God is with Us, Hallelujah! Immanuel!

Advent 4C, December 19, 2010

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel"
(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The Christ Child has the name of Jesus, but has the nickname or title of Emmanuel. The word "Jesus" means "The Lord Saves," and the name "Emmanuel" (also spelt "Immanuel" in Isaiah 7) means "God with us." Put together, it means that the Lord is going to save us by being with us. God-Almighty is born as a human, as a human he lives with us, he lives and dies and rises again as a human, in order to be with us in order to save us for eternal life-and in order to save us for our life right now. Emmanuel. God is with us. This is the theme of the Gospel of Matthew. It starts with the birth of Emmanuel and in the very last verse Jesus promises, "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." This promise and blessing of Jesus is a part of our lives and part of our worship life, also. For example, in the middle of our worship service, we do not say "Good morning," but rather we proclaim what makes it good, we say, "The Lord be with you. And also with you." "Immanuel！"

The opposite of Immanuel would be that God was not with us. This can mean two things.

1. The first is that God is not physically with us. That God is out in space somewhere and does not care about us or the world. You know, that God created the world and then went on vacation; that he rested on the Seventh Day and is still resting. That God does not get involved in the workings of the world, neither in nature of storms and floods, nor in human history of war and art and love, nor in the lives of individual people like you and me. If this were the case, then God would not be a God of salvation either. He would not hear our prayers nor look at our offerings and sacrifices and good deeds. Neither would we worship such a god.

Immanuel says that God loves this world and takes an interest in this world to such a wonderful extent that he sends his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him has eternal life. Immanuel means that God loves us. Therefore we have hope for our prayers and joy in our lives and peace in our worship

2. The second meaning of the opposite of Immanuel is that God is not with us in the sense of not being on our side. He is not on our team. He is against us. He is our adversary. God does not support us in our sin. He does not approve of our rebellion. He is not with us when we hurt other people. He is not with us in our greed or revenge. He is not with us when we commit secret sins. He is not a co-conspirer in our mischief. Actually, in our sinful state, we do not Immanuel; we do not want God to be with us. We want to hide from God. We do not want God to find us in our sin. Because if God is with us in our sin, then at such a time, Jesus does not come as Savior but rather as Judge. He condemns our sin. He tells us to repent. He tells us to get with him. He wants us "to get with it," to get with his program.

This is the problem, this is why Christmas is necessary. The problem is that people just cannot get with it. They cannot get with God on their own. To say it graphically, God is in heaven and we are on earth and there is no way we can get to heaven on our own to be with God. There is sin and laziness and complacency, and they all lead us farther away from God who can help us.

And this is why Christmas is necessary. At Christmas we celebrate that God comes to us. Jesus comes to be with us. He is with us all year, and in every situation. He is with us in the good and the bad, when we do good things and when we do bad things. Jesus promised to be with us always. And that means not only when we are good people in church, but also when we are sinners. Even in the midst of committing sin, Jesus is with us. When we feel sorry for our sin, Jesus is there to forgive us and to comfort us and give us strength. Even if we are led into temptation by the devil and this world, Jesus is with us to deliver us from evil. Even when we have our crosses of suffering and grief, Jesus is with us with his own cross. On the cross, Jesus was with us, taking upon himself our sin and being with our sin and suffering. Then on the third day, he was with us again, resurrected from the dead. And so he will be with us when we are resurrected from the dead, too.

This is the message of Christmas: Emmanuel. God is with us. Another word for that is "love." We want to be with those whom we love. So we share our time and our gifts to show that love. We make special events in order to be with those people. God wants to be with all people, and so we tell the Good News of God's love at Christmas. Salvation is for all. Because, as John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Amen. The Lord be with you. (And also with you.)

And may the peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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