A Baby called Hope
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
A baby called Hope
Advent 4 19 December 2010
The Revd Jenny Wilkens
- Isaiah 7:10-16
- Romans 1:1-7
- Matthew 1:18-25
http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons
It now seems an age since October when the world watched on with bated breath and then with awe at the discovery and then rescue of the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile.
Since then we have had our own story, our own 29 miners on the West Coast and we have lived our own journey as a country of hoping against hope, only to see this time our hopes not come to fruition. And this Christmas those families on the West Coast who have lost fathers, husbands, sons will not be far from our hearts and minds and prayers.
You may recall one of the stories 40 days into the 70 day ordeal of the Chilean miners, which seemed to give new impetus and energy to the rescue mission. The wife of one trapped miner gave birth to a little girl, and the parents, still separated, both decided to call her Esperanza, Hope. A baby called Hope gave new life, new hope to her family and community.
Our Old Testament and Gospel readings today both speak of a baby not this time called Hope, but a baby who will bring hope to people living under conditions of insecurity and oppression, of foreign occupation and danger.
Our reading from the prophet Isaiah is familiar to us from carol services, we recognise the quote when we hear it, but what can it tell us from its original context? Who is Ahaz and who are the two kings he dreads? And what does all this have to do with Christmas?
Isaiah's prophecy here addresses a very specific context in the history of the kingdom of Judah, and one we can date with a fair degree of accuracy to the 8th century BCE. We know that by this time Judah, Israel and Syria were all tributary states under the control of the great Assyrian empire. In about 735BCE Israel and Syria decided to rebel against the might of Assyria, and they tried to force the King of Judah, Ahaz, into alliance with them to strengthen their rebellion against Assyria. How did they seek to do this? Well, by invading Judah themselves and seeking to dethrone King Ahaz and put in another king who would dance to their tune.
This sends King Ahaz into a blind panic, and Isaiah the prophet goes out to meet him to offer him words of reassurance that if he remains steadfast and faithful to God, God will save him.
Isaiah even encourages Ahaz to put his faith into action, and ask God for a sign that he is indeed trustworthy. King Ahaz seems to give the 'right' answer in Biblical terms, and like Jesus later in the wilderness, he piously says, I will not put the Lord to the test. But this time it seems he's got it wrong, his unwillingness is more the fact that he's not willing to go out in faith, he's not willing to trust God for his future and that of his kingdom.
This is why we get the rather abrupt response from Isaiah, well, regardless, the Lord is going to give you a sign, and this is it: A young woman will bear a son and call him Immanuel, and before he knows the difference between right and wrong, the land of the two kings of Israel and Syria will be deserted, laid waste.
The original prophecy then is about timing. In the amount of time it takes for a woman to have a baby and bring him up to know the difference between right and wrong, two or three years say, the situation that is causing King Ahaz to panic will be sorted, resolved. But which woman and which baby? Some think the woman may be Isaiah's wife or King Ahaz' wife but the answer is we just don't know.
Why then does Matthew quote this prophecy from Isaiah as he begins his gospel about the birth of Jesus the Messiah? Well, one issue is about the word used to describe the woman in both passages. In the Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14 the word is almah which means a young woman of marriageable age, a girl who has reached puberty. The Greek translators of the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, chose to translate almah with the word parqenoz parthenos, which can mean young woman or virgin - think of the Parthenon in Greece. We could say that the Greek translators, and Matthew who takes this Greek translation over, and indeed our English translators in translating the word as 'virgin' all narrow down the meaning. Some scholars have argued from this that the whole tradition of the virgin birth was based on a mistranslation of Hebrew into Greek.
But to focus on this, is I think to miss the point of what Matthew is seeking to do here. Notice that most of this story is told not from the woman's, Mary's, point of view at all, but from Joseph's. We hear about Joseph's reaction to the news that Mary is pregnant, but not how Mary feels about it - for that we would need to turn to Luke's gospel.
We need to recall that in this time and culture, engagement was not just something that could be called off at whim, it was a much more formal bond of betrothal arranged by the families concerned, which could only be broken by divorce. For a woman to be found pregnant while engaged was considered adultery. Joseph would have been entitled to disgrace Mary publicly, and for her to have been stoned and killed by her family and community for bringing such shame on them all. Thus Joseph's decision to dismiss Mary quietly is considered righteous, even though it would still leave Mary as an unmarried mother within her own family, 'spoiled goods' with little hope of a future for her or her child. Is this the best we can hope for?
This is where Matthew sees God at work with the angel's message to Joseph: 'don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.' And this is where Joseph, unlike King Ahaz, is able to take God at his word, trust God for the future of himself, Mary and the child, and obey.
Sometimes we can get so hung up on the whys, hows and wherefores of all this, that we miss the important second half of Isaiah's prophecy and of the angel's message to Joseph about the baby's names. Isaiah says the young woman shall name her child Immanuel, which Matthew tells us means 'God with us'. The angel tells Joseph, you are to name the child Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Jesus in its Hebrew form is Jeshua, linked with Joshua, which means 'God saves'.
This is the message of hope which rings forth from Isaiah and from Matthew - a baby is born, and this is a sign for those who will see it, of God's presence and salvation breaking into the world in a new way.
For Isaiah this could have been any baby, but for Matthew in the birth of Jesus, he sees Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled in a way that has never happened before, just as you might expect when the Holy Spirit of God is involved. This is a unique birth for a unique child, who will be 'God with us' in a way never experienced before, God in human flesh, God who in Jesus will save his people from their sins. And it all starts with a baby. You may have seen the quote on baby cards that says 'a baby is a sign that God wants the world to continue'. A baby is a sign of hope for God's world and for God's people.
Good friends of mine had a baby son who died suddenly aged thirteen months. I took his funeral and wept with them. I will never forget what they said to me some months later on when they found they were expecting another baby. They said to me, this is the only hopeful thing we can do. This new baby was a sign of hope that their world could go on.
For many people in our country, this has been a tough year. The people of Christchurch, the West Coast, those who've lost a loved one, those who've lost jobs and financial security. Many people are searching round to find any signs of hope to take them into a new year.
For us as we prepare for Christmas in a few days now, perhaps there are things we're looking forward to - getting together with family, travelling to the old family home, worshipping together, and perhaps there are things we're anxious about or dreading - getting together with family, travelling on the congested roads, arguing about whether we worship together, missing people who will not be with us this Christmas.
May we hear afresh this Christmas that there is a baby called Hope, that God wants this world to go on, and our world to go on. Let us hear afresh that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and that just as Mary and Joseph cradled the baby Jesus in their arms, so God promises to hold us and our future in safe hands.
There is a baby called Hope, God is with us, Emmanuel.
