Isaiah 7:14; 8:5-11-15; Matthew 1:21-23 June 3, 2008

Bible Study Reflections

In Sam’s reflections from the bible study last week, it was not entirely clear to me whether or not he covered a very controversial piece of scripture: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Many of you will recognize that Matthew quotes these words in the beginning of his gospel this way: “She [Mary] bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear son and they shall name him Emmanuel.’” (Matthew 1:21-23)

This has been a controversial piece of scripture because the Hebrew word is correctly rendered by the New Revised Standard Version (this is the version we read at Palmer, and the one that is read at nearly all Episcopal Churches) as “young woman” and not as “virgin.” The term, according to most commentaries, is neutral in regard to her marital status or sexual experience. It was the Greek translation that introduced the rendering “virgin,” which then set the stage for a particular messianic interpretation of this passage.

Let me be clear that I am not arguing against nor am I denying that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. But I did want to let the gentlemen know this morning at Bible study, and now all of you in these notes, that, again, this piece of scripture has a long and complicated history.

The point that Isaiah is actually trying to make is that soon, very soon, God is going to act on behalf of the Jews who are at war with two different nations. Isaiah goes to King Ahaz and tells him that soon a “sign” of God’s presence will be given to him and to the nation to reassure them that they are not alone, that God is with them, which is, of course, what the word “Immanuel” means: God is with us.

From the re-look at this piece of scripture this morning, I then pointed out to the men that we have a prophet who was integrally involved in the political realm, which then gave me the opportunity to ask all of them about what they thought the relationship between faith and politics ought to be. If faith entirely determines and dominates our politics there are obviously some problems, but if faith entirely leaves and abandons our politics there will also be some problems. One guy argued that politics is about the temporal and religion is about the spiritual. Although this separation may seem convenient and logical, it is not our faith. Once the Word of God became flesh (see John 1:14), our faith must be involved with every aspect of our lives. Once Jesus became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, there is no more a clear separation between the secular and the sacred. It—the world—is all God’s and we are called to be agents of transformation in this world (see Mt. 5:13f) But, again, how and where and when do we translate our faith into our politics? One man said that we come to church to be fed and led and informed, so that we can then take out our faith in that way—we don’t do it by positions, but through personal influence. I thought this was very insightful and wise and faithful.

We were near the end and so I turned back to the original line from Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign,” and I asked them when any of them had been given a sign from God, a sign that kept them going, a sign which gave them hope or direction or peace or courage. The testimonies immediately came from every corner of the room.

Which leads me to ask you the same question: When and how have you received a sign from God? Are you receiving a sign right now? Are you heeding it or running away from it, listening to it or ignoring it? I believe that one of the reasons why we need community is to help us to hear, to heed, to discern, and then to act upon the signs from God that are coming our way. On our own—or at least let me speak for myself—on my own I sometimes don’t hear very well. Jesus said that wherever two of three are gathered in his name he is there. We need each other.

Ahaz needed a sign from God to carry on as the King of Judah in the midst of a very challenging, even frightening time. We all need our own signs from God because we all lead challenging lives. How can we be sign-listeners, sign-discerners, and sign- givers to each other and to this world? JWN