December 22nd, 2019 - Download a Worship Bulletin Above Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 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." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son and he named him Jesus. In one of my previous jobs, I was a bartender at a local winery, and the job had many responsibilities. I would set up the bar for the day, uncorking dozens of bottles of wine, attaching pourers to the bottles to ensure sample sizes were only one ounce, washing and polishing glassware, and reviewing menus to make sure everything was up-to-date. We also had a brewery onsite, which made several different types of beer, and guests were able to sample beer and purchase bottles and larger glass containers of beer called growlers that were poured straight from the keg. One day I was cleaning the beer fill, which fills the larger glass containers of beer, and I was using a special alcohol cleaner on the entire machine. A coworker walked by and said, “Oh, wait, you’re supposed to use Chlorox wipes to clean the outside of the machine, and alcohol spray only on the inside, not on the entire thing.” “Oh!” I responded, “Sorry! I guess I’ve been doing it wrong the entire time I’ve worked here!” He said, “It’s not your fault, someone probably just trained you wrong, but now you know.” There was something about that phrase that gave me pause: “It’s not your fault.” I caught my breath, thanked him, and he said, “No worries, it’s not your fault.” Again, I felt my heart squeeze tighter. For whatever reason, the phrase, “It’s not your fault,” communicated an overwhelming type of love that I couldn’t explain in the moment. It wasn’t about how I was cleaning the beer machine; it was about something deeper, something that continues to give me pause everytime I hear the words, “It’s not your fault.” In this season of Christmas, it’s easy to “forget just what a scandal the incarnation [of Jesus] and the virgin birth really were, that behind the pretty, [snowladen] nativity scene lies both a wonder and [the stigma of shame].” This morning’s scripture reading brings us through the narrative of the Nativity story, of how we learn of Mary’s pregnancy, and how Joseph decides to respond. Joseph, being a righteous man, a man who was known throughout their town, perhaps someone of political and religious influence, decided to take pity on Mary and dismiss her quietly, sending her away believing that she had been unfaithful in their engagement. He could have decided to make a scene, sending her out publicly and shaming her for her supposed infidelity; this sort of public display of wrongdoing was common during those days, but Joseph showed mercy and was resolute in his path forward to keep things quiet and help Mary to maintain at least a small portion of her standing in society. We then hear of a dream Joseph has in which an angel of the Lord reassures Joseph that Mary has not, as he had believed, been unfaithful, but rather, there had been a miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph should not leave Mary at all, but rather, stay as a family to raise their child together, a child he shall name, “Jesus.” And Joseph did as he was inspired through his dream, defying societal norms to take Mary as his wife and stay with her, despite what others might say. And when the child was born, Joseph did indeed name the child, “Jesus,” the child who would bring about the salvation of all of creation. Joseph’s role in this story is not simply to be faithful to God in staying with Mary, but his role was also to communicate to Mary that it wasn’t her fault that she was pregnant, that the pressure of society on both Mary and Joseph was not Mary’s fault, that the public disgrace that Joseph now faced was not Mary’s fault. Mary was a young girl, maybe only fourteen or fifteen years old, pregnant by miracle, but we can safely assume that she was terrified and felt misunderstood. People all throughout town either thought that she was unfaithful to Joseph or that her and Joseph had been together before they were married, which would have brought shame to them both. But because Joseph stood with Mary, rather than leaving her, he communicated an overwhelming sense of love to Mary by saying, “It’s not your fault.” Joseph took his faithfulness even further by naming Jesus as his own son. Joseph knew that Jesus was not his child, but in the act of naming him, Joseph adopted Jesus into his own family, into the lineage of the house of David, as his own flesh and blood, even then communicating to Jesus that it was not his fault that he was born into such a complicated family situation. Children who are borne out of difficult circumstances like this one often feel guilty or lost without a family to call their own. They may even feel at fault for the brokenness of their family, but Joseph counters that reality by naming Jesus as his own and further strengthening their family ties. Joseph communicated an overwhelming sense of love to Jesus by saying, “It’s not your fault.” Now in two rich senses, Joseph has offered forgiveness to both Mary and Jesus, but it is not because either of them have wronged him. Rather, Joseph offers overwhelming love, reassuring both Mary and Jesus that they are not at fault, and that they can forgive themselves, for indeed, they have done nothing wrong in these circumstances. Jesus himself is completely faultless, being fully human and fully divine, living without wrongdoing. But perhaps even he needed reassurance of overwhelming love to know that it wasn’t his fault. This baby boy, fully human in his being, fully divine in his conception and existence, comes to forgive us for our wrongdoings, but perhaps even more, he comes to show us how to forgive ourselves, how to live life to its fullest. One scholar defines sin not as the bad things we do, but rather as “the choice to minister to ourselves rather than to allow the Savior to minister to us.” When we feel shame for our actions, or for our inactions, or for the ways in which society has cast blame upon us, we are turning inward, tending to our own wounds. Instead, we are called to turn toward Jesus, who offers ultimate forgiveness and overwhelming love, saying, “It’s not your fault.” The reason these four words have such impact on us is because, so often, we have not learned how to forgive ourselves. Deep down, we may believe that certain things have happened in our lives because we did something wrong, or that we deserve what we get. There is this fundamental understanding that we are broken, and that all brokenness stems from our humanity; but I would argue that this is not Jesus’ message at all. Jesus came not as a God among men throwing lightning bolts and smiting people left and right, but as a man among humanity, humble yet divine, whose healing touch would restore sight, who ate and drank with outcasts, who offered living water. Jesus walked with us on earth, showing us how to be human, and showing us that humanity inofitself is beautiful and sacred and worthy. We are not broken. We don’t deserve to suffer because of our “fallen nature” - the everlasting grace has already come; we can live into new life because Christ lived for us and showed us the way, so that the living Christ may be made visible through us, the church. Fundamentally, we are the salt of the earth, full of light and life, full of potential in blessings for ourselves and for others. Jesus came to share with us life, and life abundant. This is new life. This is genesis at the intersection of forgiveness. Yesterday was the Winter Solstice: it was the shortest day of the year. Yesterday held the least amount of light that we’ve seen all year long. My prayer is this: Don’t allow yourself to continue to live in darkness, believing that you are to blame for some of the most difficult situations in life. From here on out, the light gets brighter each day. Live into that, stand up, and walk away from any guilt or shame you may feel. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. Whatever it is that you’re facing today, whether grief or sickness or depression, may you recognize the Jesus of life and love, holding out his hand in overwhelming love saying, “It’s not your fault.” May you witness the miracle and the scandal of this Christmas season, holding your head high, knowing that you are loved, and that guilt and shame belong to the darkness. May you step into the Light, the Light that is evergrowing and everlasting, and see that the real miracle of Christmas is the freedom we can experience through the overwhelming Divine Love of Jesus Christ. - Pastor Christy Wright
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