God with us

Queensland Shooting

This week, we heard shocking news from Queensland. Two young police officers went to a remote property on the lead of a missing person case, not realising that an ambush had been set.

According to police reports, after these young officers jumped the fence of the remote property, they were met with a hail of gun fire. Two other officers were able to escape, one into the nearby bush.

But the assailants tried to flush her out, lighting the bush on fire.

Meanwhile, a neighbour came to see what was happening. He was shot and lost his life.

Later that evening, a further firefight with police occurred, with the three alleged perpetrators being shot dead.

We were all left in shock.

We were all left wondering: how could this happen?

As the week went on, news reports emerged about various aspects of the three people in the centre of all of this.

We can start to piece together a bit of a picture of what happened - but it’s cold comfort.

Like too many things in this world, at the end of the day we essentially need to mark it down to living in a messed up world.

You see, you can explore it, analyse it, try and rationalise it… and I’m sure you’ll see a lot of this in the papers over the next little while, but we still have six people dead, and who knows how many people grieved.

So where are we left when these sort of things happen?

The sad reality is, this sort of confusing, unexplainable tragedy is nothing new. Sometimes it’s people doing unimaginable things to fellow humans. Sometimes it’s nature seemingly being cruel and horrible. Sometimes it is just an accident that happened.

When it happens, the common cry is - we need answers. Politicians will make some sort of promise.... maybe a new policy or something… or maybe punishment for someone who conveniently is able to take the blame.

But the tragedies keep coming.

You could take the book of Job as an example. He was struck with a series of tragedies, and then his friends come and try and rationalise it. In their case, they tried to rationalise the tragedy by pointing to Job’s sin. God on the other hand said - hold on a minute, not so fast. Don’t think you can sort things out that quickly.

Joseph’s problem

This morning, we’re finding ourselves looking at the Matthew 1 where Joseph is finding himself in a bit of a pickle, although quite different from the type of events I’ve been talking about up till now, but in some ways, perhaps just as confusing.

You see, Joseph was a good Jewish man. He’s been pledged to be married to Mary - an engagement that carried more weight compared with engagements in our culture today.

Being a good Jew, there would have been no sexual activity until the marriage is completed.

But then would have come what must have been a scandal. His bride… his sweet little Mary… well… maybe she’s not quite sweet after all.

Turns out she’s pregnant.

The method of making babies has been well known, shall I say… since God first put humanity on this planet.

Joseph can be confident in saying it wasn’t his. So the maths isn’t too hard on this one. Someone else is involved.

Now, we of course know how this story ends. We know that this is a supernatural pregnancy. But let’s just put ourselves in Joseph’s shoes just for a moment as we imagine the utter shock and total confusion he must be feeling at this point.

You might know that there are some pretty messed up things in the world out there, but I reckon that Joseph, like most of us, at least feel that for the most part, we can understand that basics of the immediate world around us. That is, we know what sort of people we have around us.

But when one of those truths that you’ve taken for granted come tumbling down - how do you feel?

Unfortunately, it’s a common story today. All too frequently, people ignore marriage vows, and when the other finds out, they’re crushed.

But even in his crushed state - Joseph’s kindness stands out. It would have been his cultural right to make it known that Mary is pregnant with a wife not his own. He could try his hardest to make sure all the mud sticks to her, and not him.

He doesn’t.

His plan is instead to divorce her quietly.

Perhaps the best outcome from a messy and horrible situation.

You see, you can’t blame Joseph. He is doing what we all do. Trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

Only, God’s about to say - ah Joseph, there is a different perspective to all of this that you’re not considering.

Now let’s just step back a moment from the fact that it’s about to be revealed to his that the conception of this pregnancy actually comes from the Holy Spirit.

You see, what’s happened is that he’s gone straight into problem solving mode.

Unfortunately, when we go into problem solving mode too quickly, we miss seeing what God is doing.

And so we come to the point we all know is coming - the revelation that in fact, Mary has not been unfaithful.

We’re told that Joseph is in fact told this in a dream.

An angel of the Lord visits him in a dream and tells him not to be afraid, but to take Mary home as his wife, “because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”.

The angel of the Lord goes on, and I must admit, this must have got Joseph’s head spinning.

He’s told, it’s going to be a son, and his name is to be Jesus. But then - he goes even further, saying: “because he will save his people from their sins”.

Such a notion is incredible. Is he thinking at this stage… who can forgive sins except for God alone? Certainly we see that sentiment expressed later when Jesus as an adult does start forgiving people of their sins.

I can only imagine how much Joseph must have had that head spinning feeling.

Up until only fairly recently, he’s life would have been more or less straight forward. He was getting married. He was living a good and decent life. Only to first deduce his fiance had been faithful. Only to be corrected that we have an immaculate conception - and that this child will be forgiving the people of their sins. It’s almost too much for them all.

The prophet Isaiah

Interestingly, as the account of this event is recorded in Matthew’s gospel, we’re then taken to words that were spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)”.

Now, let me just put a quick pause on my exploration of poor Joseph, while I jump back in time to explore this quote from Isaiah that we were just given.

We’re going to go back over 700 years before these events in fact.

If you recall my series on the Minor Prophets, then we’re at a similar time to when Amos was prophesying, except that Amos was prophesying to the Northern Kingdom, whereas Isaiah focusses most of his attention to the south.

Okay, there is a rather long and complicated political backstory here, but suffice to say, there is a real political mess, with international relationships being very complicated.

We start seeing talk among the nations of various alliances, and as an observer with over 2,500 years hindsight, it’s pretty obvious that these alliances are not a good idea.

Ahaz is king of Israel, and unfortunately, from a godly perspective, he’s not exactly the greatest of the kings.

You can read about what I’m about to describe in Isaiah 7.

Anyway, Isaiah manages to get a word in to Ahaz.

What’s interesting, is that even though Ahaz’s situation is so completely different to what Joseph was facing, there is actually something in common.

You see, Ahaz is in the midst of crisis, and so just like Joseph, which is just like us, he goes straight into problem solving mode.

His country is in trouble, and so forming an alliance seems the most optimum choice given his options. From a logical (albeit worldly) perspective, there does seem to be good wisdom here.

When Isaiah confronts Ahaz, effectively he says, why are you trying to solve this yourself and not look to God.

God so desperately wants Ahaz to call out to him, but he refuses.

Finally, with what seems like desperation, Isaiah effectively says - well, if you’re not going to look to God, the Lord’s going to give you a sign anyway. And it is at this point that we first read: “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”.

Now it is a most fascinating exercise to look at the multi-faceted way that this prophetic word is fulfilled.

The ‘virgin’ ultimately points to Mary, but yet it is generally considered that as these words were given to the troubled King Ahaz, there was a closer fulfillment for him.

God with us

But rather then getting bogged down into the finer details of all of this, what we really need to be focusing on is the name given for the child.

It’s the name: Immanuel.

It’s the name that means “God with us”.

And it is as we begin to understand the significance of this, that we can start to understand how we should process those utterly confusing events of this world.

But let me first look what that meant for King Ahaz, before I bring it back to Joseph, and then finally bring it back to us.

You see, for King Ahaz he was faced with an international crisis. If you looked purely at the events as they were happening, you would have to conclude that there was a very real chance that Ahaz’s kingdom was about to be more or less obliterated. The forces that their enemies were amassing were far superior to their own.

What Ahaz forgot, and Isaiah was so desperate to tell him, is that God was with them.

This didn’t mean it would be a walk in the park for them. This world is still messed up.

But here’s what the image of a virgin giving birth to a son called Immanuel does.

It reminds us, that God has chosen to come to earth in the midst of our mess - not in some powerful all-guns-blazing sort of way - but in a gentle subtle way, and in this way, God is saying to Ahaz - I want to walk by your side. I want you to take things slow. To see things for what they really are. And to recognise that I’m never away. You don’t need to fear.

We’ve just gone through a series on the minor prophets, and so, we know that the nation of Israel, from this point through to the end of the Old Testament, never had it easy. They went through some very rough times.

But God was always there. Even at there lowest point, he would be carrying them through.

Joseph

Which brings us back to Joseph.

Earlier I spoke about the personal crisis that Joseph was feeling when he suspected his wife-to-be had cheated on him.

From his personal perspective, this reminder of Immanuel would have meant everything.

If God is with you - and you can take the time to actually realise this - then really nothing else matters.

Even if he faces a barrage of ridicule and scorn, God is with him, what does it matter.

First century Jews

But this reminder of ‘God with us’, was of course, not just for Joseph. It was for God’s people.

Now, let’s just think about this in terms of the Jews living at the time of Jesus birth.

At this point in history, the Jews were under Roman rule. It actually would have been a very confusing time because there’s actually a long story to tell between when the prophecy of the virgin with child was given, to when Jesus was born. The Jews wanted something dramatic.

But God said, no, I’m going to come in a gentle and subtle way - and I’m going to live with you.

They weren’t going to solve their problems with worldly pursuits. The reality was, the Jews of that time were not even close to having the strength required to bring what they wanted.

They wanted answers - God said - just look, I’m going to be with you.

Application for us

So let’s bring this all back to our time now.

When a crisis happens - say like the Wieambilla shooting in Queensland - we want answers. We want assurances that things like this won’t happen again.

And look, there is actually wisdom in the authorities reviewing what happened and seeing if there is anything better that could have been done.

I’m not suggesting there is any problem in that - however, when we go straight to problem solving mode we can lose sight of something bigger. I’m not saying to reduce this to a moral lesson - that would just be another form of problem solving.

Rather - we would do well to remember the prophecy originally given to King Ahaz. “The virgin will conceive and give borth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”

It’s a paradigm shift in our thinking. Rather than solving it, we recognise that even in these messed up events, God chooses to be with us. To walk with us. To guide us. To protect us.

When we recognise this, we don’t need to fear. Not because bad things won’t happen. But because there is something bigger going on. A God that is constantly redeeming his people.

We’ve been remembering that Jesus is returning. The wonderful thing is, that we already have God with us.

A wonderful illustration of this, is a child going through some struggles.

When they are by themselves, it all seems too much. They can be crushed under the burden of it all.

But when a parent comes. Gives them a big hug. It’s not necessarily that the problem disappears, although this might be the case, but it’s rather that when the parent is there, the child is reminded that it is going to be okay, because mum or dad is there.

Love

The key to understanding this is love.

In the example of the child with their parent, it’s more than just the physical touch of the hug. It’s the knowledge that this person cares for them so deeply. It is the love.

It’s the same with God. When we read that about Immanuel - we’re getting that hug we need. A hug that transmits love so deeply.

As we experience this love, we might not be any closer to understanding the world around us, but like the child in their parents arms, the problems seem to fade in significance because of love.

Conclusion

In seven days time, we will be gathering to celebrate Christmas.

The time when the prophecy given to King Ahaz found it’s ultimate fulfillment.

A time when we’re reminded that God has already chosen to be with us.

God chose to make himself nothing. Taking the form of a man. But even more than that. Chose to suffer like a man. He knows the types of struggles you face. The specifics are different, but he knows the messed up world we are in.

He chose to do this, because of his great love for us.

There are many messed up things in this world. And I wish that I could explain them better. But the great news is we have something even better than an explanation.

We have a God - the creator of this entire universe - who has chosen to be with us and walk with us through this difficult times.

And for this reason, we can find comfort even when we can’t explain it.

And that’s what I want to leave you with this morning. Not an explanation. But with comfort in a God that loves you very much.

So let me pray...