Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 4 Advent, 18 Dec. 2016
Year
A RCL: Isaiah 7:10-16;
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew1:18-25
What's
in a name?
Shakespeare has Juliet tell us:
You
may recall Romeo & Juliet discuss the blight their last names put
on their relationship. The 2 families are sworn enemies. It helps to
discuss a problem. It helps to name a problem. If you can name it,
you can claim it!
A
variation of this saying tells us we can't solve a problem until we
identify the problem. We have to know what our challenge is to
resolve it. Knowing the name of something matters. In the Bible, a
name matters big time.
To
know someone's name is to have some control over the person. You
recall when Moses encounters God at the burning bush, he asks God's
name. God says “I am who I am.” Names have meaning.
Our
scriptures today have more than 12 references to names.
In
the reading from Isaiah, Ahaz sounds really upright
when he refuses to put God to the test. This sounds as if he's living
into the meaning of his name: “he was grasped”2
– as if grasped by awe of God.
Ahaz isn't upright. He is up-tight,
grasped by fear. Fear of change, fear of invasion lead him to trust
another ruler's intervention instead of trusting God,3
giving
us yet another story in the Bible of humans doing things our own way,
not fully trusting God, messing up, creating one more mess only God
can redeem.
You
& I are blessed to know God redeems us through Jesus' birth &
his sacrifice on the cross. We read our Isaiah passage knowing the
Good News of Jesus. Through Jesus [as
one Bible commentary says of this passage]
“God...[fulfills God's] promise that God would be with his
people...”4
God
is with us. We know this because of Jesus. We know God is also with
us through each other. God works through Jesus to redeem the messes
we make AND, because we belong to Jesus, God works with us through
the power of the Holy Spirit to solve some messes.
As co-workers in God's clean-up crew, we help God create beautiful “newness” in
renewed life. We
see God working through people so clearly in our Gospel:
As Jesus'
mother, Mary obviously is a key worker. Her name may mean “beloved”5.
She is beloved by many. What kind of Christmas could we have if she
had said “NO” to God's call? We are thankful for her “Yes.”
We
must be thankful for Joseph's “Yes” in this difficult situation.
Joseph, whose name means “may God add,”6
is vitally important in God's plan. Through him, God adds grace to
life, like we see in Joseph's his ancestor, Joseph, whose brothers
sell him into slavery & years later he saves them & many who
would have starved in the famine.
God
adds security, wisdom, & strength to Mary & Jesus through
Joseph, a good man, who trusts God, who makes sure the family is safe
& does what is right. He makes sure they observe religious
requirements. When Jesus is 8-days-old, Joseph
& Mary take Jesus to the temple to do what is expected with the
first-born: present him to be dedicated to God.
When
we present a person for baptism, dedicating them to God, we do so for
them to receive the Holy Spirit, to become a living temple for the
Holy Spirit. Through baptism each of us has been transformed, to
shine the light of God's grace, to shine the light of Christ to the
people in our lives.
To
paraphrase from Paul's letter to the Romans:
As servants of Jesus Christ, set apart for the Gospel to share the
Good News in our generation, each of us is called to share the news
of Jesus through whom we receive grace to bring about the obedience
of faith among others for Jesus' sake.
As
a Christian, you are “a little Christ,” anointed or bearing
Christ,7
a sign of God's saving grace & love in this hurting world. You
are a sign of God's life in holy community, a reflection of the
Mystery we call the Holy Trinity. It is this Beloved Unity in whose
image we are made & by whose grace we live as Brothers &
Sisters.
As
Beloved Sisters & Brothers in Christ, we are to pray for each
other & help each other live into God's love. May we have the
grace to help each other live into “friendship with Jesus.8
In
our lesson from Romans,
Paul reminds us we
are called to be saints. Saints are friends with Jesus Christ.
As
we hear in Celtic
Praise,
Friendship
with Christ cannot be claimed, but only received.
It
is not a right, but privilege.
Open
your heart to Christ,
& he will enter.
Come
to him on your knees,
& he will raise you up.
Bibliography
Handy
Dictionary of the Bible.
Gen. Ed: Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
1973.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers.
1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1985. p. 851.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press,
1989.
http://www.bartleby.com/70/3822.html
Accessed: 16 Dec. 2016.
http://www.behindthename.com.
Accessed: 16 Dec. 2016.
http://www.ourbabynamer.com.
Accessed: 16 Dec. 2016.
http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names.
Accessed: 16 Dec. 2016.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger, eds. New
York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Van
de Weyer, Robert. Celtic
Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings.
Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1998.
8
Van
de Weyer, Robert. Celtic
Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings.
P. 33.
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