Scripture/Sermon of the Day

18-19 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they enjoyed their wedding night, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

20-23 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic revelation to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).

24-25 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

I. I was looking at the 45th president’s NFT (Non-fungible tokens) digital superhero trading card collection. The initial offering of 45,000 NFT’s sold out in less than a day, making more than 4.5 million dollars. The initial price was 99 dollars and already, as of Saturday morning, some of these are being resold for 1200.00! The former president is a shrewd, almost clairvoyant judge of human character because he knows what people want. He knows many of his followers want a superhero. Someone who can fix what’s broken. He has said: “Only I can do this — only I can fix this — only I can make America great again.” And this is what many in the world want — A SUPERHERO GOD-ANOINTED-LEADER WHO WILL MAKE EVERYTHING RIGHT.

II. The biggest grossing movies are superhero movies. The Avengers, Iron Man, Batman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Thor, Black Panther, Justice League, Wakanda, Black Adam, Superman. Why?

Because the world has become so unmanageable and out of control, no mortal can solve these growing problems we face:

climate change, threat of nuclear holocaust, evil dictators craving world domination, growing worldwide refugees fleeing impossible living conditions. Lying has become an acceptable and normal way of human interaction. Billionaires own media platforms that spread hate speech like white supremacy, racism and antisemitism.

We are told that the disinformation these platforms spread is the truth. But just like in the days of the Bible — people call lies the truth and the truth lies.

Who can tell the difference? I’ll tell you who can tell — a super hero. Which is what we need now, right?

III. We need help. We need a superhero. We need — A BABY? I’m sorry but our reading for today doesn’t seem too helpful — God is giving us a baby to save the world? Not Thor or Wonder Woman — not Black Adam or Wakanda Forever —but a baby? And the baby’s parents are poor and the husband isn’t the child’s father!!! An illegitimate baby! — to save us? Joseph married Mary because he was pressured into it by an angel. In other words — Joseph was forced to marry Mary by a superhero. Why didn’t God just give us the superhero angel and keep the baby? Because — look at our ex-president, look at the Blockbuster movies of 2022 — we want a superhero, not an infant or child.

IV. Because we are AMERICANS! And we are into power! Guns, assault rifles, jet fighters, stealth bombers. We have the largest defense budget in the world. And God thinks we will give up all this for a baby? God thinks we will trust a baby to save us more than our power, our money, our weapons?

V. Joseph named the baby Jesus, which means “Yahweh (God) saves.”

God told us through the prophet Isaiah:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I believe this. And maybe we want a superhero, but deep down we know that Thor or Iron Man can’t save us — they can kill bad people, but they can’t change our hearts. Only God can do that. But salvation through a poor couple and their child? In our violent and power-obsessed world, this is hard to accept. Even impossible. I’m grateful that what is impossible for us is possible with God -- even saving us -- and the world -- through a child, a poor, Mediterranean Jewish peasant.