Advent 4a 2025; 21 December
Matthew 1:18-25; Jack Hardaway
SOLSTICE SPLENDOUR
Winter begins today. The longest night. The shortest day. The least light. The most darkness.
It is a good day to hear the Gospel According to Matthew’s account of Mary and Joseph, the dream, the Angel of the Lord, and Immanuel.
We’ll hear Luke’s account in a few days on Christmas Eve, it’s full of singing, and rejoicing, and glory. But Matthew is different, it is full of silence, and whispers, and secrets, and moving through the shadows.
It is a good winter solstice kind of story.
God is quietly arriving, in an old man’s dream, and in a young bride who was almost discarded.
And the name of Jesus, rescuing his people from sin.
This is really a prison break story, setting the captives free from the prison of sin.
Moving in secret, the pieces of the plan begin to fall into place.
The child will be born who is both God and human.
That is the true miracle.
Not the virgin birth, that is a small miracle.
The Big miracle is that God becomes a human baby, for real and true, not in disguise, but fully human.
God is getting mixed up with our mess, to set us free, free enough to choose love.
God, an angel, an old man and a pregnant teenager begin the infiltration of the prison, secretly, quietly setting things in motion. Love will break the bars and snap the chains as the angry and the violent rage and stamp like spoiled children.
This says something about who God is, never giving up on us.
It says something about what it means to be human, that being powerless and vulnerable are how salvation changes the world.
It says something about how to read scripture, as the liberating power of God that heals and frees the world from its prison of hatred and violence.
Joseph could have used the scripture to validate killing Mary for her indiscretion; rather he knew scripture isn’t meant to be used like that.
Love begets love.
Trust begets trust.
Dignity begets dignity.
Decency begets decency.
Goodness begets goodness.
Forgiveness begets forgiveness.
Justice begets justice.
And when the crooked appear to rule the day, God becomes wily, as psalm 18 says.
The crooked beget the wily God.
The wily God works his way in the darkness of the crooked, and those who are unnoticed, dismissed and forgotten bring about the salvation of the universe.
So Joseph and Mary stick together.
And they have a baby.
It’s coming together. God is on the move.
Get ready for the prison break.
Do we want that kind of freedom?
Free to choose love?
What will we do when these prison doors swing wide open?
Time is short. The long dark night is ending.