Love - Advent 4

 Isaiah 7

Matthew 1

December 18, 2022

Advent 4 – Love

 

I admit I didn’t remember much about this king

Ahaz that’s mentioned in the Isaiah text.

It’s used often enough during Advent,

because a passage from it is quoted in

Matthew’s Christmas gospel,

you think I would know more about it.

But guess I’ve been passing it over every year.

 

I think I just kind of assumed that king Ahaz was a good and

faithful king who was asking God for a sign.

I mean he says he wasn’t going to “put God to the test”,

which sounds like a good and faithful thing to say.

I mean Jesus says that in Luke when he’s tempted by the devil,

right, so King Ahaz has got to be good, right?

 

Wrong. King Ahaz was not a good king.

He was actually an awful king.

Ahaz started ruling when he was just 20

and he was not good at it.

 

At the time of this chapter in Isaiah,

Ahaz was worried about the Northern Kingdom of Israel

joining forces with Damascus and defeating him.

So he allied himself with the Assyrians.

The Assyrians were basically the terribly neighboring

empire that was constantly wreaking havoc over the Israelites.

He was hoping that together they would defeat the Northern kingdom.

God was not pleased.

 

In 2 Kings it says that on a diplomatic visit to Assyria,

Ahaz saw an altar in a pagan temple that he liked

and he had the same altar built in the temple in Jerusalem

and he sacrificed on it and made the priests sacrifice on it

and then he took things out of the temple

and he gifted them to the king of Assyria.

God was not pleased.

And in this passage in Isaiah,

God is talking to King Ahaz through Isaiah, the royal prophet.

Ahaz is going up to the pool of Siloam to

check on the water supply.

Isaiah begs Ahaz to trust God.

Isaiah tells Ahaz to just ask for a sign and God will give it to him.

But Ahaz has no interest in listening to God.

He gives that lame, “I won’t put God to the test” line

as an excuse not to listen.

He would rather put his faith in the Assyrians.

God was not pleased.

 

And Isaiah can’t take it anymore, he says:

“It’s bad enough that you have tired the people

with your hypocrisies, now you’re tiring God.

Well, God’s going to give you a sign anyway

even though you’re not asking for it, here it is:

A young woman will give birth to a son,

and she will name him Emmanuel, God is with us.

And before he’s old enough to know between good and bad.

the two kingdoms that you’re afraid of, will collapse.

 

This is not said in a calm, comforting,

Christmas-like way as I always assumed.

The stage direction would say, “Angry. raised voice.”

maybe a little aggressive pointing on Isaiah’s part.

There, that will be the sign, you dope.

 

Then Isaiah goes on to say that although the

Northern kingdom and Damascus would fall,

The Assyrian kingdom, the kingdom that Ahaz

put his faith and trust in to save him,

would eventually come and destroy Judah.

He would just have the privilege of being the last to see it all go down.

Deliverance and justice.

 

You know, sometimes I regret doing the research.

  

So, my question is, why would Matthew choose this verse?

Why did he choose this verse in Isaiah to talk about the  birth of Jesus?

Matthew and all the Jews he was talking to undoubtedly

knew the whole story of Ahaz. They knew what he had done

and how he had lead the Israelites to their destruction.

Maybe it was solely because of the young woman,

which could be interpreted as a virgin, giving birth to a child.

but I think there was more to it.

 

Matthew and Joseph and Mary are also living in a time when

Israel is under Roman occupation.

Their leader, King Herod, is another king

who is an arrogant bully

who sells out his own people and their faith

to the Roman Occupiers to maintain his power.

He is also sleeping with the enemy.

He has no interest in hearing about God’s signs.

He has no interest in learning about God’s ways.

He has put his faith and trust into earthly things.

And this all leads to the destruction of their country.

 

A corrupt and selfish leader,

A kingdom who’s lost its way.

A once faithful people who don’t want

any sign or help from God.

 

But God’s giving a sign anyway.

 

There will be a child and he will be born

to a young woman and he will be called

Emmanuel, God with us.

 

And does this sign from 3000 years ago

have anything to say to us today?

I think so.

  

Emmanuel. God is with us.

God longs to be with us.

God longs to know us and to be a part of us.

In spite of our stupid, greedy leaders,

in spite of our stubbornness,

in spite of our disinterest in God’s ways and plans.

in spite of the deals we make with the devil.

in spite of selling our real treasures for a moment’s comfort.

In spite of all we have said and thought and done

and all we have failed to say, and think, and do.

Even though God may not be pleased.

God is going to give us a sign anyway.

 

God will come to be with us,

to share in our joys and pains,

to show us a new way of comfort and justice,

to become one with us.

To live with us

and to die for us.

And that is love.