< BACK TO SERMON INDEX

Three Fathers of Jesus
Sunday of the Genealogy -  12/19/1999

Today’s Gospel tells us of three fathers of Jesus.

Verse one begins, "The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. David and Abraham are reckoned as fathers of Jesus. The Gospels also call him the son of Joseph – to whose house he belonged.

Each one of these men, named as fathers of Jesus in the Gospel – was a man of God. Yet each one of them faced moments of perplexity, as they were confronted with things difficult, things improbable, things impossible.

Consider Abraham: God had promised him that his descendants would be more numerous than the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky; yet there he was, an elderly man, married to an elderly woman, without any children. Consider him setting out for the land that God had promised him; starting a journey, as the book of Hebrews tells us, "not knowing where he was going." Abraham was a man who must have undergone great perplexity at times.

Think of David asking Jonathan why his father Saul had turned to hating him and had made two attempts on his life: Saul, the anointed one of God. "What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin against your father, that he seeks to take my life?" David was a man perplexed, not only about what Saul was doing, but undoubtedly about what God’s purposes in the situation were.

And then there’s Joseph. If ever a man experienced perplexity, he had to be the one. He is engaged to a young girl and it becomes obvious she is pregnant. About that there may have been great disappointment, but perhaps not great perplexity – he thought he knew what had happened. But immense perplexity must have descended upon him when he received the message from the angel that the child in her womb was of the Holy Spirit. How could such a thing be??

Perplexity is a phenomenon that afflicts not only great men of God, but something that grips every believer from time to time. We are confronted by the words and ways of God and we don’t understand. We survey the doctrines of the Faith, and they seem obscure. We witness history unfolding in the world, and we can’t discern where it is going.

If we question our own profession of Christianity, it can seem like a giant exercise in contradictions that is painfully perplexing. Let me demonstrate what I mean:

Why do we believe in what we cannot perceive?  Why do we propound that which we really cannot comprehend?  Why do we uphold moral standards that we do not fulfill?  Why do we believe in prayer when many seemingly go unanswered?  Why are we champion meekness when we know that aggressiveness gets things accomplished?  Why do we extol the blessings of poverty while we seek wealth?  Why do we preach love while we compete with others and even hurt them?  Why do we believe in the Goodness of God when there is so much evil everywhere?  Why do we go on with the contradiction that is Christianity?

I submit to you that Christmas provides the answer.

It gives us the one reason to go on:  We see in Jesus the perfect Ideal of human existence.  As unattainable as it seems to be for us in practical reality, we cannot but recognize the Ideal.  In him, we see it perfectly displayed.  This is what a human being is. We cannot help but behold it with awe and wonder.  So we hold to it tenaciously, in spite of the fact that most everything in our existence contradicts it.  In spite of how profoundly we fail it, we feel compelled to hold to the Ideal. 

And there is more.  We see that Ideal as the most profound revelation of the way things Really Are.  Believing in Jesus is not just a hope for how things ought to be, but ARE.  That is, Jesus as the Ideal of human existence reveals the essential nature of Being Itself - God.  The ultimate reality, the source and origin of everything around us, stares us in the face in Jesus. This is the meaning of the incarnation. What we see in him is the face of the eternal God – the human face of God.

That is the Supreme Reality; we fail it.  The contrast between the Ideal of human perfection and our actual situation as human beings in the world is obvious. This is the meaning of the fall. There really is no escaping or denying it. It is the source of the contradiction that is Christianity. It is not so much that Christianity contradicts itself; it is rather that Christ contradicts us. And in spite of the fact that we name ourselves "Christians," "little Christs," how we live contradicts the perfect Ideal - sometimes to a great degree, sometimes to a lesser degree.

Who was the most famous Hindu of the past century? Ghandi. Ghandi was not a Christian. But did you know he almost became a Christian? At one point in his life, when he was studying in England, he had made up his mind to become a Christian. He clearly recognized the Ideal of human perfection in Jesus. Why didn’t he become a Christian? Christians. This is our failure.

But beyond our failure, that Ideal prompts us to hope.  This is the meaning of the resurrection.  Although we see our existence here doomed to failure and death, because the Ideal is what Really is, it is greater than our failure and more powerful than death.  Because it is greater than our failure, there is forgiveness.  Because it is greater than death, there is resurrection: not only for Jesus as the Ideal, but for all of us who embrace him.

How can we summarize that Ideal that we see and hold to in Jesus?  There are many partial ways, for instance, the priority of principle over power and prestige; freedom from the need for self-aggrandizement; the futility of unnecessary accumulation; the blessedness of sharing one's bounty; the imperative for unmitigated compassion and kindness. 

But we can sum it up in one term: Absolute Love.  That is what we see revealed in Jesus.  That is what we believe is at the heart and core of Reality.  That is what we wish our lives to be embraced by and taken up into.  That is why we are Christians.

Yes, we believe that this Absolute Love has extended itself to us in the abyss of failure and the dominion of death. And thus we know a mercy that is greater than all our sin, a life more powerful than all corruption, a joy more profound than all sorrow.

There’s no question about it: when we stand and survey our world, there is much to perplex us. When we look into the mysteries of our faith, there is much that exceeds us. So too, Abraham, David and Joseph were perplexed. But Abraham went on in faith to beget Isaac and become the father of many nations, and most importantly, the forefather of Jesus. David went on to conquer all his enemies, and most importantly, established the family into which Christ was born. Joseph went on to overcome his misgivings, took Mary to be his wife, and most importantly, was a father to Jesus.

So too, your life is bound up with Christ’s in ways that you do not fully understand. But God’s purposes are being worked out nonetheless. Don’t be unsettled by the perplexities, doubts, and struggles that come your way. It’s natural that they do. But continue to go forward in the knowledge that your life has been embraced by the Absolute Love seen in the human face of God, that perfect Ideal that is our forgiveness, resurrection, and life: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

< BACK TO SERMON INDEX