Pastor Sherry’s message for December 18, 2025

Scriptures: Isaiah 7:10-16 ; Matthew 1:18-25

A story dating from the 1930’s or 1940’s is told of a British man rushing to catch a train.  He and his friends needed to make it aboard this particular train or face waiting a long time until the next, which would put them arriving at their destination in the wee hours of the morning.  As he and his friends ran through the station, he accidentally kicked over a small table supporting a vendor’s box of fruit.  Apples tumbled out all over.  The guy and his friends made it to the train with seconds to spare.  As he looked back at the mess they had made, he wondered if he should risk returning to help and miss his train.  Waving his friends on, he decided to turn back to assist the vendor.  He noticed apples everywhere, kicked here and there by hurrying travelers.  He saw a boy of about 9-10, looking dazed and helpless, but doing nothing whatever to retrieve the apples.  

As he got closer, he realized the boy, the vendor, was blind.  The man began to collect the apples and place them in the box.  He could see that many of them were by now badly bruised.  So, he took out his wallet, and handed the boy a twenty.  As he placed the bill in the boy’s hand, he said, “Here, please take this $20.00 for the damage we did.  Hope we haven’t spoiled your day.”  As the man walked away, he heard the boy loudly call to him, saying, “Sir, are you Jesus?”  (Story origin unknown.)

This boy obviously had some notion of who Jesus was and how He might be expected to act.  He thought the man might be Jesus because of his kindness and generosity toward him.  He thought the man might be Jesus because he hadn’t just ignored him, but had made things right.  The man wasn’t Jesus, but he had acted like Jesus, hadn’t he?  He’d righted a wrong.  He had provided for the boy when no one else did.  He was trustworthy and grace-filled.

Our Old Testament and our Gospel lessons point to the fact that our God is worthy of our trust (and our love).  

A.  The context for Isaiah 7:10-16 is the year 734 BC.  King Ahaz of Judah is surrounded by enemies threatening to invade his kingdom:  Rezer, king of Syria and Pekah, king of Israel, have formed a coalition against Ahaz.  So Ahaz is considering aligning himself with either Egypt or with Assyria for safety.

What do we know of Ahaz?  He was a descendant of King David,  a grandson of Uzziah, and son of Jothem, both of whom had been good kings.  He’dbeen 20YO when he ascended the throne and reigned for 16 years.  Unlike his father and grandfather, however, he was a man without faith in the one, true God.  It had been recounted in 2 Kings 16:3-4–>Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God.  He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.  Ahaz was apostate.  He worshiped the crude and evil Canaanite deities.  He even went so far as to sacrifice his first son to Molech.

He is faithless but God nevertheless sends the prophet Isaiah to speak to him.  Ahaz erroneously assumed that because he does not worship God, he cannot expect God to help him against his enemies (failing to consider that God might love His people and want them saved, despite their king’s disbelief.).

Isaiah meets him at the source of Jerusalem’s water supply, and also where clothing was washed clean, and informs him that God will not abandon him or Judah.  God tells him, through His prophet Isaiah, that he can even ask for a sign that will indicate that this promise is true.

Ahaz acts pious (v.12)–>Far be it from me to ask God for a sign…I would never test God like that!  He is in a national emergency, but He doesn’t trust God to help him–even given this very trustworthy prophet.  Notice the symbols included in the narrative:  They meet at the access to Jerusalem’s living (flowing) water (an image of Christ from John 4); it is a place where the unclean are made clean; and Isaiah is accompanied by his son, Shear-Jashub (whose name means a remnant will return, thus indicating a future of Judah and Jerusalem). 

Ahaz is looking to the current crisis, but the prophet predicts a long-term solution, Jesus:  He will be born to a virgin; He will be born a son; He will be Immanuel, God with us;  He will eat yogurt (curds) and honey, the food of poor people (available during drought or years of poor agricultural yield); By the time He is 11 or 12YO, the age of reason, the kings Ahaz fears will have been taken over and deported by the Assyrians.  Scholars believe there was probably an Israelite princess then, in Ahaz’ time, who would marry and give birth to a son—proving the near fulfillment of the prophesy.  But, in the longer view, we know this predicted child is Jesus.

B. This ancient story is a clear set up for our Gospel, Matthew 1:18-25.  Matthew relates the tale from the perspective of Joseph.  Contrast Joseph’s trust in God with Ahaz’s lack thereof:  He has learned that Mary is pregnant.

Instead of demanding that she be stoned, as he could have, he (v.19)…was a righteous man [who] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, decides to quietly divorce her.  He loved her and he loved God.  God sends him a dream in which he learns from the Angel Gabriel (v.20]–>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.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.  Unlike King Ahaz, Joseph is a man of God and so he believes the angel and is obedient.  He marries Mary and cares for her.  He does not consummate the marriage until after the baby was born.  And he does name the baby Jesus.

What a fabulous segway for Matthew!  Matthew is the Gospeler to the Jews, whose goal was to demonstrate to them how Jesus fulfills the prophesies about the Messiah from the Old Testament.  Immediately he refers to our Isaiah lesson (vv.22-23)–>ll this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet:  The virgin will be with child and will give birth to son and they will call him Immanuel, which means, “God with us.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The New Testament scholar and Anglican Bishop, NT Wright, claims that until Matthew wrote his Gospel, no one had ever thought of this Isaiah passage as referring to the promised Messiah.  But under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Matthew did. Matthew, in our Gospel passage, attests to the supernatural origin of Jesus.

Jesus is both human (born of Mary) and divine (born of the Holy Spirit).  In Jesus, God Himself is here, God Himself is with us.

(NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone, John Knox Press, 2004, p.7.)

John Ortberg, a Presbyterian pastor and author, writes in his book, God is Closer Than You Think, (Zondervan, 2005, p. 16):  The central promise in the Bible is not, “I will forgive you,” though of course that promise is there.  It is not the promise of life after death, although we are offered that as well.  The most frequent promise in the Bible is “I will be with you.”  This promise is spoken in Scripture over and over again.  Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, King David, the prophets, the Virgin Mary, and the Righteous Joseph all heard the comfort and the promise:  Don’t be afraid, I am with you.  Ahaz was afraid and mistrusted God’s promise to him, God’s sign to him.  He did not love or trust God.  He did align with Assyria against his northern enemies; but, in 722BC, the Assyrians overran Syria and Israel, and made of Jerusalem a vassal state. 

These Scripture passages demand that we think long and hard about Who we trust and love.  They contrast Ahaz’ unbelief with the faith of Joseph:  Joseph too was afraid, but God told him not to be and he was reassured.  In fact, God made him the same promise he had made to the old, idolatrous king:  “The Child will be a sign, Immanuel, God with us.”

We have the same choice as Ahaz and as Joseph:  In Whom do we trust and love?  In our own devices, our own schemes to save ourselves?  Or in the God of love?  In Immanuel, the One who promises to be with us, no matter our stresses, trials, illnesses, or difficulties. 

Our King and Savior now draws near.  Come, let us adore Him.

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams