Sunday before Nativity 2023

Glory to Jesus Christ, Father, Son, Holy Spirit,

Amen. Last night after Vespers, maybe you'll

laugh about this, Matsuka Ann and I watched Charlie

Brown Christmas. It's always great. And of course,

Charlie Brown doesn't get what Christmas is about.

And Linus comes on the stage. And he says, this

is what it's about. And he reads a passage from

the gospel. Who knows which gospel that's taken

from? I mean, you hear it every year, right?

It's from Luke. And it's the story with the shepherds.

And it's important that we know that. But St.

Matthew is coming at this from a different angle,

from a different perspective. What we heard today,

what we always hear on the Sunday before Christmas

is this gospel from the beginning of the Gospel

of Matthew, which starts with the words, the

book of the generation. Of Jesus Christ. The

son of David. The son of Abraham. And then this

family tree. You may not think. The family tree.

Is that important. You may not think. Most of

us. That pointed out. That there were 14 generations

here. And 14 generations there. And 14 more generations.

But to Saint Matthew. And those. who heard these

words after he wrote them, it was foundational

to their faith. You have to know the story because

it gives you hope. Because it gives you strength.

It gives you hope in a terribly confusing, violent,

difficult world. And it gives you strength to

know this story. First, why is it important that

St. Matthew would tell us about the 14 generations?

Because it's six sevens. To them, that meant

quite a bit. A seventh, it's the Sabbath. There's

six Sabbaths. A Sabbath is God's enthronement,

his rest, his rule over all creation. And they're

waiting for what? One more perfect Sabbath. The

seventh, who is Jesus Christ. So he points out

there's six of these. Jesus is the seventh. He's

saying, have hope. God is with us. He is ruling

in the midst of his enemies. He is not distanced

from his creation. And so he gives you this long

family tree of incredibly dysfunctional people.

Some evil people. Yes, some saints, some prophets,

some priests. Also prostitutes. Rahab. And you

heard, by faith, Rahab. Imagine that. A harlot

justified by her works. We see all kinds of wickedness

in our ancestors. Our ancestors, because we have

been grafted onto that same tree. Child sacrifice.

Incest. You know the story of Judah? and Tamar.

Murder and adultery. You know the story of the

repentant king and prophet and Saint David? Idol

worship. Manassas. Even the great Solomon before

he repented and died. That's the family tree.

That's where Christ comes from. And notice How

we read and the gospel culminates in this incredible

statement. Notice it didn't say, and Joseph begat

Jesus. It didn't say Joseph is the father. It

said, Joseph, the husband of Mary who bore Jesus.

Having conceived him, how do we say in the creed?

By the Holy Spirit. Newness. God is with us.

In Christ, we have hope. We have glory. And we

see in that family tree the generous, how God

includes everyone. Everyone in his embrace. In

the church, everyone, absolutely everyone is

welcome. Just look at our saints from all walks

of life, from all types. all ethnicity, all color,

language, sexual orientation, beliefs and passions.

God welcomes all and he says, your sins are forgiven.

Go sin no more. And we are transformed in baptism

and we leave that sinfulness behind. Here's a

new Genesis for us. The generation of Jesus Christ.

God has entered the world to rescue it. God himself

has entered the world. And we say, before the

liturgy starts, every single time we serve liturgy,

glory to God in the highest on earth, peace,

goodwill toward men, the words of the angels

to the shepherds. And it is true. It's not the

peace. You won't find it in Gaza. You won't find

it in Ukraine. You won't find it in Sudan. You

won't find it all over the place. But if you

look, in your heart, God has made it possible

for each of us to acquire peace that's not dependent

on anyone else, but his gift, the gift of the

Holy Spirit. And he has come to be the Savior.

It says, St. Matthew says, they named his name

Jesus for he shall save his people from their

sins. Not the Savior of just mankind in general,

but the Savior of me. and you in particular to

conquer death in yourself to conquer fear and

corruption do you know everything in this world

corrupts everything everything you see except

one thing the christian is going to be raised

from the dead every person is going to be raised

from the dead the question jesus poses to us

in the gospel of john Is it the resurrection

of life or is it the resurrection of judgment?

But for now, in the church, this place of forgiveness,

we partake during each divine liturgy of the

peace of God, Jesus Christ, the medicine of immortality,

the antidote to death. God. Jesus Christ in us,

the hope of glory. Let us gather again this evening

at 6, and tomorrow at 9 .30, to celebrate the

only and the one new thing in all creation that

ever happened, that God became man. We might

discover that there's not just a Bethlehem in

that war -torn, confused, place of Palestine

where people don't forgive each other. But there's

a Bethlehem in our soul where the Lord will come.

O lover of man, we sang, thou art wrapped in

swaddling clothes, tearing to pieces the bonds

of my countless sins. Therefore I joyfully praise

and worship thy holy birth, for thou didst come

to set me free. To our Lord be glory, now and

ever. Ages of ages. Amen.