Christmas Eve B, 2023

Christmas Eve Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” [Isaiah 7:14] We all know this verse. It’s a prominent feature of Handel’s Messiah. But I think many of us we be hard-pressed to describe the person Isaiah was speaking this prophecy to. His name was Ahaz. Tonight I want us to dig into the context of this passage.

Ahaz is not one of the figures in the Bible that we talk about very often. There’s good reason for that: he was not a good king. In fact, when he’s introduced, we hear:

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. [ESV (2 Kings, Chapter 16)]

This is not a description of a God-fearing man, nor of a king who trusts in the God of His fathers to guide and protect him. If you read 2 Kings 16 you quickly encounter the threat that King Ahaz is facing in his conflict with the King of Israel - the northern tribes. Remember: this was a time that God’s people were divided. In the first lesson tonight, we are hearing a short piece of what the prophet Isaiah has come to tell the King of Judah - to turn back to YHWH and trust in Him for protection and deliverance. Rather than trust God, Ahaz turns to a military alliance with the Assyrians… a pagan people who later proved to be one of the greatest threats the Hebrew people would face.

I want to back up to the verses before tonight’s reading, in which Isaiah tells this king that the plans of his opponents will not succeed, because God will protect him and the people of Judah…and in verse 9, the prophet says “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” [ESV, Isaiah 7:9]. We will later learn that Ahaz puts no faith or trust in God, so he is definitely not “firm in faith”. He would rather put his trust in alliances, which proves disastrous for him and his kingdom.

But God, who is patient beyond all measure, gives Ahaz a chance. God of course knows that Ahaz is a man of weak faith (if any faith at all), so He “very graciously allows the king to ask for a sign to provide for himself some ground on which to build. This sign should be asked from Yahweh himself. By calling him ‘your God’ it is admitted that the king still stands in some sort of special relation to God. Ahaz had not as yet openly or virtually denied the God of his father David.” [Leupold, 154]

But Ahaz answers in a most disappointing way. He begins with something that sounds like Deuteronomy 6:16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” It seems this king is afraid to put God to the test…but when God is proposing a sign, we are not putting God to the test.

Now let’s be honest here: Ahaz is not worried about following God’s Law to the letter. Let’s remember what kind of king he is: he followed the tradition of the wicked kings of Israel who worshiped other Gods. He burned his son as an offering in the pagan practice of the surrounding nations. Ahaz also sacrificed and made offerings in other sites of pagan worship. He took silver and gold from the Lord’s Temple and used it to bribe the king of Assyria. He ordered the construction of a new altar in Jerusalem to match the pagan altar in Damascus. So many of his deeds were in violation of God’s Law…it’s really odd that he would hide behind that now, when confronted by God’s prophet.

Here’s the real issue: “...Ahaz would be under necessity of believing if the sign asked came to pass, and Ahaz does not want to be under necessity of believing, strange as that may sound. He has a course of his own plotted. If the sign happens, this course must be abandoned. The pious sound of his answer masks a very stubborn unbelief.” [Leupold, 154–155] In other words, if Ahaz were to pick a sign, and it came true, then Ahaz would have no choice but to believe that God is who He says He is, that He is indeed powerful, and that He keeps His promises. If Ahaz was going to believe any of that, then he would have to actually confront God’s Law and see how he is in violation of it. No, Ahaz doesn’t WANT to believe. He wants to do things his own way, believing that he doesn’t answer to anyone. He’s King of Judah, after all, and he’s the highest authority in the land… or so he wanted to believe.

This is the challenge many people face. There are people who don’t WANT to believe that God’s promises come true. If God’s promises come true, then what about the rest of God’s Word? Is that true, too? It’s so much easier not to believe… we think. It seems so much easier to live without answering to a higher authority. It seems easier to be in control of our own choices and our own values. Why should I have to do it God’s way? I like my way better! I got news for anyone in that boat: church attendance across Western society is the lowest it’s ever been. The fastest growing “religious” group according to polls in the last 20 years is what we call the “nones” - which religious group do they identify with? “None” is their response. How’s that working out for our society? Violence is growing at unprecedented rates. Our nation is more divided than it’s been since the Civil Rights Era. Some think we’re as divided as we were during the Civil War. More people now live in poverty than any time since the Great Depression. Suicide rates are skyrocketing. Fewer and fewer young people are getting married, having families, raising children. With that in mind, let’s remember how God punishes the disobedient: He lets them have their way.

And He allows them to experience life without Him. And when they have had enough of their misery, they turn back to Him. And since He is, well, God, His patience is immeasurable, His love is STEADFAST, and His grace is unending. Can I get an Amen? He always takes His people back when they turn to Him. Every single time.

This scene with Ahaz is pretty amazing. Here’s this truly disobedient tyrant who has no intention of repenting. He hasn’t experienced the misery yet to make him realize that he needs to. He still thinks he’s special and protected. He is, after all, from King David’s lineage. And God promised David.

Now notice how the prophet’s response to Ahaz’s refusal changes something. In verse 11 Isaiah says “Ask a sign of the Lord *your* God;” but in verse 13 it becomes: “Is it too little for you to weary mean, that you weary *my* God also?” Whatever special place Ahaz had in God’s eyes at the beginning of this passage, that is now gone. Because Ahaz has finally disobeyed God openly, his disobedience has severed the last remaining bond he may have had because of his ancestors…especially King David. That tie has now been severed. Ahaz has set his kingdom on a path to destruction.

But then we get the promise: Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is certainly an unusual event - a son born to a virgin. This will be the marker to let everyone know that God has done this. Added to this miraculous birth is the name for the baby boy - “Immanuel”. This word means “God with us”… and so He is. This is the very verse quoted by Matthew in the Gospel lesson. He is then called “Jesus” by Joseph. This word means “the Lord saves”. Both are true statements of who Jesus of Nazareth was to us.

There are those in our country who don’t know the story of the baby born in a manger. We are called to share that Good News with them. There are others who refuse to believe it’s true. You will hear talk about the historical Jesus - he didn’t really exist, or he’s just a story made up by a sect of Jews who started a movement based on his story. Well, sorry to all those unbelievers - we have sources outside the Holy Scriptures that verify the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He really was an actual person who lived in that time. Remember: his birth took place in Bethlehem because his parents had to go there for the CENSUS. There are records of this stuff. The Romans were good like that.

People don’t WANT Jesus to be real for the same reason that Ahaz didn’t want to believe God: it changes how you have to view the world and your own life. What they forget in their resistance to God is that God knows better than we do. God knows what we were created for, and how we were supposed to enjoy what He created for us. God has always known how weak and easily tempted we are. God has always known that we would often stray away from Him. And so what we couldn’t do right on our own, He sent us His Son to set things right, to settle the debts, and to teach us a better way than our own way. THAT is what we celebrate tonight and tomorrow.

God’s Son took on flesh - became human and experienced humanity first hand. He lived and walked among us. He went through life as an ordinary carpenter’s son. He saw personally the temptations and struggles that all of God’s children face. And he showed us that it is possible to live through that without sin. Not easy, but possible.

And finally he gave up that flesh to be beaten, tortured, and killed. When we come to His Holy Supper tonight, we remember that amazing gift that He gave to us - His own self, so that we would be permitted to enjoy all that the Father has promised us - eternal life in Communion with Him. He is the reason for the season, and He is the best gift any of us will ever receive. Let us always remember that, even in the face of a tree full of wrapped presents on the best of Christmas mornings.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.