The Christmas Story is Our Story: Marriage and Mission

Rev. Dr. John Judson
December 18, 2022
Watch Service
Watch Sermon
Isaiah 61:6-11; Matthew 1:18-24   

    The last couple of weeks have demonstrated to me once again just how complicated, contextual, and cultural the institution of marriage is. There were two things that happened recently that made this clear. The first is that here in the United States there was a bipartisan bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage that was signed into law by President Biden. This law was passed because both of those types of marriage were dependent not on formal laws but on Supreme Court decisions that could be reversed.  This law was not only passed by congress but was supported by a vast majority of Americans.  The second thing that happened occurred in Indonesia where their government instituted a new constitution. This constitution included provisions that made adultery and sex outside of marriage, crimes punishable by imprisonment.  These laws not only apply to citizens but to tourists, so if you are going to visit Bali, take a copy of your marriage license with you. What is interesting about this section of the new constitution is that it is not only opposed by all Western governments but by many in Indonesia, especially many of the indigenous peoples.  It is opposed by them because many of the indigenous peoples do not have formal wedding ceremonies or certificates as part of their culture. They have instead a wide variety of marriage customs which would not be recognized by this new law.  What this debate demonstrates is just how culturally conditioned and different marriage can be.

      We can see how culture defines marriage in the scriptures. In the earliest Biblical accounts, there is no mention of a marriage ceremony, only someone became someone’s husband or wife. Later there was polygamy with Abraham having more than one wife and Solomon having some seven-hundred wives.  The Apostle Paul proclaims that people would be better off not being married.  All of which brings us to our morning’s story about Joseph and Mary. To understand the sense of the story we need to understand marriage in first century Judea among the Jewish population. Marriage was a three-step process. Step one occurred when children were young. The parents of the boy and the parents of the girl would engage them.  And please remember that all marriages were arranged marriages.  This is where Joseph and Mary are at the beginning of our story. Step two is the betrothal. The betrothal was a formalized marriage contract between the parties involved in the marriage. In a sense this was a pre-nup.  Yes, long before this moment in time there were pre-nups. We know this because scholars have found them from Jewish communities in the time of Jesus. The final step was the consummation. This would occur after the wedding feast that could last up to a week.  What we watch happen in this story is Mary and Joseph move through the three stages. They are engaged. Then Joseph takes Mary for his wife, this is the betrothal stage, and then we are reminded that the consummation of the marriage takes place after Jesus is born.  

      You may be wondering why I am spending so much time telling you about marriage customs in the first century. The reason is that I believe that Matthew deliberately takes his readers through this process because it is an allegory for God’s relationship with humanity in general and God’s people in particular. What I mean by this is that one of the most common scriptural allusions to God’s relationship with humanity and with the Hebrew people is that of husband and wife. Israel is referred to as the one who is betrothed to or married to the creator.  When the people of God wander far from God they are described as a wife who has gone after other lovers. The entire book of Hosea is based on this concept with Hosea acting out the part of God who goes seeking his wayward spouse.  Later in the New Testament we read references to the church being the bride of Christ. And so, what I want to do over the next few minutes is allow this three-part marriage to teach us about God’s amazing work with the world.

      Let’s begin in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.  This was the moment of engagement. This was the moment God created something outside of God’s self that God declared to be good, as God gave it life and purpose.  We can see God’s engagement with the creation in that God created human beings to be the caretakers of creation so that creation could fulfill its purpose of being a living, breathing, reality whose presence gave glory to God. This engagement lasts through the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis.  In those chapters we watch as humanity attempts to pull away from the one to whom it was engaged.  This desire to pull away does not lead to God calling off the engagement. Instead, God proceeds to the betrothal, a betrothal God makes with Abraham.

      It is at the betrothal stage that this marriage allegory links arms with the Christmas story, for it is with the betrothal that Matthew began his genealogy.  Remember that Matthew begins his genealogy with Abraham, and it is with Abraham that God makes the betrothal. We generally don’t call it that. Instead, we call it a covenant.  God and Abraham make a covenant in which Abraham agreed to worship God alone and to go where God called him to go. God promised to watch over Abraham, give him the gifts of land, offspring, and blessing and, through Abraham and Sarah, bless all of creation. This covenant is almost identical to first century marriage contracts, or covenants.  There are things that each party promises to do and not to do.

      The final part of the marriage is the consummation. We read of that consummation in verse 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 pregnant from the Holy Spirit.” The consummation of this relationship is somehow mysteriously and powerfully the coming together of God and humanity through the Spirit to bring Jesus into this world.  I know that many people have spilled much ink over this passage as they debate the virgin birth. Was it real? What are the physics of it? But in the first century no one would have found this idea out of the ordinary. After all, if God can create the universe, God can bring forth a child to a virgin. The real miracle of the story, I would argue, is not the virgin birth, but what Jesus had come to do, save God’s people from their sins. Notice that it doesn’t say Jesus came to forgive sins, which he does by the way, but that he came to save God’s people from their sins. And what sins are these? To find them all we need do is return to the genealogy and we find them. God’s people wandered far from God by worshipping other gods, by murder, by violence, by child sacrifice, by adultery, by jealousy, by greed, and in a host of other ways. 

      What these sins tell us is that the people of God, who were supposed to bless all nations through loving God, neighbor and caring for creation, had lost their way. They had wandered far off the path that God has set for them to fulfill their end of the marriage contract. They had taken peace from the world and brought violence instead. The miracle is that in this child, born in Bethlehem, God has come to bring the people back to the path; to bring humanity back to the path of loving God and neighbor, because when humanity returns to the path God has set, then peace breaks out. This is what Isaiah tells us, that when we are back on the path, righteousness breaks out. Righteousness, meaning living in right relationship with God, neighbor, and creation, will break out, will flourish, will grow like a beautiful garden. And righteousness is what leads to peace. And that is the miracle of this passage because if you are like me, you believe that it will take a miracle to bring peace to the world. If that is so, here it is. In Jesus Christ, peace is possible.
​
      My challenge to all of us for this week is not to believe in the virgin birth. My challenge is to ask ourselves, if we are on the right path, how are we building peace in the world? How am I being a follower of the Prince of Peace, and making peace a reality in the world around me?