Matthew 1:18-25

1:18 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.

1:19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

1:20 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.

1:21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

1:22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

1:23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

1:25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Before Jesus was born, the primary job of the Holy Spirit was in creation. In Genesis 1:2 we are told that the Spirit of God, “Moved upon the face of the water and chaos became a world.” Then throughout the Old Testament the Holy Spirit enables individuals to do great things in the name of God. The Book of Judges contains story after story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to save others by the power of the Holy Spirit who visits upon them. Yet, in every story, the Holy Spirit leaves when the heroic act is accomplished.

Then the most amazing thing happened. God decided it was time to come to earth. It was time we saw how to live and be with each other firsthand as those created in the image of God. Some people, like myself, need behavior modeled before it can be adapted. Enter Jesus. Matthew 1: 18-25 is the story of how Jesus was born by the action of the Holy Spirit. The same power which reduced primal chaos to order came to bring order to our dis-ordered lives. Think about it! Ezekiel called people who live without God in their lives as the walking dead. But God tells Ezekiel that with His breath He can breathe life into dry bones and they will come alive.

I have known many walking dead. At one time, my mother was one. By the time she died, she was fully alive: she had the Holy Spirit living in her. I have no doubt about it. Let me tell you how I know. My mother moved to the Georgia coast in the late 70’s to help my recently widowed Aunt Margaret. When I would fly in for a visit mom would pick me up from the Jacksonville airport and we would drive to her home. Along our route we would pass the amazing vistas of marshland and Mom would always comment, “Swamp. Just an ugly swamp. People pay huge amounts of money to look out their houses at that swamp. All the bugs and wild beasts that live there… it’s just an ugly swamp.” She viewed all of life this way.

Truth was, it was her wounded heart that was the ugly swamp. She had early wounds that just festered from an unexamined life and by her sixty’s, she was tough to be around. My family eventually moved to the coast just in time for Mom to be diagnosed with lung cancer. Over the next five years she lived with us and so she was forced by proximity to spend time with the community of Christians who fill my life and heart. This ongoing exposure to love and hope began to change her.

One day as we traveled over a causeway Mom said the most amazing thing and this is how I know that she had the Holy Spirit living in her. We rounded the bend and started across the causeway as we had hundreds of times, but this time she gasped and whispered, “Beautiful. Isn’t it just beautiful…” the only way an ugly swamp can become beautiful is through the same power that reduced primal chaos to create a world. The same Spirit that created life re-created my mom’s life and fitted it for eternity.

The Holy Spirit can bring to life the soul which is dead. Revive again the ideals, which have died. Make strong again the will to goodness which has dried up. And renew life, when we have lost all that life means. Jesus was conceived by the action of the Holy Spirit, and Mom was healed by that same Spirit. Two miracles I don’t take for granted.

The Holy Spirit no longer just visits when needed, He comes and stays and is the creating power come to live in us and turns ugly swamps into beautiful marshes.

The Reverend Dee Shaffer, Vicar
Our Savior at Honey Creek
Spiritual Care Director Heartland Hospice