Emmanuel

The angel of the Lord said, "…Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins…" (Matthew 1:18-25).

What does it mean to “save his people from their sins?”  One interpretation, apart from Jesus being our scapegoat on whose back our sins have been placed – like the goats released into the desert with the sins of the Jewish people symbolically placed on their backs – is Jesus helps us recognize our sins so we may address them.  Some of those sins are ignoring the poor and the destitute; lying to justify our wrongdoings; bullying on-line; behaving as racists; and purposefully discrediting the truth such as in political contests for power.

Our Gospel insists: “God is with us.”  It states, according to the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”  Since God is always with us, sinning in our so many various ways is an affront to God.

If we truly believe God is with us – and we should since the Holy Spirit has been “conceived” in us through baptism – our everyday sins, big and small, should cause us to be afraid.  They should prompt some soul-searching for us to listen to the Spirit ever watchful of our behavior and always willing to save us from our sins.

Deacon David Pierce