NRS Matthew
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

How many of you are familiar with the phrase, "too much information"?

You know, it's like when somebody tells you about their bout with food poisoning. But instead of just broadly describing their illness, they get into all the gastro-intestinal particulars. Numbers of times they did this; numbers of times they did that. You know what I mean? That's too much information.

Or like, when you're having a casual conversation with a friend or just an acquaintance, and as the chat turns to relationships and marriage, the other person begins to detail their marital relations. And the more they talk, the more graphic they get, until all you can think is, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" That's too much information.

The same accusation might be leveled at the Evangelist Matthew in his telling of the birth of Jesus. Right off the bat Matthew tells us that Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit well before she and her betrothed Joseph had ever set up house together. Then Matthew goes on to tell us that when Joseph learns of Mary's pregnancy, he resolves to divorce her quietly, since in those days engagement was itself a legally binding contract. Matthew adds that Joseph, "a righteous man," was going to do this on the q.t., but that would still have left Mary and her baby highly vulnerable and likely to be ostracized to a life on the streets. Before, however, Joseph can initiate that divorce, an angel of the Lord intervenes, announcing that Mary has, indeed, conceived from the Holy Spirit and that the child she bears is destined to "save his people from their sins." The angel then adds that Joseph should check his male ego, do the right thing, and take Mary as his wife. To which Matthew adds that not only does Joseph do what the angel commands, but further, that he "had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son, and he named him Jesus."

That's a lot of information, and maybe even just a little too much. I mean, do I really want to know that Mary was already with child before she married Joseph? How important is it for us to know that Joseph was originally planning to dismiss Mary and dissolve their engagement? And what's the point of throwing in that stuff about Mary and Joseph not sleeping together until after the baby was born?

In Mark's gospel, which is widely believed to be the oldest of the four gospels, there is no birth story. The Gospel of John only alludes to the birth of Jesus in the most abstract of terms, as the Word becoming flesh. And in everybody's favorite version of the Christmas story, Luke never mentions anything about divorce, and he certainly doesn't go into Joseph's and Mary's sleeping arrangements. In Luke, everything is told from Mary's perspective, and while Mary does ask the angel Gabriel how she will conceive, we don't hear word one about the very complicated situation that was foisted upon poor old Joseph.

And that's how I like my Christmas. I like my Christmas uncomplicated! A virgin miraculously conceives, no questions asked. A son is given, angels sing, shepherds quake, a star appears, wise men traverse afar, and a little drummer boy plays, pa-rum-pa-pum-pum. And everybody goes home happy! So how come Matthew can't just go with the flow? Why does he have to throw in all this extra information that I don't really want to know?

Matthew may well have been responding to scurrilous rumors then circulating about Jesus. In the generation following the resurrection, when Jesus' followers began openly to proclaim him the Son of God, there were opponents who countered that Jesus was far from being "God's" son, if you know what I mean. The details that Matthew adds help make a convincing case that there was no question to Jesus' divine legitimacy, even if some of those details might make us a little queasy.

But I think more than just clearing up the question of Jesus' paternity, Matthew also tells the story of Jesus' birth in a way that is truthful both to our nature and to God's. From our side, Matthew reminds us that we live in a messy world. Unlike the world of TV sit-coms, the real world is not a clean, well-lit place. Families aren't perfect, everybody doesn't get along, and in the daily push and shove of life, more than just our feelings get bruised. Even a simple birth can become very complicated, and while we may not like to hear about it, our own conceptions were far from immaculate. But the really astounding truth of this Christmas story is that God is actually willing, no, eager to enter into this mess of a world.

In the movies, you know, God is typically decked out in glistening white, far removed from all the grubbiness of our daily living. But Matthew says no, the Bible says no, God is not the aloof Father we might imagine him to be. God is not floating on clouds listening to angels sing. God is not looking down on us from heaven the way we might study an ant pile. But God is here; God is with us. God has rolled up those white shirt sleeves, and in Christ Jesus our Lord, God has stepped into our flesh to walk in our shoes, share our pain, and know us - fully, completely, without reservation - from the inside out. That means all the dirty little details we would prefer to gloss over. That means all the intimate twists and turns of our way too convoluted lives. That means all the deep hurts and little indignities that stalk our days and haunt our nights. In Christ, God has not only entered our lives, but even more amazingly, God has also taken our humanity into God's own being. And by that great exchange, there is nothing human that is foreign to God. There is nothing human that is beyond God's love. There is nothing human that God cannot completely forgive and ultimately heal.

If you read the Bible long and closely enough, there are plenty of passages where you might plead, "Too much information!" You might say that life is too much for us, but for God there is nothing too small, nothing too personal, nothing too embarrassing that God will not shine his grace on, and hallow with his mercy, and redeem through the blood of his Son, Emmanuel.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.