Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. God is with us.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, (which means, ‘God with us’).”
Matthew 1:18-25
You know, I think we had probably hoped for something more.
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called ‘Emmanuel’ (which means, ‘God with us’).”
Is this all we get from God? God will be with us.
To dream the impossible dream
I had always kind of hoped for something more. You know, a God who would be a booster rocket to MY hopes and dreams. A God who would make none of my dreams impossible. A God who would make it such for me that “all things are possible.”
And if I didn’t want to speak of my earthly dreams, how about my spiritual goals? I was kind of hoping for a God that, in the words of recent song I heard:
“…would lead me to such holiness… that mortal words could not express.”
Or in the words of one of my favorite hymns, a God who would so inspire me that I would “love to tell the story of unseen things above.” Now, I never quite figured out how you can tell a story of ‘unseen things,’ but it sure set my heart atwitter to sing it.
But a God who just promises to be with me? Honestly, for that I could get a dog. And frankly, the fact that the dog would be constantly with me would be more of an annoyance than a comfort most of the time.
God is with us
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called ‘Emmanuel’ (which means, ‘God with us’).”
What do we do with a God whose goal is to be with us? Is this good news or bad news?
I think we have to be honest that we have taken a much more utilitarian view of God. We offer God to people as a good deal, a leg up, an advantage over others who “don’t have Him.” But if Jesus is the manifestation of a God who is “with us,” then how can we even talk about those who don’t have Him?
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
Perhaps we thought we were intended for something more. Perhaps we thought we were meant for something more spiritual.
But if God’s goal is simply to be “with us,” then what is there for us to do? Where is there for us to go? What progress is there for us to make?
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
This sentence. This statement. Drives us back down to earth. It grounds us, anchors us in the here and now. This statement crushes our spiritual ambition, for it tells us there is nowhere for us to go, and nothing for us to do, to be with God.
For God has come to be with us.
It’s not a new concept
This shouldn’t be a new concept. In the Garden of Eden, God walks amongst the creatures and humans of the earth.
In the Pentecost story, God pours His spirit out upon the disciples here on earth.
In the book of Revelation, the New Jerusalem comes out from heaven and sets up here on earth.
This is what “atonement” means. God is “at-one” with us in every mo-“ment”.
And so atonement is not an act of sacrifice on the cross. It is begun in the manger, where God sacrifices Godself as a God of transcendence and power, to become a God of immanence and the powerless. A vulnerable baby.
God has always come to us. And in fact, whenever we have tried to come up to God’s level, God has brought us back down to earth… saved us from ourselves.
Think of the Garden of Eden, or the Tower of Babel where God struck down our lofty ladder climbing.
This is the sin Jesus saves us from, which is mentioned in the previous verse where Jesus is given the name “Jesus, because he will save the people from their sin.”
The sin of trying to do more… be more… achieve more than simply being human.
I’m only human
You know, I find it funny when people say, “I’m only human.” Because my reply is, “What’s the option?”
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
This sentence. This statement. Drives us back down to earth. It grounds us, anchors us in the here and now. This statement crushes our spiritual ambition, for it tells us there is nowhere for us to go, and nothing for us to do, to be with God.
For God has come to be with us.
St. Paul says it well when he writes:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
Don’t worry about your little private, separate, insecure self.
Richard Rohr writes a great commentary on that Romans passage:
We are already in union with God! There is an absolute, eternal union between God and … everything. The problem is that Western religion has not taught us this. Our ego over-emphasizes our individuality and separateness from God and others, and, we limit God’s redemption to the human species—and not very many individuals within that species!
Richard Rohr
(So)…You don’t have to worry about your little private, separate, insecure self. I am one with you and you are one with your neighbor and you are one with God. That’s the Gospel!
You’re not here to save your soul. That’s already been done once and for all—in Christ, through Christ, with Christ, and as Christ (see Ephesians 1:3-14). By God’s love, mercy, and grace, we are already the Body of Christ: the one universal body that has existed since the beginning of time. You and I are here for just a few decades, dancing on the stage of life, perhaps taking our autonomous self far too seriously. That little and clearly imperfect self just cannot believe it could be a child of God. I hope the Gospel frees you to live inside of a life that is larger than you and cannot be taken from you. It is the very life of God which cannot be destroyed.
So writes Richard Rohr.
And in another place St. Paul says, “God is the one in whom we move and live and have our being.” God isn’t just with us, God has subsumed us into Him.
There is no place we have to go. There is no goodness we have to achieve, before God will be with us.
That is what is so powerful about this meal.
“In the night in which he was betrayed…” In the night in which he was denied, fallen asleep on, run away from.
In THAT night he was AT-ONE with Judas, and Peter, James, John and the rest. They didn’t have to find, achieve, or earn some goodness before God was with them.
The Holy Week stories of holy communion, crucifixion, and resurrection find their roots, their seed, in the Christmas story.
At-one-ment is begun in the manger
And so the AT-ONE-MENT is begun in the manger. “It is finished” on the cross. God sacrifices Godself to be one with us. This is fully symbolized in holy communion: “…my body, my blood, broken and shed for you.” God sacrifices Godself as a “wholly other” to break down and become a “God with us.” The sacrifice of God is begun in the manger.
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
Why did Jesus have to die? Because he was born. Because he is God with us. In birth, in life, in death. And in the life to come.
Here in this meal, God subsumes us even as we consume Him.
God with us. Us with God.
In birth. In life. In death. And in the life to come.
Amen.
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Spirit in the Desert faith mentor, Rev. “Bro. Jim” Hanson.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud
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