Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Advent, Matthew 1:18-25, December 18, 2022Faith Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Advent, Matthew 1:18-25, December 18, 2022

Faith Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Jesus is not the only person on stage in the Bible’s stories during Advent. As we’ve seen, John the Baptist has gotten a lot of press in the gospel passages during this season. We began to turn our attention to Mary last week when her song, the Magnificat, was our psalmody. Today’s passage from Matthew focuses our gaze on Joseph, Mary’s husband, the step-father or guardian of Jesus.

What these figures – John, Mary, and Joseph – have in common is that each one of them in their own respective decisions and actions prepares the way for the coming one, our Messiah, Jesus Christ. And Advent is all about preparing the way for the coming of Christ. John, Mary, and Joseph are role models for us, exemplars of what it means to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

So, let’s consider Joseph, a righteous man whose family lineage and role in Jesus’ life root our Christ in the line of David, the great king of the people of Israel.

Imagine Joseph’s shock when he discovered that Mary, to whom he was engaged, was pregnant despite the fact that they had not yet had marital relations. Let that sink in. How would you react to such an apparent betrayal?

Had Joseph given in to his angry emotions, and had he followed what was allowed him by the law, he could have exposed Mary to public disgrace for adultery. And a penalty for adultery was stoning to death. Joseph could have put an end to the whole divine plan right then and there.

But his resolve to divorce Mary quietly without a public spectacle shows Joseph’s compassion and mercy – traits that he no doubt would pass on to the human Jesus during his childhood and adolescence.

Then a messenger, an angel, from God appeared to Joseph in a dream to reveal God’s extraordinary plan for Mary being pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Listen again to the angel’s message: “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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew notes that this course of action fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which was the focus of our first reading today: “‘Look, the virgin [or the young woman] shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’”

After the dream and upon waking, Joseph obeyed the command of the Lord which was delivered by the messenger in the dream. He took Mary as his wife, and after the child was born, Joseph named him Jesus.

Notice something quite significant in this story: Joseph does not utter a single word. He is silent. No comment. No questions. No resistance. Just obedience. Actions speak louder than words.

And Joseph’s willingness to take part in this mysterious plan of God, which ran afoul of human and religious precepts of the time, and was contrary even to the known laws of nature, Joseph’s willingness played a significant role in preparing the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. Without Joseph’s voluntary participation, things would not have gone as divinely intended by God.

This, just as Mary’s willingness also paved the way for the fulfillment of God’s promise and plan. And just as John the Baptist’s proclamation and baptizing opened the hearts and minds to the coming of the anointed one.

John, Mary, and Joseph each did their part in paving the way for Emmanuel: God is with us. Again, Matthew makes a point here of emphasizing the promise of the prophet Isaiah about the coming of Emmanuel. In Isaiah’s day, Emmanuel was to be a sacred sign as deep as Sheol and as high as heaven, an indication of God’s profound and abiding care for the people of Israel who felt forsaken amidst the prophetic judgment against their transgressions.

But now, let’s turn our attention to what Emmanuel means for us, we who are followers of Christ. What does it mean that God is with us, especially in Jesus the Christ?

The apostle Paul in today’s reading from Romans gives us a good sense of what Emmanuel means for us. God had promised through the prophets long before Jesus arrived that Jesus Christ would be God’s Son, descended from the line of King David, and that Christ would be accorded power in the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. God with us and for us in the power of Christ’s new resurrected life! That’s the power of Emmanuel.

And through Jesus Christ we would receive grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations (cf. Romans 1:1-7) In short, Emmanuel, God being with us, is all about the power of God being available to us because of Jesus’ victory over death in the resurrection. Emmanuel, God with us, is all about grace and faith and our calling to proclaim the good news to all nations. Thanks be to God.

That’s all fine and good. But in our brokenness and sin, we have to acknowledge and confess that our own shortsighted ideas of what it might mean for God to be with us. For we fallen humans desire to have God on our own terms and not God’s. We generally want God to do our bidding – hence the reality that most of our prayer is petitioning God for what we want. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if that’s our only form of prayer, asking God for what we want, something is missing.

Moreover, we humans want God to be on our side of political and social issues. And this is true for people on both the left and right sides of the spectrum.

We want God to bless America, and for some this means blessing here in this country to the exclusion of God also blessing other nations.

A most grievous example of this tendency to want Emmanuel, God with us, to serve our own evil ends is the fact that a German rendering of Emmanuel was emblazoned on the belt buckles of Nazi soldiers in WWII: in the German it was “Gott mit uns,” that is, God with us. In other words, the Nazis wanted God to be on their side, a corrupt understanding of Emmanuel.

But here’s the thing. God will not cave to our whims or our demands. We receive the gift of Emmanuel, God with us, on God’s terms – thanks be to God. That’s good news. And God with us on God’s terms may not be what we want, but it’s what we need.

Permit me to recount the ways that I believe God wills to be Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, fully human even when fully divine, even as a tiny vulnerable baby, born of Mary, the very word of God, very God of very God, made flesh for us full of grace and truth. This is all contrary to human logic, but it is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, knowing the fullness of human suffering on the cross. This, too, confounds human sensibilities, but Jesus on the cross is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, the joyful fulfillment of our human hopes and dreams, making us fully human according to God’s design. Surely this is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, being present to us when the word of scripture is broken open for us in preaching and study and conversation when two or three gather in Jesus’ name. Yet again, this is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, with whom we are joined at baptism, our brother, our master, our savior. And the one whom we know as Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, made known to us in the breaking of the bread, his real presence which we take into our very flesh. This by all means is Emmanuel, God with us in the most intimate of ways.

Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit working in these means of grace, as the Spirit worked in Mary’s pregnancy, awakening our faith, making us pregnant with faith, our trust in the Father, whom Jesus reveals to us. Also, Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus Christ, whom we recognize in those whom we serve in our social ministries when we engage in loving service the least of these the members of Jesus’ family. As we entertain such angels unawares, this, too, is Emmanuel, God with us.

In short, and in summary: Jesus Christ, present in our life together as a congregation when we are assembled as the people of Faith-La Fe to hear the word, share the meal, and when we are sent back into the world to serve. By all means, this, too, is Emmanuel, God with us.

Thus, let us give thanks for the witness of the likes of John, Mary, and Joseph and many others like them whose willingness to share in God’s plans pave the way for the coming in our lives of Emmanuel, God with us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.