{"id":8768,"date":"2000-10-07T19:50:14","date_gmt":"2000-10-07T17:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=8768"},"modified":"2025-04-10T09:30:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:30:57","slug":"matthew-118-25-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-118-25-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 1:18-25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermon Series on Mary | 17th Sunday after Trinity | October 15, 2000 | Matthew 1:18-25 | Dorothea Zager |<\/span><\/h3>\n

translated by Bruce E. Shields<\/span><\/p>\n

I. <\/span><\/p>\n

To desert a partner\u0097which nowadays happens
\nmore often than in the time of the parents of Jesus\u0097is an act for which
\nthere are many reasons. The end of love can happen quietly, creeping in like
\nfog. Partners become strangers; they grow distant; they get tired of one
\nanother. It\u0092s a gradual desertion, an inner exodus, before anybody outside
\nnotices it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Or it might be a sudden ending\u0097a painful
\nripping of all trust, an ending by unfaithfulness. Suddenly it becomes obvious
\nthat something different, something strange, has come between us. Like a sword
\nit divides two people who had once loved each other. Forgiveness or a new
\nbeginning is especially difficult in the case of marital unfaithfulness. How
\nwould it be possible to get rid of that strangeness that has come between us?
\nWe can\u0092t just think it away. The old trust, that unshakeable
\ndependability, just won\u0092t come back. It can\u0092t come back, at least not
\ntotally. Scars will remain. Divorce is usually the result. <\/span><\/p>\n

But \u0093the birth of Jesus the Messiah took
\nplace this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before
\nthey lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her
\nhusband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public
\ndisgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.\u0094 <\/span><\/p>\n

The story of Mary, who, although not yet
\nmarried, already carried a baby that was not Joseph\u0092s in her womb, and the
\nstory of Joseph, who in spite of everything forgave and married her, this story
\ntouches us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, you obedient and humble Mary, you were
\nneither asked if you wanted to bear this child announced to you as divine, nor
\nasked if under these circumstances you still wanted to marry your Joseph. Oh,
\nhumble Mary, we are not even told when or how or with what emotion you broke
\nthe news of your unexpected pregnancy to Joseph! <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, you obedient, courageous Joseph, you
\npermitted yourself to be convinced by just one dream in just one night, and you
\nthen disciplined yourself a whole nine months so that your Mary could remain a
\nvirgin. What a story! A humble Mary, a courageous Joseph, and a God, who had
\neverything in his grip, including the emotions of a young couple newly in love.
\nYou see, there are many reasons for leaving a partner. There are also many
\nreasons not to leave. Of course it seldom happens that we are commanded by an
\nangel to stay. <\/span><\/p>\n

II. <\/span><\/p>\n

Friends, we can\u0092t help stating honestly
\nand clearly that this story is a pious legend, thought out and composed by
\npeople of faith, to clarify a very important and for them unavoidable aspect of
\nthe coming and life of Jesus Christ. <\/span><\/p>\n

The one here expected and born is greatly
\nsuperior to all those conceived or born in the human way. He is a divine being,
\na holy one\u0097sanctified by his conception, that was no human conception.
\nWhoever is conceived of the Holy Spirit is closer to God than one conceived by
\nhumans. <\/span><\/p>\n

The divinity of Jesus was for the evangelist
\nMatthew especially important. He has just finished listing all the generations
\nfrom which Jesus was descended, fourteen from Abraham to David, fourteen from
\nDavid to the Babylonian captivity, and from there fourteen generations to
\nChrist. In this way he established the position of Jesus as son of David. And
\nnow he finds it necessary to establish the position of Jesus as son of God. He
\ndoes this by means of the virgin birth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Friends, everybody who reads the Bible with
\nopen eyes and mental alertness recognizes the tension between the explanation
\nof the genetic descent of Jesus and the picture of the miraculous nature of his
\ncoming to life in one and the same gospel. It\u0092s a pious legend. And by the
\nway, it is not the only one! The Greek myths tell us that Perseus also was born
\nof a virgin\u0097of Danae, who became a mother by Zeus by means of gold raining
\ndown. Or Hercules, the virgin-born child of Alkemene. Yes, even about Plato it
\nwas told that his mother Amphiktone was a virgin and Apollos was his father.
\nSpiritual heroes, mythical demigods, lords and landlords\u0097about many of
\nthese we have stories of miraculous births. And all of these stories have the
\nsame purpose: To make it clear that we have here a person of superhuman power
\nand intelligence, a person of divine nature and divine spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, we find in Matthew also the word of
\nthe prophet Isaiah, who foretold exactly such a superhuman son of God:
\n\u0093\u0092Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name
\nhim Emmanuel,\u0092 which means, \u0091God is with us.\u0092\u0094 Therefore
\nalso the name \u0093Emmanuel,\u0094 God with us. God near us. God in the midst
\nof us in this person. <\/span><\/p>\n

We should also take into consideration how much
\ntruth we can find in this pious legend about humble Mary and courageous Joseph.
\nIt might be an open question how much of it is history and how much legend.
\nThat is often the case with biblical stories. Much more important is the answer
\nto the question, Why are we told that Joseph stayed with Mary? Why in the world
\nwould an angel be concerned to tell the whole story to Joseph in a dream? Why
\nuse the story of the miraculous nature of the whole situation to convince
\nJoseph that he should (1) not publicly announce Mary\u0092s pregnancy so as to
\nprotect Mary from judgment as an adulteress; that he should (2) not send Mary
\naway quietly; that he should (3) give the expected baby the name Jesus as
\nforeseen by God; and that he should (4) not touch Mary until the child is born?
\nWhat\u0092s the purpose of all this? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u0093When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as
\nthe angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no
\nmarital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him
\nJesus.\u0094 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mary and Joseph were not to be separated. An
\nillegitimate child always bears the stress of living between two loved ones.
\nSuch a child is and remains a stranger. What lives in such a child is constant
\nturmoil. Never can such turmoil be completely expelled from the life of a
\ncouple, from the life of a family. The third person stands between them as an
\ninvisible wall. <\/span><\/p>\n

Engaged but also bonded\u0097so would it have
\nbeen with Joseph and Mary. Both of them were descendants of the Jewish people.
\nBoth were reared in the faith in the almighty God of their fathers; they were
\nreared in the hope of all Jews that one day the son of David, the son of God
\nwould come to forgive people of all the sins that burdened them and to
\nestablish a new reign of peace and righteousness. This hope bound also the two
\nyoung person, Joseph of Nazareth, and his intended, Mary. And the child that
\nthey were now expecting\u0097however miraculous or natural his conception might
\nhave been\u0097that this child was the fulfillment of all those promises; that
\nmust have bound the two of them ever closer together, even increasing their
\nexpectant joy over the coming birth. <\/span><\/p>\n

The hope of the people of Israel resided in
\nthis child, this man Jesus of Nazareth. That alone was the decisive issue for
\nhis parents\u0097no matter what legends later Christianity developed around his
\nwondrous conception and birth. <\/span><\/p>\n

III. <\/span><\/p>\n

Can we remain neutral about this story? Should
\nwe ignore from now on every Bible text that deals with humble Mary and
\ncourageous Joseph? <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course not! The hope that we place in this
\nman Jesus of Nazareth, this very hope binds us over the centuries with Mary and
\nJoseph, his parents, with the shepherds in the fields, with the wise men from
\nthe orient, with the prophets and the patriarchs of Israel. They all placed
\ntheir hope, and we continue to place our hope on the reign of God among us.
\nNothing binds persons together like a common hope and a common purpose: a world
\nin which peace and righteousness live and where God is with us. In Jesus Christ
\nthis world has taken a big step in that direction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Dorothea
\nZager, Wachenheim
\nE-Mail:
\nDWZager@t-online.de<\/a>
\ntranslated by
\nBruce E. Shields
\nEmmanuel
\nSchool of Religion
\nE-Mail:
\nShieldsB@esr.edu<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/noscript><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon Series on Mary | 17th Sunday after Trinity | October 15, 2000 | Matthew 1:18-25 | Dorothea Zager | translated by Bruce E. Shields I. To desert a partner\u0097which nowadays happens more often than in the time of the parents of Jesus\u0097is an act for which there are many reasons. The end of love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,727,108,1428,110,487,349,907,3,109,126],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-8768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-archiv","category-current","category-dorothea-zager","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01-matthaeus","category-kasus","category-pr-maria","category-nt","category-predigten","category-predigtreihen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8768"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22579,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8768\/revisions\/22579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=8768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}