Lamb of God Lutheran Church

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Christmas Eve 2009

Isaiah 7:10-17 -- Refusing the generosity of God


There are people who cannot do anything with the Word of God. King Ahaz was one of them. In order to understand these words, we must meet him. Ahaz was a young king, grandson of the prosperous King Uzziah. He is the opposite of his late grandfather in every way. Where Uzziah founded cities and expanded Judah’s influence and borders, Ahaz loses cities and presides over the start of Judah’s long political demise. Where Uzziah’s reign could be compared in many ways to the golden days of King Solomon, Ahaz’ reign signals Judah’s long end-game leading to the loss of his country’s sovereignty.

Ahaz’ immediate worries are his closest neighbors. Israel and Syria have allied themselves against him. If their armies win, he will be deposed, and the kings who reign in the capital cities of Samaria and Damascus will put a puppet in his place.

When news arrives that the Syrian army is bivouacked in Israel’s hill country, Jerusalem panics. It is then that the prophet Isaiah comes with his first word of comfort for the king: do not be afraid. The king of Israel and the king of Syria are like two burnt-out stumps. They will not last. Simply put your confidence in the Lord and you will prevail.

But Ahaz is untouched. The Word of God is nothing to him. What is his reply? Joy, perhaps? Confidence? Hardly. Instead, he makes an alliance with the Assyrians. When God’s promise is nothing to you, then you must take things into your own hands. Ahaz does just that. “Come and help me against Syria and Israel, and I shall be your servant,” he says. The king of Assyria is more than happy to help. Too late, Ahaz will learn that they have unleashed a tiger and it is very hard to ride on a tiger’s tale.

The powerful Assyrians ride in from Ninevah, taking whatever they want of Syria and Israel. They enslave the people and send them to live among the mountain tribes of Afghanistan. Israel ceases to exist. Foreigners colonize the country where ten of the twelve tribes once lived. Only Judah and Benjamin now remain.

Ahaz makes a trip to Assyria to seal his treaty with its king. While there, he notices the altars to their gods. He orders similar altars to be set up in Jerusalem. When he returns home, he begins to worship these Assyrian gods in the city of David. He is a traitor to the Lord.

I.


We meet the young regent as he is inspecting the water supply for the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah comes with his son to offer him a gift the likes of which no one has been offered before.

The prophet says, “Demand a sign from the Lord your God. Make it as low as Sheol or as high as the heavens.”

Here Ahaz could have asked for a resurrection of someone dead. Or, the fall of Assyria. There is no reason to think God would not have given him the impossible. Maybe more.

“I won’t ask,” says Ahaz. “I will not tempt the Lord.”

“Really? Well, then listen, O King, descended from the line of David. Listen well, you, who sacrifices your little children to the furnaces of foreign gods. Why is it you do not believe? Is it not enough that you test the patience of men? Must you also test the patience of my God? The Lord shall give you a sign. Pay close attention. A virgin will become pregnant and shall give birth to a son, and he shall be called Immanuel. He shall eat butter and honey until he knows to choose good over evil. And before he knows to do this, the countryside of the two kings you fear shall be slashed and burned.”

We do not know much about the first child to be named Immanuel. His life is clothed in mystery. Great theologians are confused by this. But we do know about the child born of the virgin Mary. Tonight we consider what this sign means for us.

II.


To help us understand this sign, let us first consider the marks of generosity. As an example, let us take the code of etiquette in German-speaking homes. A guest is received with hospitality. Visits are times to bring out the finest coffee with baked goods lovingly prepared and placed on the finest settings.

A pastor is a minor celebrity in such homes. When making house-communion calls, the sick often insist on serving the pastor when it is he who is come to serve them. But such are the rules of hospitality and the culture of generosity. It can’t be avoided in those homes.

You can well imagine how it would be a disappointment, even a slap in the face, were the pastor to turn down whatever the household had prepared. It was a gift. And gifts are meant to be received, not politely refused. It is offensive to refuse a host’s generosity.

Now it is bad enough when human beings are rude in this way to one another, but when they are rude to God, it is unbearable. King Ahaz was in his twenties when Isaiah offered him a sign from God. There was no limit. It could be as big as the young man could dream—some impossible feat that would prove God’s commitment to him and his nation. But he refuses. Gift given, but no gift received. A great God with a huge offer meets a spiritual midget during an absolute crisis.

Like Ahaz, our lives at Christmas are not exempt from crises. No one comes to the feast unscathed. We bring our heartbreaks with us, even in festival times. This year of your life has been filled with sin. Some of it is your own fault, some of it the responsibility or fault of others. The consequences are hard to live with.

Do you long for a sign of God’s love, or, like Ahaz, have you given up hope, too? If there is even a glimmer of longing for God to help you, love you, and forgive you, then there is a sign from God for you.

It is a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. His name is Emmanuel. It means, “God with us.” This babe is your child as much as He is Mary’s. He is your brother as much as He is mine. He is the sign that nothing is impossible with God, not even lifting a military siege threatening to destroy Jerusalem. Ahaz should have listened. The virgin bears, and the child is born. And God is vindicated once more. A faithless king stands in pathetic contrast to a faithful God.

Receive this gift with thankfulness and faith. Place the firmness of your confidence in this babe. The impossible is possible with the Virgin’s son, the Son of God. He is the antidote to the hopelessness born of despair. His blood will be shed to forgive you for all your anger and cowardice this past year. His blood will be shed to forgive all those who have caused you unjust anguish and pain. In Him there is reconciliation for you with God, and reconciliation for you with others. There is a new life and a new day for those who do not know how to forgive and love each other. There, in the baby Jesus, is the hope of the world for a new heaven and a new earth. He is a new day of hope for us.

Ahaz turned down this sign. Ironically, it was a king in the line of David who wanted nothing to do with the generosity of King David’s greatest son, Christ Jesus. And it was the dirty, peasant shepherds who went to see the sign of the babe born of the virgin. To them the gates of heaven were opened.

We do not have to turn down this generosity. It comes to us today, wrapped not in swaddling clothes, but in bread and wine. Whoever receives this sign of God’s generosity in his hand—no, in his mouth—has eternal life and the promise that his life will not end in despair. Instead, it will reach the goal God prepared for it. It is this babe who is the sign of that promise, and it is this babe’s crucified and risen body and blood that seals it for us this day.

Christians still have their doubts. There is a little bit of King Ahaz lurking in all of us. But then, there is comfort in how the child named Immanuel was still born of the virgin, in spite of Ahaz’ lack of faith. The Lord is come anyway. He comes to us. Where we do not always know what to do with His great promises, wondering if we can trust them for ourselves, the Lord comes because He knows what to do with us. He comes through Mary to take on flesh and die for us on the Cross. He is come to save sinners by His blood. To God, who knows what to do with a sin-filled world, be the glory. Amen.

The Reverend Sean M. Smallwood
cruxprobatomnia -- the cross tests everything

 


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