| 2004 Advent Messages |
Second
Sunday of Advent, Matthew 1:18-25, December 5, 2005
Every Conversion is a Virgin Birth
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your
wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 1:20
1.
From the beginning to the end of his gospel Matthew presents God the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit (see Mt 28:19). The work of the Holy Spirit is to
make Jesus into a real human being. This was done in spite of the scandal
that it caused Joseph. How does the Holy Spirit make Jesus real today?
2. Advent began for Joseph with a very disturbing thought, namely
that his bride to be must have had sex with another man. Joseph received
the good news of Advent, Mary was pregnant, but it must not have felt
like good news. How was the character of Joseph revealed in his response
(1:19)? We already begin to see “two righteousnesses”
at work, one which was of the law and the other which transcended the
law. How does this relate to Matthew 5:20?
3. How does the virgin birth of Jesus embarrass or scandalize the “Josephs”
of the 21st century?
4. How does Matthew’s gospel support The Nicene Creed (381)?
We believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God.
. . who for us humans, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and
was incarnate (flesh-made) by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and
was made human.”
5. The child born of the Spirit is given a name, Immanuel, meaning,
“God with us.” But God made himself known in a way that no
one truly expected. Even Isaiah the prophet would have been as surprised
as Joseph (Isaiah 7:14). How does this passage illustrate that God’s
ways are not our ways and that God’s righteousness is not our righteousness?
6. Joseph’s name meant, “God will add.” His name is
a good reminder that all of us who are added to the chosen people, the
fourteenth generation, have been conceived by the Holy Spirit. How does
the gospel of John (1:12-13) parallel for the believer what was true of
Jesus?
