The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (December 19, 2004)
Matthew 1:18-25
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means ‘God–is–with–us’. When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home; he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
Perhaps more from Joseph's view, Matthew makes the Jewish legal case for how and why Joseph was able to take Mary to wife.
A Reflection
There are those of us who are cursed every day to work with facts and numbers and physical laws. For those who expect products to work -- airplanes and such to do their jobs safely -- we are, perhaps, a blessing of sorts.
When every thing has to be rational, and truth lies only in verifiable fact, we are cursed. Of course, Jesus told those around Thomas that those who believe without having seen are blessed, and I can count myself in that number as well. The virgin birth is one of those "articles of faith" which is somewhat of an indefinite article for me at this stage of my growth.
Eastern and mediterranean mythology is so chock-full of parthogenesis that it's hard to believe there was any need for biological couplings. Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus head a list of historical figures about whom such myths have arisen.
Students and scholars tell us that embellishment of these heroes' legends was pretty much standard, that it helped them to stand out even more in mythical terms.
And we have to remember that the gospels are story as history, and that they have received a tremendous amount of editing "help" in their travels through the ages, down to us.
So, could Jesus have been born of a virgin conception? You bet. Trying to place limits on God is just plain foolish.
Was it the event described by Isaiah's prophecy? Nope. That prophecy was to King Ahaz, a force-fed event because Ahaz would not listen to Isaiah. And the Hebrew for "young woman" and "virgin" is just one word. So Isaiah's "virgin" could have been a twelve-year-old, sexual history unknown.
Matthew had a tendency -- and he was not alone in it -- of backfitting the events of Jesus' life to Hebrew Bible texts. Isaiah 7:14, here, is just another instance. Many apologists for this behavior claim that it is "fulfillment," that is, the completion of the Hebrew Bible text in New Testament times, hence the "fulfillment of time" usage.
Jesus used a similar technique to get his foot in the door, by performing signs and wonders; once he had the crowd's attention, he could get the Message through. We shouldn't jump on Matthew's writers for doing the same thing using literary tools.
And what is the Message, here? God understands our condition, and chooses to come among anyway, us not in royal purple, but in humility, beginning the earthly walk as he was to end it, among poor people trying to do the best they can every day.
Moses could not be received as the hero of his people, but had to be discovered, and then rejected, in Egypt.
Jesus could not be received as the savior of us all, but had to be discovered, and then rejected, in Bethlehem of Judea.
Come, let us adore Him!
The Collect
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
3:56:34 PM 
|
