Advent 4 2016

December 27, 2016 in Sermon by Scott Landrum

Matthew 1:18-25
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.

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,” the angel said to him. Interesting words to be sure; words we probably gloss right over since we know the rest of the story. But we would do well to slow down a bit and look at the situation from Joseph’s perspective. He must have been a bit hurt by the events taking place with Mary. She turns up pregnant and he knew for a fact that he wasn’t the father. That left him with some rather unpleasant options. Before we hear about those options we need to understand that engagements in those days were a bit different. The couple was not sexually active but they were legally bound to each other. Sexual betrayal was adultery and it was a capital offense. Joseph could have had Mary stoned to death according to the law. Matthew tells us he was a righteous man, meaning he knew the law, so stoning wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Joseph wasn’t interested in exacting revenge and decided not to have Mary killed. That left him with an equally unsavory option but one he chose anyway. He decided to “dismiss her quietly.” Again we need to understand the culture. Joseph’s action in dismissing Mary would have essentially put her and her child on the street as damaged goods making life very, very difficult for her and the baby. There was a third option and that was to keep his pregnant fiancĂ© but then he’d be caught up in the apparent scandal of impregnating a woman to whom he wasn’t married. Mary and the child could be killed, Mary and the child could be thrown out, or Joseph’s reputation as a righteous man could be destroyed. Who knew that the appearance of Emmanuel, “God with us” could be so troubling? It’s no wonder Joseph was afraid. The plans he had for his life, his hopes and desires, the things he wanted out of life were taken away when God showed up. He was afraid because he was no longer in control and that is never a pleasant thing. Yes, we should pay attention to Joseph’s experience because it is our experience of God also. If we see anything from Joseph’s experience it is that God doesn’t play by the rules. He doesn’t stay out of the way like we would prefer. Instead, he inserts himself right into the middle of our best laid plans. You see that’s the thing about God. His coming to us is always bad news before it is good news. It is law before it is gospel. Now sinners get this exactly backwards; God is supposed to do what we want when we want it. But he doesn’t. In fact, he does things that make no sense to us, things that actually hurt us and so, like Joseph, we are faced with unsavory options. We can simply dismiss God and live as if he doesn’t exist but of course that reaches diminishing returns sooner or later, especially when you finally stand before him and explain to him he doesn’t exist. Or we can give God a makeover into something more akin to our preferences but all we’ve succeeded in accomplishing is the creation of an idol that looks a whole lot like us staring back in the mirror. No matter what we do God remains free and wild; sovereign is the theological word and we remain bound. The fact that God is God and not us is what we run into over and over. Indeed, that is why the Apostle Paul says over and over “you have died.” Now this is actually good news. I know this is news but believe it or not we’ve made a mess of things and left to ourselves we will surely be destroyed. We really do need a savior. Emmanuel, God with us, is our only hope just like it was Joseph’s hope. So, God sends a preacher with news. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said. There is the promise that Joseph needed, that son of David part. Joseph knew that the savior, his savior, was coming through David’s descendents. Joseph knew that this was the promise God made to Abraham way back in the beginning and now he was hearing it was for him as a son of David. And so it is for you. The promise of the savior given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Messiah promised to David, the child conceived in Mary from the Holy Spirit that scared Joseph to death, the light to the nations, Jesus Christ, the one that has taken all control away from you like it or not, is for you. That is why I say to you that you are forgiven unconditionally by the Father for Jesus’ sake. There, that is your promise from God that will never be taken away. One last thing we can learn from Joseph. When he woke up he said amen, ok, do with me as you wish Lord. Let us do the same and say amen. Amen