Sermon - 12/18/22
Di
الوصف
<p><strong>The Birth of Jesus the Messiah</strong></p> <p>American political satirist and journalist, P. J. O’Rourke, once said, “Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.” I agree with him - family love is very messy, and the messy, dysfunctional aspects of family life too often become systemic, passed down through generations. Quite honestly, life is very messy. And the Bible is brutally honest about this messiness in our lives as it contains stories of all kinds of people in the depth of messiness and dysfunction. One of the beautiful aspects of scripture is that it speaks the truth about <strong>our</strong> very lives, the truth about the messiness that creates all sorts of systemic problems within families and communities, the messiness that prevents us from living in relationship with others, the messiness <strong>everyone</strong> experiences in some form. And it is so fascinating that when looking at the messiness in our own lives, our <strong>reaction</strong> to it or our inability to thoughtfully respond in a <strong>healthy</strong> manner is usually rooted in some aspect of <strong>fear</strong>.</p> <p>In today’s gospel reading, we meet up with Joseph as we hear Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth. While the gospel of Luke focuses on Mary, the gospel of Matthew focuses on Joseph. And guess what? Joseph faces a <strong>very</strong> messy situation! Matthew does <strong>not</strong> give us the sweet, saccharine, syrupy, <strong>heart-warming</strong> stories of angels and shepherds and a baby born in a cattle stall. No. Matthew focuses on Joseph and the <strong>heart-wrenching</strong> struggle <strong>he</strong> was facing. The woman to whom Joseph is engaged, the woman to whom he is already <strong>contractually</strong> espoused, is pregnant. Mary and Joseph have not yet moved in with each other, they have not yet had sex, and Joseph experiences extreme heartache as he faces a very messy problem. Mary is pregnant and this could on
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