Sermon Isaiah 7:10-16
Peter Lockhart
Hope is an elusive thing:
it is that grasping at a future and looking for a transformation that
has not been realised. All of us hope
for things: we desire for something to happen, for something to come.
On this last Sunday of Advent we are challenged with
thinking about what it is we hope for. Too
easily we could hope for the trivial, the banal and maybe even the selfish:
nice weather for Christmas day; that the turkey or ham cooks well enough and
tastes great; no arguments at the Christmas table; the gifts that I listed out
so everyone knew what I needed; and the list goes on.
But on this day as we set out on our pathway of hope we hear
ancient words of hope which have a much deeper meaning and resonance in our lives. They have echoed down over 2500 years to be
heard again by our ears:
“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son,
and shall name him Immanuel.”
When Ahaz refuses God’s offer of a sign of hope the prophet Isaiah
intervenes and declares the sign that God is giving anyway:
“The young woman is with child and shall name him Immanuel!”
The situation for Ahaz appeared dire as the Assyrian Empire
asserted its strength and threatened Israel’s future and stability. Isaiah’s prophecies were filled with images
of darkness and destruction but they were also matched with hope.
“Before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose
the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”
The future still held trepidation, turmoil was still at hand
but hope was given. Beyond the
limitations of Ahaz’s vision and faith God’s promise was made tangible in a
child who was to be born.
As Christians we can easily confuse this prophecy of Isaiah
to be speaking of Jesus because Matthew borrows the prophet’s words in his
recount of the annunciation of Jesus birth to Joseph. Yet following the ancient
text it is more likely that Isaiah was referring to Hezekiah: Ahaz’s successor.
Regardless, of whether the child being referred to was Hezekiah
or not, and regardless of the fact Matthew uses the prophet’s words in
reference to Jesus what is at stake is found in the name.
She shall name him Immanuel,
which means God us with us.
Here is the message of hope, “God is with us!” God is not against us! God has not deserted us! God is not our
enemy! God has not turned away!
God is! And God is with us!
This was the message of Isaiah to Ahaz. This is the message from Matthew to his
community. And this is the message of hope that we hear today “God is with us”.
Of course for those of us who believe that Jesus is the Son
of God, the eternal Word made flesh, there is a true and new sense of God being
with us in and through the incarnation.
But even for Isaiah and Ahaz the name Immanuel carries an eternal, if
not incarnated, truth. “God is with us!”
This is the hope to which Ahaz was to cling. This was the hope that Matthew gave to his
community as he retold the story of the incarnation. And this is the message that I would continue
to declare to you “God is with us!”
This hope, this faith, is a hope we can cling to regardless
of our situation in life.
Ahaz was facing the possibility of war and destruction and
we know the Israelites went through a time of desolation and despair.
The word of hope and promise comes in the naming of a child “God
is with us”!
Matthew’s community was facing persecution coming from the
conflict within the early Christian community as it broke away from being a
Jewish sect. Probably largely believers of
Jewish origins Matthew’s community sat between traditional Jews and gentile
Christians. There would have been a
sense of confusion as they sought their identity as followers of Christ
In addition to these internal ructions Matthew’s community was
also confronted by the might of Rome with its so called divine Emperors.
The word of hope and promise comes in the naming of a child “God
is with us”!
This is the message that breaks into our reality as well. A message that goes back long before Isaiah
prophesied to Ahaz and a message that rolls beyond the incarnation and into the
future not yet come: God is with us!
This is the eternity of God’s life breaking in and making it
known.
It is this hope in God’s continued and constant presence which
serves those hopes which lie deeper in our
existence: hope in a future for our children;
hope for good health and well-being; hope for those who suffer in the world;
hope for the meeting of basic needs; hope for understanding and meaning and purpose
in life.
These larger and more universal hopes are met with the
declaration of the constancy and care of God’s love “God is with us!”
Even when things seem dire, even when things seem bad:
God is with us!
God is not against us!
God has not deserted us! God is not our enemy! God has not turned away!
This is the hope to which we can cling and this is the hope
we declare to the world this advent and each and every day.
When Isaiah declared the child’s name would be Immanuel
Isaiah was providing a tangible sign of what always remains true. When Matthew used Isaiah’s words to rightly
describe the incarnation of God in Jesus, he too was pointing at an ongoing
eternal reality.
To say “God is with us” is not simply to affirm the
incarnation and momentary entry into the world by God, as monumental as this
event was, but is to say something which maybe sounds even more confronting in
reverse, if you will excuse the double negative:
“God is never not with us!”
This is our hope whether we experience it in the full or
walk through life not feeling God’s closeness as others seem to “God is with
us!”
All of our hopes and fears are met in this and we cling to
this good news as we approach the celebration of Jesus birth.
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