Fourth Tuesday of Advent: Matthew

 

Matthew 1:18-25 

Our God near at hand 

1:18 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. 

1:19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 

1:20 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. 

1:21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 

1:22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 

1:23 "Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." 

1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 

1:25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Advent always ends on the not-quite-yet; the nativity story before the nativity, finally celebrated on C'hristmas Eve (ideally at midnight so that the celebration occurs on the date of birth, but....most of us don’t want to be in church on Christmas Day, so…).

 "Excita, quaesumus Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni."

"Summon all your strength, O Lord, and come." 

 --Roman Liturgy 

A variant reading of the 80th Psalm. And maybe an indication that four weeks of preparation/anticipation have worn us out. We’ve come this far, prepared this much, and it still seems like it’s not what we expected. Luke’s version has big excitement on the night of the birth: angels in the sky, the glory of God, shepherds. Except the shepherds are coming to see a sign. A baby in a feeding trough, like any baby in Bethlehem. 

Nobody comes to Joseph’s house in Bethlehem. Not until the Magi arrive, two years later. That’s the first time they know that anyone’s noticed. That’s by design, in Matthew’s story. Angels (messengers; agents of God) show up in dreams to keep the story on track. That’s the first time Joseph knows this birth is of more than a little significance. An angel later warns the Magi not to return to Herod; and then tells Joseph to go to Egypt; and later still, that it’s safe to come back again.The star does the rest; but it’s the star we remember. The disruption of nature that is the sign.

A better sign than “look for a newborn in a feeding trough.”

Let’s be honest here: Matthew is using Isaiah for his own purposes. The idea that Mary is a virgin comes from Matthew’s special Matthew, just as it’s in Luke’s Special Luke. So Matthew turns “young girl” into “virgin,” to fit the story he needs to tell. And, I suspect, the story everyone already expected: that Jesus was special from birth, and that meant the conception had to be special, too. And something that special perturbs nature; and people. So, Joseph isn’t ready for this, until the angel intervenes. In fact, it’s an interesting symmetry: Luke has four canticles in his nativity. Matthew has four angelic interventions.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Notice Matthew “yadda-yadda’s” the best part. Mary is so backgrounded even the event of the birth is focused on Joseph. It happens sometime after the dream about the angel, so this is probably six months later, maybe as long as eight. Matthew skips to the birth the way Luke does. Small wonder we think Mary was great with child on the back of the donkey as she and Joseph enter Bethlehem, and she delivers that night just as they find a barn in from the night air. Matthew is even briefer: Joseph has a vision, his wife has a baby. When next we look in, foreigners with gifts are dropping by.

It’s a bit of a denouement to all the build up, isn’t it? There is a disruption in nature at the birth. Luke has angels in sky, surrounded by the doxa of God. It’s highly dramatic. Matthew has a star. Offstage. Known only to the Magi, at first. But that’s getting ahead of the story. For now, we have only the birth, itself entirely offstage, too. 

Is this what we have summoned all our strength for? Were we wrong to expect a bit more from God than this?

Maybe it’s a good thing this isn’t where Advent ends. But how does this further our spiritual preparation? And what, again, are we preparing for?

There are always more questions, aren’t there? How annoying is that?