Ordinary Messy Lives - Redeemer Episcopal

Matthew 1:18-25 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

18 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. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

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This sermon was originally preached by me, Rev. Sarah Locke, on December 22, 2019 at Redeemer Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, FL. You can read the manuscript below and/or listen to my sermon (with infusions from the Spirit) at the link here. 

If you’re anything like my family, you’ve been singing songs about Christmas for about a month now— maybe even longer. Lots of these songs are about the utter joy and amazement with which we greet the baby Jesus. Some songs exclaim about the angels, shepherds, wise men, and the stars that seemed to gleam brighter with every passing hour. Some songs talk about stillness and the various farm animals that were present that evening. I’m sure we will sing most of them here on Christmas Eve and maybe even on Christmas morning.

But this version of the incarnation— Matthew’s version— sounds a bit different. 

Unlike many of the stories we hear of Jesus’ birth, Matthew only gives the actual birth about a verse and a half he says— “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way (then all the way at the end of the passage)… she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.” It’s very simple, nothing about angels appearing to shepherds, nothing about Mary going to visit her cousin and babies jumping for joy in the womb. There is no long travel to Bethlehem, and nothing about the lack of room in the inn. 

But what this story does tell us is about the ordinary-ness, and the messiness of the world that Jesus would be born into. 

We hear that there is nothing particularly special about this family, a man and a woman who are in the process of being married, but haven’t quite brought their households together yet. They are young and normal, until the young woman is pregnant and it appears there is some messiness, perhaps even scandal. 

We hear about the turmoil and fright that Jesus would be born into, the conflict and strife. Imagine the fear and anxiety both Joseph and Mary would be feeling as they relied fully on the words of God’s messengers and brought a baby into the world without fully understanding his paternity. It was a wild scandal in their day. Something that could cause Mary to be left by her husband without anyone to support her or she could even be stoned to death. 

But these were all the messy, ordinary, human issues that people encountered often in Jesus’ time. There was nothing particularly special about the holy family. Even that now-common name for them— “holy”— seems to not quite fit Matthew’s narrative. 

The “holy family” didn’t have people following them around like the Kardashians or have 24/7 news coverage like the next presidential election. Everything was quite ordinary, quite common. There were no press releases or baby shower invitations, no social media blasts. 

They were not a king and queen, there was not even anything particularly special about the couple as common people. Except, of course, their faithfulness. They were much like you and me, trying to make their way in the world and follow God’s direction for their lives. 

And I think God was intentional about this. God CHOSE this quaint, normal, sort of messy family to come into the world. 

God CHOSE to come to us as a child, as a small and fragile, and ordinary baby. 

And yet. This was no ordinary birth. This was no ordinary baby. 

Both Mary and Joseph knew this reality. We hear it from God’s messenger to Joseph, that this baby will fulfill old prophecies. And from Mary, in Luke’s gospel and repeated several times this morning in worship, we hear her incredible song of praise. 

It is a song that tells more than a story of a simple family during a simple time, having a simple baby boy. 

It is the story of God doing incredible things through the humblest of people. It is the story of God bringing the most powerful people down from their thrones. It is the story of God turning the world upside down and inside out by lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things, and sending the rich away empty. 

It is a song of praise at the wonder and awesomeness of our God, because Mary knows that this will be no simple birth, the child that she holds within her womb will be no ordinary baby, this will be no normal man. 

He will be the man who will bring all of these things to pass— he will be the one to begin the revolution, to jump-start the end of times, to usher in the reign of God in this world. From ordinary, humble, simple, and sometimes messy lives, this baby, Christ Jesus, will change the world. 

And I don’t want to give too much away, but if you stick around for the rest of the story, God does marvelous things with messy lives— like a couple of fishermen, some tax collectors, and a few faithful women. In the ordinary water of baptism, God grants us new life and renames us beloved. And even here, at this table this morning, God takes the most ordinary bread and wine and feeds it to us at the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one whose birth we will witness in just a few short days, and whose coming again we long for with anticipation. 

Praise God that God might do the same with our own ordinary, humble, simple, and sometimes messy lives. And our own faithfulness. Amen. 

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