Readings for Advent 4 December 20, 2009

Take a moment to centre yourself in prayer:



O God, prepare us to be a loving presence with others. In the story of Mary we hear that love prepares unexpected things within our hearts. In the prophecy of Micah we hear that hope is prepared in an unexpected community. Our psalms of praise invite us into the care of a shepherd, who treats us with grace. In reflecting on your Word, O God, prepare us to be a loving presence in the world. Amen



Our gospel readings today focus on the story of Mary, and the news that she will bear God's child, with all the accompanying mystery around immaculate conception. So we will look at various references to Jesus, and his followers' evolving understanding of his parentage and birth story.



The oldest Christian written record comes from the letters of Paul, and there are two references in particular that I want to note:



Galatians 3:23-4:7

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
4My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; 2but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. 3So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits* of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our* hearts, crying, ‘Abba!* Father!’ 7So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.



Three things to note:

1) Paul called Jesus “God’s son”, and believed that Jesus was truly divine;

2) Paul said Jesus was "born of a woman, under the law", reflecting his belief that Jesus was also really human;
3) In the original Greek the same word for son is used for Christian followers as well as Jesus, thus we are all "children of God". Paul is not stating a biological reality, but a theological one.



Romans 1:1-6

1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...



Note:

1) Paul's characteristic use of the title his (God’s) Son for Jesus;
2) Paul describes Jesus as descended from David, according to the flesh - perhaps indicating some paternal connection to Joseph, who provides the Davidic connection for the Messiah;

3) Paul "declares" Jesus to be Son of God because of resurrection (not conception).



Paul’s references to Jesus' nature and parentage simply reveal that he took Jesus' divine nature for granted and didn't worry about the mechanics of it. Paul believed Jesus was the son of God and the proof was in the resurrection, not the conception. Paul also referred to the apostle James as Jesus’ brother, but by the time Luke was writing the gospels this acknowledgement of Jesus' human family ties was dropped.

There is no birth narrative in the gospel of Mark, so while it is the earliest gospel, written around 65-75 AD, it suggests there was little discussion or speculation around Jesus' conception. In fact, there is no mention of Joseph at all in the gospel and Jesus' birth family very little: in 6:3, when Jesus is rejected in his home town, the people say “Is this not Jesus, the son of Mary, brother of James, and Joses and Judas and Simon and his sisters?” What seems clear in Mark is the distancing of Jesus' ministry from his biological family for a family of faith.


In John's gospel (the last gospel written, about 90-100 AD) there is no birth story, but if you read John 1:1-18, you have a sense that John believed Jesus Christ/"the Word" was God's "only-begotten" Son long before creation. Therefore his point is more theological than biological.


Matthew and Luke, on the other hand, provide very detailed stories “explaining” Jesus’ parentage, but they are very different from each other, and were probably written around 80-90 AD.

In Matthew,

1) Joseph and Mary were already living at Bethlehem, there is no connection to Nazareth prior to Jesus' birth;

2) they were already married, though Mary was pregnant (not by Joseph) prior to the marriage;

3) the visitors to see the Christ child were the magi of Matthew 2:11, when they came to “the house”. There is no mention that there were 3 of them, only that they brought 3 gifts, and that Jesus may have been as old as two years.

4) Jesus and family then fled to Egypt, for fear of Herod, then some time later went to Galilee beyond Herod's reach and made their home in Nazareth.


With Matthew, it was especially important that the birth narrative fit with the Hebrew prophecies.

In Luke,

1) Mary and Joseph were both living at Nazareth;

2) They were betrothed, which was legally binding and involved co-habitation;

3) They travelled to Bethlehem for the census, and wound up staying in a stable;

4) Their visitors were shepherds, who were called to the manger by angels, not a star;

5) In Luke 2:39, we read that they returned to Nazareth, under no threat from Herod.

READ Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:46-55

Luke 2:1-7, 8-14, 15-20



How do you feel about the story, and what difference or "truth" does it hold for you, in your journey of faith?



Christians today find themselves on a diverse and colourful spectrum between Christian fundamentalists, who believe in the literal, revealed word of scripture; and progressive Christians, who question the necessity of immaculate conception.



I find it helpful to focus on what difference this story makes in my life. In Diana Butler Bass' Christianity for the Rest of Us, she tells this story:



After presenting a lecture in a large southern cathedral, Phyllis Tickle was asked what she thought about the Virgin Birth. The discussion grew heated, but after the question-and-answer period a young man, about seventeen years old, came up to her and said politely, “Ma’am, there’s something I don’t understand.” She was prepared to delve more deeply into the complexities of the Virgin Birth with him, but then he said, “I don’t understand why everyone is so upset about this. I believe in the Virgin Birth. It is so beautiful that it has just got to be true—whether it happened or not.” Phyllis felt a shift occur with the young man’s words. “He had moved beyond mere facts to understanding based on apprehending beauty. I felt like I was standing on holy ground.”