GOD IS WITH US
Matthew 1:18-23
"They shall name him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"
We all know the
familiar Christmas stories found in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke's
Gospels. There we read about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and Wisemen,
and the rest of the Christmas tableaux.
Mark says nothing about any of this, nor does John. But in the prologue to John's Gospel we are
taken behind the scene into the deep meaning of Christmas. John speaks about the Word who was with God
from the beginning becoming flesh and dwelling among us full of grace and
truth. This puts Christmas into a cosmic
context. But how do we connect the
Christmas story with this breathtaking announcement that the creative Word
which brought everything into being became one of us? Matthew makes the connection for us. He tells
us that the baby born in Bethlehem is "Emmanuel," "God is with
us," not God against us, not remote from, but God with and for us.
This is a
dramatic declaration. It is not how God is
generally understood in the world where power is seldom determined by love or
shaped by justice. It is even more
dramatic when it is said of a baby born out of wedlock to a young girl and a
carpenter in a stable in a small unimportant Palestinian village that has no
pretentions to glory, but is the site of this audacious claim that is the foundation of
all else that flows from Christian faith.
It is also goes far beyond the boundaries of Christianity or religion
for it has to do with what it means for us humans to be made in the image of
God.
From the
beginning of the human story billions of years ago we humans have tried to understand who we are, as well
as understand the mystery of the One in whom we live, move and have our being,
the mystery we call God. These two
questions, who are we and who is the mysterious
source of life, have always belonged together.
But they come together in the Christmas story. For we Christians believe that it is only
when we journey with the shepherds and Wisemen to Bethlehem to see what has has
come to pass", that we discover that the answer to both our questions at
the same time, an answer lying in a manger.
For if this child is God with us,
if this is the icon of the invisible God, as St. Paul says, then we who are
made in the image of God are meant to be conformed to his image.
The
declaration made in Genesis that we are made in the "image of God" was
startling when it was first uttered and it remains startling. It means that if we are to know who God is we
must first learn to know ourselves. For
without knowledge of ourselves, knowledge of how we have evolved and what we
have become, knowledge of God is not possible.
Yet the more we do this, the more difficult our quest becomes because God's
image in us has been so defaced and distorted. So much so, in fact, that if we think of God
as a big one of us, then God becomes a bad father, a God of war, a God who
demands human sacrifice, a God who is capricious, a God who gets angry, greedy
and vengeful, a God who seems absent not with those who suffer in Syria. A God who is against us, against the world,
against humanity. Yes, we continually
make God according to our broken sinful image. So we end up worshipping idols and fail to
recognise the true image of God in us and others, which is about being with and
loving our neighbour, our enemy, and creation itself, and therefore loving God
as ourselves. When we fail to discern
and respect the true image of the God in us and others, we turn disliking the
other, rejecting the other, hating the other, and we even call on God's name to
support us in doing so. The image of God in us is defaced as we deface others.
But into this
messy world hungry for good news we hear again the message of Christmas, as
startling as the first time it was heard.
A child will be born and he shall be called Emmanuel, God is with and
for us. Instead of us trying to find God,
or searching for the ultimate meaning of life elsewhere, the good news is that the
true image of God has been born again in a baby in Bethlehem. There, in the language of St. Paul, is a
"second Adam" in whom we are able to see again the true image of God,
the "icon of the invisible God" as Paul also refers to him. He is the human face of the God. This is
precisely what Charles Wesley invites us to sing about in his great Christmas
carol "Hark! the herald angels sing,"
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
The
restoration of the image of God in us begins, then, with the birth of a baby in
whom God's power is revealed in weakness, and the wisdom of God made manifest in
what the world counts foolishness. Already
in the manger the cross is prefigured, overturning all our assumptions about
God. Christmas is about the
vulnerability of God, God's identification with us in our fallen humanity. It is the good news of God's love, joy and
peace for the world. Christmas heralds
the beginning of a new creation, the offer of
a fresh start for humankind. When
by faith we truly see the image of God made flesh in Jesus we receive the
ability to see God's image in the face of others and discover God's way of redemptive
love for the world. That is why we declare that in Christ God reconciles the
world to himself. In the Christ-child we
not only discover the God who is with us, we also discover our true humanity in
being with God for others. We are born
again.
If we journey
in faith and wonder with the shepherds, the
humble men and women of all ages, or follow the star with the wise men and
women of every generation, and hasten to see this thing that has come to pass, then
it is that we discover that the God who is with and for us is the God who
enables us to discover ourselves in being with and for others. For there in the little town of Bethlehem a
miracle occurred that is as amazing as the birth of the first human being. For the gift of Christmas is a second chance
for the world, the offer to us all to receive this gift and start again as
children in whom the image of God is reborn.
For if God so loved the world that he became one of us to make us whole
again, so ought we to love the world in order that through us God might make
others whole.
John de
Gruchy
Volmoed 22 December 2016
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