Emmanuel: The Miracle in the Mess

Grace in an Unlikely Space. If there’s one thing that has struck me this holiday season, especially as I consider the Scripture’s Christmas story, it’s the reality of grace appearing in an unlikely space. One thing we celebrate every year is the coming of God in the flesh, the incarnation, or enfleshment of God. One of the most beautiful words that captures the depth of this moment and the miracle it celebrates is the word, the name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Matthew borrows this Old Testament prophecy to explain what was going on some 2,000 years ago when the virgin Mary and her fiancé Joseph had a series of angelic encounters, and supernatural experiences leading to a miraculous pregnancy with the Christ child.  

Matthew 1:22–23 (ESV)
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
 

Have you ever stopped to consider where this God came from? Have you ever admired the stopping points of grace in this Christmas story? For I fear that sometimes there’s a level of scandal and political incorrectness that we might scrub from the story in our polished narrations of the incarnation of grace. If we look at it, however, the incarnation meets humanity in the midst of great brokenness. Christ came, not in the polished white-picket fence life of the middle class in the West, but in the brokenness of scandal and political upheaval of the 1st century Middle East. 
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Think with me, if you will, about the first movement of Matthew’s telling of the story.

Disobedient Immorality

            Feel this as you read these words of the great evangelist: 

​Matthew 1:18 (ESV)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

When Mary was engaged, before they consummated the marriage, Mary found herself pregnant. For the Judeo-Christian worldview, Mary gave off the appearance of grave immorality. She was pregnant outside of wedlock. She was found to be with child. To make matters worse, there’s a sense in which the scandal goes to the next level, because Joseph, her fiancé, was not the father!
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Is that where we would expect to find the incarnate God? Is that where Emmanuel meets us? 

Relational Unfaithfulness

Matthew 1:19 (ESV)
 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

When word comes to Joseph that his fiancé was pregnant, he responds as many might respond, with a desire to break off the relationship. Matthew carefully chooses  important language to let us know that Joseph was a man of character, a righteous man. He was a man of God! And so, desiring to treat his beloved with honor and respect, and not willing to subject her to open shame, he plans a quiet divorce.

You see, in the first century, engagement was a serious commitment of a man to a woman, and unlike dating and engagement in the modern West, breaking off an engagement required filing for divorce. Joseph had in mind to divorce her quietly. The marriage contract had already been drawn up, they were legally joined, and to break off the engagement, they needed to go through the pain of divorce.

Here we come face to face with the realities of relational betrayal. For all Joseph thought, his beloved had been unfaithful. How else would she be pregnant? How else would she be with child? Joseph was well aware of the necessary processes for a child to be conceived, and so he would’ve been wrestling with the idea that the woman he had selected for his wife had chosen to be unfaithful. Emmanuel came to dwell in a story that gave the appearance of unfaithfulness.

A Divine Encounter

I can imagine that none of us would write the story this way. When God chose to come to earth, he chose to do so through a story of sexual scandal and possible divorce? Think of Joseph, wondering, questioning, believing it was all over. And yet, it was there that an angelic messenger, an angel of the Lord, appeared with a word of direction. 

​Matthew 1:20–21 (ESV)
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
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​It was as Joseph encountered the presence of God through angelic visitation that he heard a word about God’s work in bringing forth the Messiah. God had conceived this child supernaturally through the Holy Spirit; he had nothing to worry about. This Child would be the Savior of His people. He would be the deliverer from sin.  

Emmanuel: THe Miracle in the Mess

Emmanuel, God with us, was God with us in the midst of the scandal and in the midst of the pain. An angel met with Joseph. There, in the feelings of shame and sadness, the questions, the embarrassment, and there he encountered the grace of God.

Now, on this side of the story, we see the supernatural miracle of the virgin birth and the obedience of Joseph and Mary to God’s divine plan. But put yourself in their shoes. Would you say yes to God if it meant the appearances of disobedient immorality? Would you say yes to God if you had to bear the open shame of an unfaithful spouse? While Joseph and Mary would’ve seen the miracle, the World would’ve only seen the mess. While Joseph and Mary embraced the miracle, many in the World would’ve gossiped about the mess. While Mary and Joseph encountered the divine in the midst of a miracle, the world would’ve shunned them for their disobedience in making a mess.

I wonder, this Christmas, if maybe there’s a miracle to embrace in the messy areas of our lives? Could there be, in this story, an invitation to embrace the miracle when the world sees a mistake? An invitation to embrace the miracle in what the world calls a mishap?  Maybe your life feels a bit messy today. Maybe this Christmas, all you can see are your mistakes. But maybe, just maybe, Emmanuel is inviting you to meet Him in the mess. To embrace Him in the chaos, to honor Him as Savior, and to encounter Emmanuel even when your life feels like it doesn’t qualify for divine visitation. For that is who He is, Emmanuel, God with us, with us in the mess.