.
Here is the problem though, while we have the various
seasons of our lives, the church also has its various liturgical seasons every
year. We have the Seasons of Advent, Christmas, the season after the Epiphany,
Lent, Easter, the season after Pentecost, and of course Ordinary or Common
time, when our paraments are green. In each one these liturgical seasons there
are certain moods, emotions, and focuses that we are supposed to have.
The season of Lent for many for example, is a season of
repentance and self-denial, while awaiting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The
season of Advent however, that we are in now until Christmas Eve at midnight,
is a season of hope, joy, love, peace, mercy, kindness, and justice.
What if though, the seasons of our lives that we are
currently living through right now, do not match up with the liturgical season
that we are in, in the life of the church? To say it another way, what if the
season of your life that you find yourself in right now, is not a season of
hope, joy, love, peace, mercy, kindness, and justice? How can we find these
things, and share these things, especially if we are in seasons of our lives
where we find very little of these things.
As I will discuss more in my Christmas Eve message, the
three basic ideas or concepts that comprise all that God is, can be simplified
to, God being light, God being life, and God being love. Yet some are in a
season of their lives right now where maybe the light, life, and love of God
does not seem as present to them as it has been in other seasons of their life.
Perhaps you can think of past Advents and Christmases when
you had all of the emotions and feelings that are supposed to characterize this
season that we are now in, but maybe this year you don’t feel the same. Or
perhaps you do.
Wherever we are in the seasons of our lives right now, how
can we try to have more of the light, life, and love of God in our lives, and
how can we share this with others? It would seem that if we are in seasons of our
lives of great joy, abundance, and contentment that this is quite easy to do,
but what if the seasons of our lives that we are in right now are quite the
opposite.
I can imagine that on that first Christmas, when Jesus
Christ was born, that all who came and adored Jesus were also in different
places in the seasons of their lives to. Are we to believe that all the
shepherds, and all the wise men, and etc. were all in the same seasons of their
lives? Did all of these people feel the same about their current life
circumstances? Or were they in different places in their own lives? They came, they
saw, and they were amazed, but were all there life circumstances identical?
Probably not.
Yet the folks on that first Christmas, and us today, are
offered this same hope in this season of Advent, and soon to be in the season
of Christmas. How can we discover this hope though, and how can this hope
change us? Even if we are not in the best seasons of our lives right now?
All through the Christian Bible, both in the Old Testament and
the New Testament, we have accounts all different life seasons and emotions. In
our reading today from the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, the prophet Isaiah,
prophesies about the one who is to come. The “Messiah,” the savior of the
world.
In this scripture, Isaiah tells of one of the signs that occur,
whereby we will know that the savior of the world, the “Messiah” has come.
Isaiah says, “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” (Isa.
7:14, NRSV). The prophet Isaiah, who was born centuries before Jesus, says the
“Messiah” is coming, and this is a sign to know this. I would imagine that over
the centuries before Christ was born on Christmas that many people found hope
in these prophetic words that Isaiah wrote. I can imagine the people that were
suffering before the birth of Jesus, hoped and prayed that he would eventually
come and save his people. Where are you finding hope in this season of Advent?
This morning in our reading from the Book of Romans, the
Apostle Paul speaks of who Jesus is. The Apostle Paul said that the “Messiah,”
or Jesus was the one who was “promised beforehand through his prophets in the
holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David
according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:2-4a, NRSV).
So the Apostle Paul is saying that Isaiah was right in his prophecies, as were
many others in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. The Apostle Paul is
saying that Jesus Christ, is the hope, is the “Messiah,” is the savior of the
world.
The reason that I have titled my sermon “Can it be true?”
this morning, in this sermon series called “The Messiah is coming,” is because
we have a pre-birth narrative preview of Jesus Christ this morning in the
gospel of Matthew. I find it interesting not that Isaiah this morning predicts
the birth of Jesus in this season of Advent. I also find it interesting not
that the Apostle Paul talks about the prophecy coming true through in Jesus,
but that we have more specific information about the birth story of Jesus. It
isn’t the actual birth story in the gospel of Matthew, but here we have some
specific details about the birth of Christ. This story in the gospel of Matthew
is almost a pre-birth story about the birth of Christ.
Recently, our resident Bishop of the UNYUMC, Bishop Mark J.
Webb released his official Christmas video message. In this message, Jesus
talked about finding hope in Jesus in this season of Advent and Christmas. Our
bishop talked about the gift that is Jesus Christ.
In the gospel reading this morning from Matthew’s gospel,
the gospel talked about Joseph and Mary, and how Joseph was assured by an angel
of the Lord in a dream that Mary’s pregnancy was of God (Mt. 1:18-20, NRSV). I
can imagine how hard it was at first for Joseph to hear that Mary was going to
have child.
Further,
the angel of the Lord in this gospel reading tells Joseph that this baby, this
son, should be named Jesus, as “he will save his people from their sins” (Mt.
1:21, NRSV).
The gospel then says, “All this took place to fulfill what
had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God
is with us” (Mt. 1:22-23, NRSV). This is of course the prophecy that we heard
this morning from the prophet Isaiah, which was written centuries before
Christ.
So, friends, brothers and sisters, we are in a church
season of hope, joy, love, peace, mercy, kindness, and justice. Perhaps the
current season of your life is exactly like what this season of Advent is
supposed to be. Yet, as I said, what if it isn’t? How can we find glimpses of
hope? I believe that this pre-birth story of the birth of Christ from gospel Matthew
from this morning has been given to us in order to give us a little glimpse of
hope.
Have we seen any glimpses of hope in this season Advent? We
like the church, have seasons in our lives. Yet, are we able to claim hope,
love, joy, or peace in this season. Further, have we been able to give any of
this away?
Advent and Christmas then my brothers and sisters, isn’t
just what we experience as individuals, but it is also about what God is doing
in us as a whole church congregation. As a church, we might find ourselves
individually in all different seasons in our lives, but it is my hope that
together, we might offer each other love, peace, mercy, grace, hope, and
justice. How can we love each other more? How can we love this community that
we live in more? How can we share the hope of Jesus Christ more?
My sisters and brothers, in this season of Advent and soon
to be the season Christmas, may we seek the hope of Jesus Christ, and may we
seek to share that hope with each other. May we have hope in the one who is
coming, the one named Jesus. Amen.
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