[Propertalk] Thoughts for sermons - Advent 4, Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

In verse 23, we are given another name the child--"Emmanuel" is added to "Joshua."  The latter will be the child's personal name, and the former might be thought of as his ruling title:  "God with us."  When the book of Matthew closes, Jesus will say, "I am with you always" (28:20). 

In fact, the phrase is ego meth hemone eimi.  Note that the "with you" (meth hemone) is placed between ego and eimi.  Ego eimi is the divine name (in Greek) and would normally be held together.  That Matthew breaks apart the divine name in order to insert "with you" in the middle is a way of saying that God's people are held intimately within the very life and identity of God.

http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2010/12/18now-the-birth-of-jesus-the-messiah-took-place-in-this-way-when-his-mother-mary-had-been-engaged-to-joseph-but-before-they.html

John Petty 
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Though it has become fashionable in some scholarly circles to suggest the story of the miraculous conception of Jesus has analogies with the stories about the births of Emperors or Kings, in fact this is not really accurate. A story about a god coming down and raping a human woman is of a very different ilk than the story of a miraculous virginal conception through the power of the Holy Spirit, not through any sort of intercourse.

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/19/2010

Ben Witherington 
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What Joseph initially understands as the righteous thing to do is challenged directly by the call of God to act precisely opposite to what he saw and expected the law to demand. What happens when our notions of righteousness and justice come up against the ways of God's creative mercy? 

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/23/2007&tab=4

James Boyce, 2007
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In this post-modern era of DNA paternity testing and trying to figure out "Who is the daddy?", can this word from God bring about the kind of reconciliation that will preserve marriages and the family unit? And perhaps more importantly, what are the implications of this story for fathers of today who find themselves in "blended" families where they must rear another man's children in their home? How must we accept, love and care for the children in our home who are not biologically ours?
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A miracle, such as being impregnated by the Holy Ghost, may certainly accompany what we call God's "favor." But honest, critical theological reflection certainly reveals to us that anyone who has God's "favor," whether it be Mary in the text or Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, is also simultaneously burdened with the responsibility to endure the subsequent fallout from the favor. 

http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=121

Jesse T. Williams
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The magic of angels and the virginal conception are the embellishments to enable us to celebrate that life of compassion and self giving. In their own way they give us the radical message of inclusiveness: of the women, of the Gentiles, of the sexually suspected, of the pregnant girl. They lay before us the violence which grace confronts: the all maleness, the righteous Law observance, the willingness to abandon the pregnant girl, the murderous ruler, the slaughtered children, the aspiration to kill 'the king of the Jews'. 

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MtAdvent4.htm

William Loader
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The fact that Mary is pregnant before she and Joseph have married is shameful in the extreme - both for Mary and her family.
However, that the child is "from the Holy Spirit" confuses the situation since that is a great honour.

http://www.holytextures.com/2010/11/matthew-1-18-25-year-a-advent-4-sermon.html

David Ewart
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