Christmas Fact & Faith, Advent 4

Christmas Fact & Faith

Advent 4: Isaiah 7.10-16; Romans 1.1-7; Matt 1.18-25

“I am with you always, to the end of the age”. (Matt 28.20)

How do we know this boy was born on Christmas Day? Well, here, I have my birth certificate! I was born on 25th December 1949 to Stanley George Mercer and Betty Mercer (nee Steele), at 160 Old Shoreham Road.

So how do we know that the man who bought enlightenment to the world was born on Christmas Day? Well, it’s there in the church registers: Isaac Newton was born on 25th December 1642.

As Alexander Pope wrote: "Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night; God said, 'Let Newton be!' and there was light."

Well I could go on listing Christmas babies, but one infant that would certainly not appear is Jesus ben Joseph of Nazareth.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury said recently, the only thing we can be sure of from the Bible is that Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. No other historical facts are clear.

Luke’s Gospel gives a number of clues which help to guess at Jesus’ birthday. I won’t bore you with the details, but the best and commonest guess is around mid September in 3BC. Or it could have been May, which would allow you to sing:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
Remember, Christ, our Saviour, was born sometime in May.

The early church was never really concerned with the historical details of Christ’s birth. As we saw in today’s Epistle, Paul was convinced of the historical Jesus, who was born of Mary, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rose again for us.

Christians were Easter people for three hundred and fifty years before they first had a Midnight Mass to celebrate the nativity of our Lord, on a date which was chosen to coincide with a number of midwinter festivals.

The Gospel writers were historical, but they were always more concerned with the theology of Jesus, than with setting out some short biographical sketch.

So Isaiah’s prophecy about ‘a young woman’ in today’s OT reading, is slightly re-interpreted by Matthew as he translates Isaiah’s Hebrew into ‘the Virgin’. The predominant tradition in the Early Church, made explicit by Luke’s Gospel, was that Mary was a virgin.

There was a certain theological symmetry in this. If Jesus was truly God and truly man, then it made sense that he would be born of a woman, but conceived by the Holy Spirit. (It wouldn’t work the other way round of course!)

And then Jesus’ human lineage is important, as he must be born of King David’s line if he is to fulfil prophecy.

Curiously, it is Joseph who is shown earlier in Matthew’s first chapter to be a direct descendant of King David.

So the connection is through a foster father - there is no direct blood line through Mary (unless you understand Luke 3 as giving a genealogy of Mary rather than Joseph - as a few do).

Here’s another interesting little Gospel detail, that on the three occasions an angel appeared to Joseph, it was always in a dream. Mary met them face-to-face.

It is to Joseph’s eternal credit, that he believed what the angel said in his dream. Most men would require the real thing: a ten foot angel, wings and all, writing in flame on a wall, before they believed that their virgin fiancée was pregnant with a divine child.

Matthew doesn’t labour the point, (if you’ll pardon the pun) because he is again making a theological statement about the nature of this Son of God: Joseph is to name him Jesus, Saviour; and others will recognise him as Emmanuel, God with us.

But Matthew, like all the Gospel writers, wants to take us deeper than history or even theology.

I’m sure you remember that little vignette from Winnie the Pooh?

“Pooh”, said Piglet taking his paw.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just checking that you were there…”
(The House at Pooh Corner)

Humans, like piglets, are social animals. We need the sense that someone is ‘there’. We are, for all of our lives, in some way dependent on others.

God himself is a social being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the mystical, eternal intimacy of the Trinity. And through the incarnation, he draws us into that divine circle of love.

For Mary has conceived and born a son, and his name is Emmanuel, which means, God is with us.

He is with us because he shared our joys and sorrows and so he can empathise with us in all that we go through. He is not distant and unmoved, but he is with us in all the richness and vagaries of our lives.

Then he has taught us that all humans are made in his image, and are to be loved and cared for. So all our kinships and friendships are part of God’s being 'with' us.

We cannot hug God, but we can hold the hand of a friend, to check that they are there. And in our turn we can sit with friends and strangers, and by our physical presence assure them that God is with them.

But companions leave us and Christmas is always a reminder, especially as we get older, of the empty seats around the table.

And this is why I chose my text from the end of Matthew’s gospel.

The disciples are filled with foreboding as they realise that Christ is leaving them, from the manger to the skies. So the end of the Gospel re-echoes the beginning: he reassures them in his words of parting: “I am with you always, to the end of the age”. (Matt 28.20)

Here is an even deeper spiritual mystery. For it has been the experience of Christians through the ages, that by God’s Holy Spirit, they sense the loving presence of God; Emmanuel; he’s there, with us.

It’s of course very subjective, but nonetheless real for being that. Loving our partners and friends is very subjective, but nonetheless real for being that.

So the Christmas Gospels are not concerned to answer all the factual questions we have about dates and stars and kings and stables.

And they are not even primarily concerned to set forth sound incarnational theology.

But in the words of John’s Gospel “ these things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20.31)

In the end, it is in believing that we discover the truth of the incarnation, and come to grasp the fullness of life in the fullness of Christ.

Another Christmas baby, 300 years ago on 18th December 1707, was Charles Wesley. Let me finish by reading you one of his short hymns, ‘Celebrate Immanuel’s name’ which brings together the theology of today’s Gospel, with the warm experience of God’s love and presence in our lives.

Celebrate Immanuel's Name, the Prince of life and peace.
God with us, our lips proclaim, our faithful hearts confess.
God is in our flesh revealed; Heav'n and earth in Jesus join.
Mortal with Immortal filled, and human with Divine.

Fullness of the Deity in Jesus' body dwells,
Dwells in all His saints and me when God His Son reveals.
Father, manifest Thy Son; breathe the true incarnate Word.
In our inmost souls make known the presence of the Lord.

Let the Spirit of our Head through every member flow;
By our Lord inhabited, we then Immanuel know.
Then He doth His Name express; God in us we truly prove,
Find with all the life of grace and all the power of love.