Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Today’s Gospel made me think of one of the latest trends in our social media culture – the “gender reveal” party. Have you seen or heard about or maybe been a part of one of these? They seem to be the new addition to the list of things many couples do to celebrate the coming of a new baby. The short of the long is, the baby’s sex is kept a secret from all but a couple of family members or friends and a clever way is concocted to reveal the news of the baby’s biology to the parents-to-be, and often-times, to the newest baby’s siblings-to-be, as well.

You can Google it, if you’re curious. I decided to spare you this morning. Because I’ve seen videos of blue smoke bombs on the beach… Race cars that blow pink exhaust when the engine is revved… Exploding golf balls… Cakes, cupcakes, and donuts, all filled with the appropriately colored filling… Fireworks, of course… I even saw a couple who commissioned the lights on the Ferris wheel at a local carnival to turn blue for their big announcement.

And you can file this one under “Pastor Mark must be getting old,” but I’m kind of glad “Gender Reveal Parties” weren’t a thing yet when my kids were on the way. It all just seems like too much to worry about. (For what it’s worth, I’m also not on board with “prom-posals” and whatever over-the-top, Instagram-worthy thing the kids these days have to do to get someone to go to “HOCO” with them, either.) I know! I might actually be my father at this point. Or my grandfather. Or the Grinch. I don’t care. Get off my lawn!

Anyway, Christa would probably say it’s because I’m lazy when it comes to that sort of thing. But I think there’s enough to do to get ready for a new baby as it is. Aren’t there enough clothes to buy and furniture to assemble? Aren’t there enough showers to host or to attend, without adding another special event to the calendar? Let alone one where you have to coordinate a sharing of top-secret information between the OB-GYN and your mother or mother-in-law or best friend or the most disinterested third-party so as not to make any of the aforementioned Very Important People angry about who got to know what before who?

And then there’s all of those extra-special ways people concoct to reveal the big reveal… pink cupcakes and blue balloons, exploding golf balls and fireworks … the possibilities are endless, really… and one more way to make an already crazy, anxious, stressful, uber-exciting time in your life, even more of all of those things, it seems to me – crazy, anxious, stressful and all the rest.

Still, no matter how hard you try – none of these modern day “Gender Reveal Parties” even come close to what happened for Joseph and Mary in the days before Jesus was born.

There they were, this First Century, happy, couple-to-be. Joseph was betrothed to Mary, which meant they were promised to each other, but hadn’t made it official – in any of the ways yet, if you know what I mean. They were being patient. They were jumping through all the appropriate hoops. They were staying the course. They were living by the law.

Then Joseph finds out that, despite all of their best efforts, all of their righteous and holy living, Mary is pregnant. And he knows it’s not his – it can’t be. He must have wondered who would believe him. He must have wondered what people would say. He must have wondered what he should do next.

When you read this story with 21st Century eyes, you might think Joseph would have to be a jerk to simply “dismiss her quietly,” which was his plan. But when you remember when he lived and realize what he knew, Joseph turns out to look more like a hero.

Because Joseph knew he would be expected to do more than just “dismiss her quietly.” Joseph knew his culture and his faith told him he had a right to – at the very least – shame and disgrace and shun the woman who was supposed to become his bride. He may even have been expected to have Mary put to death – as was the custom for a jilted, first century bachelor, in such a predicament.

So, just when Joseph makes the bold decision to dismiss her quietly, to let her go, to essentially break from custom and break the law and to eat crow in order to save her from disgrace and abuse and all sorts of pain and humiliation, he has this revelation in a dream.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Joseph hears from the angel. “I know what it looks like. I know what you’re thinking. I know what everyone else is going to think… and say… and assume. But this is none of that.”

“This is a holy thing. This will be a holy birth. This will be a sacred baby. Do not dismiss Mary quietly – don’t dismiss her at all. Believe her. Take her as your wife, just as you had planned. Marry her in spite of what everyone might say or think or do. Have this baby. It’s going to be a boy, by the way. You should name him Jesus – because he’s going to save his people from their sins.”

Now that’s a “gender reveal” – and then some – with a punch – am I right? And believe it or not – like it or not – all of this “revealing”, whether it’s a cupcake in 2019 or an angel in a dream, back in the First Century – all of it means to accomplish the same thing:

These “reveals” mean to fill us with hope and expectation. These revelations mean to move us action. They mean to prepare our hearts and our lives and our homes and our world for the new life that’s on the way.

I guess if the cupcake is blue, some people would paint the walls to the nursery accordingly. I imagine if the confetti is pink that means you might shop for clothes and accessories differently. No matter what, the reason for knowing and sharing and celebrating the news is so that you do something about it, in preparation for the one who is to come.

And the same is true – and tremendously more significant – where Jesus is concerned. What would… what could… what should… we do differently as we prepare to celebrate his coming, yet again? How will we live and move and be differently, knowing what we know about God’s intentions for Jesus’ birth? What does this big reveal reveal about our own lives in this world – here and now, and in the days to come?

Who can we tell about this new life that’s on the way? How can we share what we know this Jesus means for our lives and for the sake of this world? Where can we be more generous? How can we be more kind? In what ways can we be more grateful and forgiving and hopeful and patient and faithful and like this child who comes among us to be all of those things?

It’s a boy, people! His name will be Jesus… Emmanuel… it means “GOD IS WITH US”… and he comes to save us from ourselves, to save us from our sins, to save us for the sake of the world. All things – and each of us – can and should – be different and better and blessed because of it.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist, crying out there in the wilderness, shows up a lot in these Advent days every year. He’s the one God uses to get our attention – not just because he dresses funny, eats strange things and lives on the margins – but because he was calling people to repent of their sins and to prepare the way for Jesus; to get ready, to get baptized, to get right with themselves and to get right with God so they could receive and experience and participate most fully in what God was about to do through Jesus.

And I don’t want to dismiss the importance of what most preachers will preach about this morning when John the Baptist shows up, again, on the Second Sunday of Advent – all of that hard, holy stuff about preparing the way, making the paths straight for Jesus, and repenting and turning to God, searching for God, and all the rest, matters. It’s why we’re so deliberate about making our confession in worship these days and receiving our forgiveness, too.

But, because we’re into this Marks of Discipleship series – and because we’re called to consider what it means to “GIVE of our time and abilities for the sake of God’s kingdom,” I want to talk about the notion that John the Baptist – letting his freak flag fly out there in the wilderness – really was, apparently, an odd duck in a long line of strange birds and unlikely souls God has used over time to bear the Kingdom and it’s Good News for the sake of the world.

And like John, each and every one of us is called to make a way for this King and for this Kingdom that’s coming. The high and the holy and the lost and the lowly, just the same – each of us is called to the proverbial river and invited to walk around in the waters of our baptism with a gift and a knack and a talent and a purpose and a passion – I hope – for however we can use God’s blessing in and God’s calling on our life to make a way for grace and love and mercy and peace to live and move and breathe among us, for the sake of the world. Each of us has a little John the Baptist in us, somewhere.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned from people over the years about what keeps us from following Jesus or doing God’s will or serving the world by way of our gifts and abilities, two things seem to be true and almost universal. First of all, none of us feel completely qualified or compelled to do “too much.” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard some version of the phrase, “I’ll be glad to help – with this project or with that task – but I don’t want to lead,” I would have a lot of dollars. (You know who you are. And I’ve said it myself, so I’m not just throwing stones, here.) And the other thing that’s true for most – if not all – of us is that there’s never enough time, or we’re never sure it’s the right time, to say “yes” to what God may be calling us to do with ourselves, for the sake of the kingdom.

So, sadly, too much of the time, we so “no.” Or we don’t say anything. We decline the offer, we don’t accept the invitation, we put off the opportunity, we leave our freak flags packed away in the closet, and we pretend we aren’t qualified or that someone else is more qualified or has more time or more talent or more, whatever.

And when John the Baptist lets the Pharisees and the Sadducees have it, down by the river in this morning’s Gospel… when he calls them a “brood of vipers and says, “God is able, from these stones, to raise up children to Abraham,” I think he’s saying something to the effect of, “God is going to do, what God is going to do, people. God is going to bring this Kingdom to pass. God is on the way, in Jesus, and you are welcome to get on board and let it change you; and be part of the action; get in on the fun; do something for the good of the cause – or not.”

God is going to God, if you will. And God is going to find people to prepare the way… to bear good fruit… to do God’s bidding… “God is able – even from a pile of stones – to fulfill God’s plan of redemption for all creation.”

And God has done it before… raised up children, I mean, to accomplish God’s will in and for the sake of the world.

And since we’re talking about Advent and getting ready for Christmas… and hopefully pondering and praying, now, about how we, ourselves, might help to prepare a way…. Just look at who and what God raised up in preparation for Jesus to show up that first time around. In those long, last days before Jesus’ birth, God was busy raising up stones and lifting up people and gifting all sorts of souls to work for the good of the cause.

God raised up a stone in Mary, who had every reason to say “no,” young, unmarried, peasant-girl that she was. But what looked like strikes against her were actually qualifications in the eyes of our God: poor, humble, meek, and weak (in the eyes of the world, anyway), Mary was just exactly the right stone to grow, carry, nurse and nurture the One who would learn from her about how to live, to thrive as, and to care for the poor, humble, meek, and weak in the world around him.

And God raised up another stone, too, in Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin and John the Baptist’s mother. Elizabeth was a companion and mentor for Mary in the early days of her pregnancy – an encourager, a confidante, a sister from another mister, someone too old to be having children, but pregnant by the grace of God, and someone with whom Mary could share this journey toward motherhood; a listening ear and faithful friend; a believer who believed what Mary told her and who confirmed what God was up to in their lives.

And God raised up another stone in Joseph, of course, who had to be suspicious about all of this, but who became more than just a step-dad, but a dad who stepped up, as the saying goes; who owned his role as Mary’s betrothed and as Jesus’ father when he could just as easily – and with righteous indignation and all the support of his people – walked away from it all and started over without the hassle.

And God raised up other stones, too: that innkeeper who had space and the gift of hospitality to share it; the shepherds who heard the Good News, had the faith, and went out of their way to confirm it; the wisemen, too, who had wisdom and used it and who had financial resources and shared them.

You get the point, right? Maybe you have the gift of companionship and encouragement, like Elizabeth did. Maybe you have the capacity for hospitality like the innkeeper or the ability to listen like the shepherds or financial resources, like the wisemen. Maybe you’re a stone of another kind altogether.

Each of us has a gift to give… each of us has more time and more ability than we need once we let the grace of God have its way with us… each of us is a stone God will raise up for the good of the cause – much to our surprise a lot of the time – for the blessing of the world and for the sake of the kingdom that was, that is and that is on the way.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

God's Big “Gender Reveal” - Matthew 1:18-25

Marks of Discipleship: GIVE of Time and Abilities