Expressions of Love December 18, 2022
God of life and love, we turn to your Word to hear your will and your wisdom for our times. Open our hearts and minds by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit so that we might hear what you are saying to the church through Christ, your Love Incarnate.
Today we lit the fourth candle in our Advent season, the Candle of Love, so I thought it appropriate that the message be based on the same theme, being love. But when I looked at the Scripture readings recommended for this week it was pretty discouraging for there didn’t seem to be any reference to love in any of them.
But as I looked at the Gospel reading more closely, thought about it, and prayed about it, I did discover what are two types of love in these words of Matthew describing the events which took place when Joseph discovered his fiancé, Mary, was going to have a baby even though they were not yet married. And although the examples of love aren’t obvious, they are there, and as it is so often in life when you have to work at something, the results you get are much more satisfying
So, let’s begin with Joseph’s love for Mary, an incredibly important part of the Christmas story. You might say, “Well of course he loved Mary. They were engaged!” And yes, they were engaged to be married, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Joseph loved her. In that day and time people often got married for reasons other than love. Marriages were typically arranged by the spouses’ parents. Many times, marriage was viewed more as a social or economic relationship rather than romantically based.
So how do we know Joseph loved Mary? We know because of his response when Mary was found to be pregnant during the engagement, before they were married, before they had come together as husband and wife. And this wasn’t a physical love, but rather a selfless, unconditional love. Here, in the story of the engagement of Mary and Joseph, who were to be the parents of Jesus, we can see the love that Joseph had for Mary. It’s shown in the reaction of Joseph when he heard that his betrothed, Mary, was going to have a child. This is what Matthew tells us took place: “When Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”
Joseph, on hearing the news that Mary was with child had three choices. First of all, way back in ancient times according to the OT laws, he could have had her stoned to death for the sin of adultery. A second option was to charge her openly in a court of law with having committed adultery. Mary would be brought to trial and convicted in front of everybody, ruined in terms of reputation. Or, thirdly, he and Mary could get together before two or three witnesses and write out a private bill of divorce and no one would need to be any the wiser. Now Jewish law regarded an engaged couple as virtually married. Normally a one-year period of waiting followed the engagement before the marriage took place. During that year, the couple could only break their engagement with a divorce.
You can imagine how angry and hurt Joseph must have felt upon finding out that Mary was going to have a baby. He knew it wasn’t his so obviously she must have another man. I’m sure his first reaction would have been to punish her as much as possible for the pain and embarrassment he felt. Joseph probably felt that stoning her to death wouldn’t be punishment enough so would have wanted to expose her infidelity to the whole community. Charging her with adultery in court would shame her in front of everyone and he would have his revenge.
This is what Matthew says Joseph did: “Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.”. This choice preserved his righteousness according to OT laws and allowed him to demonstrate compassion towards Mary. And so, he decided rather than expose her to public disgrace, he would divorce her quietly. Sure, people would still know and talk about her. That was unavoidable. But at least she wouldn’t go through the public humiliation of a trial.
But the story was not to end there, for as Matthew says: “But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”. God intervened with a message to Joseph in order that his will would be done. And because of God’s intervention Joseph decided not to divorce Mary privately, but to continue their engagement. Matthew writes: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.” So great was his love for her that he would accept Mary as his wife and the unborn child as being his own.
And the second type of love found in this morning’s lesson, which is vastly greater that that of human, earthly love is the love that God has for us as being his children. It’s shown in this line from our reading from Matthew, “‘She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”. This puts us in mind of another New Testament author, the Apostle John, who said this, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16)
Despite all our weaknesses and our failings God’s love for us is so great that he sent Jesus into the world, born as a mortal like the rest of us, and whose birth we’re going to celebrate next Sunday. Sent to earth by God to suffer and die on a cross in order to save those who believe in him from sin and give them eternal live. There can be no greater example of love than that.
And examples of this love run throughout the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament. Here’s one from this morning’s Responsive Reading, “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”. The light that shines from God’s face in this Psalm is that of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Once again, we can turn to the Apostle John in his opening lines of his Gospel to confirm that to us. John writes: “Before the world began, there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him. Nothing was made without him. In him there was life. That life was light for the people of the world. The Light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overpowered the Light. The true Light was coming into the world. The true Light gives light to all.” (John 1:1-5,9) Such is God’s love for us that he sent the Light, his only begotten son, into the world to save us.
Now, we, as Christians, know the depth of God’s love for us but we must also understand that God’s love extends to all of humankind, not just those who believe in him. So, then the question becomes, “How do we demonstrate God’s love for them to those who are around us?”.
The answer to that lies in what Jesus told his disciples, “‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you also love one another.’” (John 13:34) So, first of all we’re to show God’s love for the world by loving each other within the church. Despite all our differences and the petty disagreements, we can have with one another we’re still to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And not only is it important that we show the love of Christ, and that we might therefore encourage and strengthen those in the body of Christ, but our loving one another just so happens to be probably the most important factor in our effort to spread the Good News of Salvation to the people around us. Through this love the world can come to know the love of Christ. Jesus himself promised this when he said, “"By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." (John 13:35) We are known as the disciples of Jesus Christ on the basis of loving one another.
And that’s important too for our upcoming Christmas Eve service. Those who will join us that evening will see in the love of Christ in the lives of those who are here in the church. And even if they don’t come here on a regular basis at least some of that love which we’ve shown them can be with them in their day to day lives and they will feel the loving peace that God brings so often to us.
So, as we look at the light that shines from the Candle of Love let us always remember to love one another. It is the truest expression of our new lives in Christ, the new life with God that will never fade and never wither and never die. Now is the time for us to show others what genuine love is all about. And we're capable of doing that by God's love and grace in Christ.
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, help us to demonstrate the kind of love that you showed to us when your Son was born and when he gave up his life for us. Teach us by your Spirit, as we live each day, to show that love to all, so that the world around us may know we belong to you. And with that love may we enrich the lives of those we meet. Amen