Advent 4A 2004

Isaiah 7:10-17; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; St. Matthew 1:18-25

From the Epistle: ". . . Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ," The obedience of faith.

Obedience is not a great virtue in our culture. We value the freedom of self-expression. I don’t remember a television or radio show about children being obedient to parents, or spouses, or citizens obedient to the laws of the land? I don’t remember hearing, or preaching, sermons based on the Epistle to the Philippians on Jesus Christ, "who being found in human form , humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (2:8) Obedience is important to St. Paul. "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

(Romans 5:19) or "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves . . .either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16) St.

Paul ends the Epistle to the Romans as he begins it, "the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith." (16:26) And not just St. Paul. The Epistle to the Hebrews writes of Jesus, "although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered"

(5:8) The first Epistle of St. Peter writes to the church, "chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood . . . having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart (1:2, 22) Today’s Old Testament reading and Gospel both give us historical witness to the obedience of St. Joseph and the disobedience of King Ahaz. Ahaz was king of the southern kingdom of Judah from 735-715. He was a 12th generation descendant of King David. The northern and southern kingdoms had been divided for almost 200 years. They were politically caught between a weak Egypt to the south and a powerful and aggressive Assyria to the north and east. 2 Kings 16 tells us that Ahaz was an Assyrian puppet. He had paid such heavy tribute that he had not only stripped the Temple and his own treasury of gold and silver but melted down the bronze ornaments of the Temple. He built in the Temple an Assyrian style altar; like the Assyrians he had burned his son as an offering "He sacrificed and made offerings (to the Assyrian gods) on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree." (2K 16:4) The border kingdoms of Israel to the north and Syria to the east rose in rebellion against Assyria and tried to force Ahaz and Judah to join them.

The Lord spoke to Ahaz by Isaiah a word of encouragement, a call to faith and obedience, but Ahaz refused to hear. (Both the Hebrew shemeah and the Greek akouo can mean both "hear" and "obey.") Ahaz’ fear of Assyria and his acceptance of the Assyrians’ religion made him deaf to the true word of God. God said by Isaiah, "You are so afraid of Assyria. I am mightier than Assyria - I control both heaven and hell. Ask a sign of the Lord your God, the same God who was David’s Lord." But Ahaz refused. He refused to ask for a sign; he refused to turn to worship the only true God. And he did it in a particularly smarmy and sanctimonious way, "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test." He didn’t believe, so he couldn’t hear, and he wouldn’t obey.

The Lord gave him a sign by Isaiah, "God is with you, though you don’t deserve it. You will have three years of trouble, hard times for Judah, but you will not fall to Assyria. In no longer a time than it takes a woman to conceive and bear and child and wean him your neighbor kingdoms will no longer be a threat. And that is what happened. First Syria tot he east and then Israel to the north were conquered by Assyria and their people deported - to form the 10 Lost Tribes. Ahaz died and was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a believer. He did hear and obey. He destroyed the Assyrian shrines and the kingdom survived an Assyrian attack. Hezekiah had a tunnel built to assure a supply of water within the walled city of Jerusalem. The tunnel is still there and I’ve walked through it - a once in a lifetime experience.

Some 450 years after these events, 280-years before Jesus, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. The Hebrew word almah now translated "young woman" was in this Greek version translated parthenos meaning "virgin." The early church used the Greek version and has from early times seen this passage from Isaiah as a foretelling of the birth of Jesus - Immanuel, God with us. "a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel." God can and will triumph over our disobedience.

But God rejoices in our willing obedience. St. Joseph is an example of this obedience. As St. Luke tells us Mary’s obedience came first, "I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy will." St.

Matthew’s genealogy has Joseph a descendant of David, and of Ahaz, and of Hezekiah, a just man, a good man by the standards of his time, not willing to make Mary a public example - or be one himself. When Mary turned up pregnant he first resolved to quietly end the relationship. But then he heard the voice of God by an angel in a dream, heard and obeyed.

As Mary was obedient to God’s call to bear a son, so Joseph was obedient to God’s call to take Mary as his wife and to name the child Jesus.

Societies differ in the way fathers claim their children. When our son Dallas was born in 1971 I sat in the maternity waiting room for a while and then went out to visit friends. When Sarah was born in 1977 I was there for labor and delivery, except for a few minutes from time to time when I could slip away to see the ACC basketball tournament. It is a great bonding experience to be right there when the baby is born. In Jewish culture when a boy is born his father gives him the name; when a girl is born the father announces the birth and the name in synagogue. At baptism parents and sponsors are asked, "Name this child." Giving the name is acknowledging the child and accepting responsibility for the child. Joseph was obedient to God’s call to take Mary as his wife and to name the child Jesus.

Jesus learned obedience from Mary and Joseph, by example, the best way to teach. His obedience led him to the garden of Gethsemane where he prayed, "Not my will but thine be done." Obedience led him to the cross to die for our sins, and God raised his obedient son from the dead so we may live forever with him.

Jesus gives us the example of obedience to God’s will. By his Holy Spirit Jesus gives us both the Spirit of Truth by whom we receive wisdom to know good from evil, God’s will from our passing fancies, and the Spirit of Power to be obedient to God and to do his will. God gives us the church as the community of those who hear and obey that we may learn, "the obedience of faith for the sale of his name." God grant that we may take advantage of the opportunities given us to learn obedience to God’s will as Mary and Joseph learned to hear and obey.