The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Dec. 23, 2001

Based on the Gospel reading: Matthew 1:18-25

Christmas is about more than turkey and Santa Claus and presents under the tree. Yet the story is so familiar to us that we forget how momentous an occasion it is. That is why Advent is an important season of the Church year. Advent helps us to prepare by reminding us about the signs that God is present with us, that God has visited us in a special way. Signs that God will come again!

The signs that God is with us are all around us. Yet very often we ignore them. Even when we recognize them, we easily dismiss them as irrelevant. We become preoccupied with distractions – TV, outside activities, negative thoughts. Even the cares of life can become distractions.

And don't you find in everyday living that there are simply so many signs that you easily ignore them? There are some that really attract my attention. For example the signs along the Gardiner Expressway are almost too distracting. I have come close to having an accident as I watched for the next phase of one of the electronic signs along the route. The colourful lights and changing images are real attention grabbers.

Sometimes signs are simply confusing. On the country lanes in England when I wanted to know where I was heading, they kept telling me where I had been – twenty miles from York they would remind me. Now although I found that to be fascinating, since I was heading to Oxford where I had never been, I found them less than helpful.

Then there are signs that somehow I would rather ignore. They cause uncertainty in my mind. My computer is a case in point. It will ask me, "Do you really want to replace that file?" And I think, "Is there some reason I shouldn't? What is going to happen if I replace it? Should I or shouldn't I?"

The readings today point out how important signs are to our understanding. They also point out how easily the signs may be missed, ignored, or misinterpretted. The word in Scripture which is used as sign, at least the Greek word, is very close in meaning to the word for miracle. A sign is a miraculous gift of God's grace that assists us in our faith journey, that allows us clear access to God if we allow it to seep into our consciousness.

The Old Testament reading takes place at a time in Judah's history when the kings of Syria and Israel had formed an alliance in order to depose the king, Ahaz. Ahaz is told to trust God. "Ask a sign of the Lord your God," Isaiah tells him. But Ahaz declines. He says that he does not need a sign. In reality he is afraid of what might be in the future for him in somewhat the same way that a politician might fear the outcome of a poll. A sign comes to him anyway through the prophet. The young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Because we filter everything through our knowledge of the New Testament, we immediately recognize the Christmas story echoed in this passage. In terms of the situation of Ahaz, there is no certainty about the child to whom Isaiah is referring. Old Testament scholars think it is a prophecy about Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, who became a great king in Israel's history. No matter how we view the prophecy, whether from the Jewish point of view, or from our Christian perspective, the underlying message for him is exactly what it is for us. The future is made possible by the miracle of human birth. Birth brings God among us. God is in each of us. We are bearers of God in the world. The answer for Ahaz and the people of Judah lies in the political and social ambiguities of human life. For us as Christians it is lived out in our life in Christ.

In the Gospel, God offers a sign to Joseph. It is a sign he would have liked to ignore. For the drama he sees unfolding before him makes him look like a fool. The woman to whom he is engaged is pregnant. It is not his child. How angry he must have felt when he heard the news! How betrayed! There was one way out for him. He could dismiss her quietly and end the relationship. Everyone would understand. Eventually it would blow over for him and he could get on with his life. But as he slept, resolution came. Isn't that true to life? So often it is as we sleep and dream that we find the answer to the deepest problems of life, for we begin to interpret the signs around us. Freed from the distractions of our lives, we work out our innermost thoughts and worries. Joseph finds his fears transformed. He begins a new journey in faith. His dismay turns to trust of God. What a struggle that must have been! He slept on it. And then he acted on it. In trust he carried out what God had asked of him. He accepted Mary. He accepted responsibility for the child. He named the child – Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

Emil Brunner, a Swiss theologian, one of the great teachers of our century, expresses it this way. "Faith in Jesus Christ is not an interpretation of the world, but it is participation in an event, in something which has happened, and which is going to happen." The incarnation is the central miracle, the central sign offered to us, of Christmas. Every other true miracle prepares for this, exhibits this, and results from this. These happenings are more significant than anything else in life.

What are the signs of incarnation that God is offering to us today? How will we bear those signs in the world? Will we try to ignore the signs, or will we be active participants in the event? The Spirit of God continues to birth human life. For God is with us, Emmanuel.