The roots of Immanuel

Sermon for Advent IV, 2025, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
Text: Isaiah 7:10-16, Matthew 1:18-25

The Old Testament and gospel readings this morning touch on a chapter of the book we’ve been discussing in the Sunday morning study group, that is, “The Bible Says So” by Dan McClellan. There’s a connection between the passages in Isaiah and Matthew that involves Mary and can dramatically change how we perceive her, but that’s not the focus this morning. Mary figures in another way in both passages. Matthew’s Gospel was written by a Jewish author for other Jews to show them that Jesus was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, and the gospel reading is among the first of many examples we come across. This may seem like an academic exercise, but it is important to understand the foundation that our faith, our beliefs, and the words that we pray every Sunday are built on.

We start with the story of Ahaz, the king of Judah, and a historical event mentioned in Isaiah, 2nd Kings, and 2nd Chronicles. Ahaz realizes he has a diplomatic problem. The kings of Northern Israel and Damascus have made him an offer that he can’t refuse, and he refused it. So now those kings are going to overrun Judah and depose Ahaz, so he turns to Isaiah, the prophet. Isaiah tells him, don’t worry, God has your back, and Ahaz asks “Does he? I want to see a sign.” Frustrated at Ahaz’s lack of faith, Isaiah tells him that a young woman will bear a child who will be named “God is with us,” and before he is weaned, the two kings you are worried about will be gone. The focus is on the child, not for what the child will do, but on what the child’s name Immanuel means. The child will be a sign that God is indeed present, and God’s favor for Judah will be known when the threat disappears. Judah’s and Ahaz’s salvation would happen despite Ahaz’s lack of faith. 

This is what Matthew brings into his gospel: a young woman will bear a son, but this time he will not only be a sign that God is among us, he will also bring salvation to the world himself. Matthew wanted his contemporary readers to understand that Jesus’ identity has roots in Jewish scripture and the circumstances of pregnancy and birth indicate that something significant is happening, and that is the imminent presence of God. The angel makes that connection for Joseph, and Matthew underlines that connection for the reader: here is Immanuel in Joseph’s time to bring salvation to the world himself. This pregnancy would result in the birth of a holy and divine person, going well beyond who Immanuel was to Ahaz. This is where our story of salvation begins with the Messiah’s birth, a story of the roots of our salvation and how they lead back to Jewish scripture. We will hear much more from Jesus than just about salvation in this liturgical year; stay tuned.

But, back to Ahaz for a moment. Ahaz has his doubts about God’s providence, or action in the world because God isn’t going to raise up an army to fight for Judah. Ahaz has a crisis of faith and trust that things will actually work out because it doesn’t look the way he thinks it ought to look. And in fact, in the verse immediately prior to the verses we read in Isaiah, God warns, “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.” This is similar to Jesus saying that if we say to a mountain “be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” it will be done. If we want to know that God working through us can make positive changes in our time, we have to have the same sort of faith. There are signs all around us that God is nearby, at work, changing small parts of the world for the better, and sometimes it is us doing that work. We can be our own Immanuel, our own signs that the things that threaten us will eventually fade away. But, for that to happen, we cannot give up on the work that builds up the kingdom here and on defending it against those committed to tearing it down.

What Ahaz couldn't see and Joseph couldn't fully grasp is that they were part of something much larger than themselves. Ahaz only had to deal with a prophecy from Isaiah. Joseph had to deal with the incarnate Word of God as Jesus, and was told about God’s intent for the world. We have the advantage of hindsight and additional scripture to live in the context of this greater thing, a life that Ahaz could not conceive of and that Joseph only caught a glimpse of. Living in God and in Jesus, who are so much greater than we are, is so important to our faith and life in terms of maintaining perspective and humility as we find places to work in God’s kingdom. But, we struggle as Ahaz did with comprehending the magnitude of God’s power and doubting the power of the Holy Spirit to move us into action. In reality, that is hard to do because it means admitting that we do not always know what we are doing even as we proclaim that we know God’s wisdom. So, we only see the signs that fit into our story of how and why things are, and we doubt the signs that show us how things could be. 

In four days, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus on the Feast day of Christmas. His birth is written in Matthew as a scene of mystery and awe when the three wise men visit him. Luke presents this mystery and awe taking place in a peaceful scene of Mary and Jesus with Joseph looking over them. Both scenes show us that something momentous has happened. But, there is a peace that we look toward in our time that comes from our belief in something greater than ourselves that will not hurt the world as we have. We have a chance to find reconciliation with God and receive reassurance in our doubts, a chance to see the breadth of God’s desire for the world, and a chance to renew our faith in ourselves that we can carry out God’s will for the world. And it all starts with a birth and continues with awe as Immanuel is revealed to us. There is hope for us and for our community, for our nation and for the world. Let us not lose sight of that hope and the will to work toward a kingdom of peace.