What we choose….

Isaiah 7: 3-10 and Matthew 1:18-25

19 December 2010

King Ahaz was a weak leader for the early Jewish people of Judah, a key person in our Isaiah reading.  He lived some 700 years before Jesus was born.   Instead of living in confidence of God, he continually fell into his fears, making one rotten choice after another.   He stole from the temple, taking the offerings and the precious metals that decorated the building.      He followed the sex cults of the time and even sacrificed his own son through some strange process of passing him through fire.  These were not God’s ways of goodness.   

When two countries on Judah’s borders threaten invasion, the young king becomes even more anxious.     So God tells the Prophet Isaiah to go see King Ahaz.  God says: ‘Tell the King to be calm, do not fear, do not be faint of heart.  These two countries really don’t have much power and the threat will dwindle away.’ (Isaiah 7:4)

God suggests that King Ahaz ask God to provide a sign.  But the King ‘wimps out’.    He’s not going to ask God for that.  Here is God offering him a wonderful gift, and the King turns him down.  God gets incredibly exasperated but is gracious enough to still give a sign.      God says that a young woman will have a son.  The son will be called Immanuel  -- God-with-us – and that by the time the child is weaned and is old enough to know right from wrong, the threat of these two nations will fall away.  

 And of course, God is right.  In a few short years, the two kingdoms no longer exist and Judah remains standing.    

Fast forward a couple of centuries.    This passage that was first written down in Hebrew gets translated into Greek and the translator writes down that a “virgin” rather than a “young woman” bears a son who is called “Emmanuel” – God-with-us.  And this is the translation that Matthew uses and here the Virgin Mary tradition that our Isaiah reading is a prediction of Jesus’ arrival.

Two passages – one is 2700 years old and the other, our Matthew reading about Joseph, 2000 years old.  Both are about men who receive visits from representatives from God.    For the King it is the Prophet Isaiah, for Joseph it is an angel in a dream.  Both are told by God:  “Don’t be afraid.”  ‘I am with you.   I am promising goodness to you.’  One refuses to listen, the other, Joseph chooses to follow the dream.  Joseph is a wonderful dreamer and King Ahaz such a totally sad opposite.

When I look at King Ahaz’s refusal to ask for a sign from God, it reminds me of something. 

Have you ever asked someone, ‘What would you like for Christmas?’  And the response you get is:  ‘Oh, I don’t know.  You decide dear.  Really, I don’t need anything.’ 

You know full well you’re not going to ask them a more fuller question like:  What is it that your heart desires from life?  Where do you think God is calling you?  Because if they can’t even reflect back to you that a new pair of warm pyjamas for Christmas would be helpful, chances are they aren’t willing to reflect deeper on the meaning of their life.  

God is asking King Ahaz to go deeper and higher:   “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”  And the King won’t do it.  He won’t go deeper or higher.  But he will empty the coffers of the temple!  He is a very shallow man.

By total contrast, Joseph and Mary say ‘yes’ to God. 

Mike, Shauna and Gabriel, Advent 2009

  We have here “the coming together of God’s ‘yes’ with our ‘yes’.  More spiritual or mystical traditions of Christianity call this ‘Holy desire.’  It is “a launching pad of a transfigured and highly creative life.”   (From Seasons of the Spirit Curriculum, Dec. 19, 2010)

If we reflect deep enough or high enough, our deepest desires match God’s.   Sure for Joseph having the wealth of King Ahaz would be nice, but for him his heart-felt desire was for a better life and well-being for his people.  He knew God was calling him to raise a child who would lead this to come about.

  

  Mary and Joseph made a choice for God.  It was one that matched their heart-felt desires and it was one that changed them.  I finish today with a poem by Jan Richardson:

A Prayer for Choosing

What we choose
changes us.

Who we love
transforms us.

How we create
remakes us.

Where we live
reshapes us.

So in all our choosing,
O God, make us wise;

in all our loving,
O Christ, make us bold;

in all our creating,
O Spirit, give us courage;

in all our living
may we become whole.

from In Wisdom's Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season © Jan L. Richardson.  (www.adventdoor.com)