During our midweek Advent services this past month, we have looked at the songs of Advent in the Gospel according to St. Luke. These canticles celebrated the faithfulness of God in the fulfillment of His promises of mercy by sending the anointed Savior into the world. These songs were sung by Zechariah, Mary, and Simeon, faithful people all. They were all led by the Holy Spirit to sing out their confession of faith and joy because of the revelation that God had given them about the Christ child and the coming Messianic age.

As our Gospel lesson for today began, there is one who did not have a song of joy in his heart at the news that Mary was pregnant, a song more like the blues perhaps, but not joy. Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, the betrothed husband to be of Mary. He had found out that Mary was with child. Joseph could not have known at this time that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Mary might have told him about the angel visitation and Gabriel’s message, but even if she had, honestly, how could Joseph believe her? He knew how things worked biologically. He knew that he could not be the father. Even though betrothal in the Hebrew world meant that Joseph and Mary were legally bound, during their betrothal they did not yet live together or have sexual relations. Could it be that Mary was just making excuses for having sinned with someone else? The time to make some hard decisions had arrived for Joseph. His options were two; he could take Mary to be his wife and claim responsibility for the unborn child which to the Jews would have been an admission of guilt and sin… or he could divorce her. By divorcing her, he would be absolving himself of any responsibility and guilt for the sin of fornication. The usual form of divorcing in such a situation was public denunciation which would then have exposed Mary to public humiliation and possibly execution by stoning.

Joseph is described as a just and righteous man; as such, he certainly wouldn’t admit guilt when he had been innocent, but he also didn’t want Mary to suffer shame and execution so he ultimately resolved that He would find a way to divorce her as quietly as possible.

Joseph’s plans to be married to Mary had been changed by circumstances beyond his control; now he had resolved to take control, to absolve himself and protect Mary in the divorce, but God had other plans for Joseph. As Joseph slept that night an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and addressed him: “Joseph, son of David” not only would an angel in your dreams be unusual but this greeting was unusual. The Gospel writer, Matthew had just given us the full genealogy of Joseph. Joseph’s birth father’s name was Jacob not David. It is true that Joseph was a descendant of King David, but he was 28 generations down the line from him. In fact, for the last 14 generations, the royal lineage of David had no throne to rule. Therefore, this formal greeting of the Angel referring to Joseph’s royal ancestry already indicates the significance of this child’s birth.

The angel after greeting Joseph by name, told him to change his plans again, to take Mary as his wife without fear. She was innocent of the sin of fornication. The child in her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was not a result of any carnal relations. God had a plan and purpose for this pregnancy with significance beyond the relationship of Joseph and Mary. The plan was revealed in the name that Joseph and Mary were to name this son once He was born: Jesus. Jesus is the English version of the Hebrew Yeshua which means “God Saves”. The name is the same as Joshua, the name shared by the Joshua who led the Israelites into battle for the promised land by God’s hand after Moses. Yet that Joshua only prefigured and pointed to the greater work of this Joshua, this Savior, announced to Joseph. This son born of Mary named Jesus/Joshua was born to be a God’s anointed savior by saving His people from a greater enemy than the Canaanites, and by leading all of God’s people into a greater destination that an earthly kingdom. This Jesus was born to save His people from their sins and bring them into an eternal kingdom by conquering sin death, and the power, of the devil.

How could He do this? Because this Son of Mary was not just a man, but He was also the Son of God. He was and is Immanuel which means “God with us”.

In the meantime, God’s plan for Joseph was to bless him and use him in the vocation of husband and adoptive father of Jesus. He was to protect them both Mother and unborn child as part of the miracle of God’s salvation plan. He was to be the earthly hands of the heavenly Father taking care of Jesus until the time was fulfilled for Jesus to enter into His public office of Christ.

We are not told a whole lot about the biography of Joseph of Nazareth. Based on Scripture, we know that he was alive and involved throughout the early years of Jesus…very much parenting when Jesus was 12 and brought to the temple. However, we assume that by the time Jesus began His teaching and preaching office as the Christ around His age of 30, Joseph had been called by God to His eternal rest. Yet, it must have been recent as Jesus was known in Nazareth as “the carpenter’s son” (Mt.13:55). We know that Joseph was a righteous man, but he knew that that righteousness came not from himself, but from God. It was God who had revealed the truth of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. Joseph was given the ability to believe that this son of Mary was also going to save him, that is, Joseph from his sins.

As we heard last week, quite often in this life our earthly plans get changed and our expectations are limited. Unlike with Joseph and Mary, all too often the reason for the change in plans is because of sin and the failures within ourselves. This is part of the curse which we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve who first sinned. That original sin is passed down from generation to generation making all children of Adam born with unbelief, imperfection, sin, and are by nature at enmity with God, subject to His wrath. But God does not desire the death and destruction of all people. Because of His love and in mercy for our condition, God provided the suitable sacrifice for our sins by sending the Son of God, to be conceived the way He was: begotten from eternity, conceived and born in time by the Holy Spirit, outside the plans or desires of human flesh, so that His flesh and blood was perfect and sinless. Then Jesus lived up to His name. The perfect man and Son of God allowed Himself to be despised, rejected, and crucified so that people might be saved from their sins. He took the punishment of sin upon His flesh so that our own flesh could be redeemed. This was and is the plan of God the Father who sent His Son, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, men and women who receive this message of grace through the Gospel would believe and be saved by the forgiveness of their sins.

Dear, fellow redeemed, you may not have had an angel come to you in a dream to deliver the message of Jesus Christ, but you have been brought to the waters of Holy Baptism, and have had the curse of original sin from Adam and Eve drowned and buried with Christ in His tomb. Through His resurrection you have been given new life through faith. No longer are you slaves to sin, but you are set free to live holy lives by God’s Spirit in Jesus Christ’s name. God not only has a plan of salvation for you through Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of your sins, but He will bless you in your vocations. You can pray that God may use you and guide you in all wisdom as you make your earthly plans and pray that God’s will would be done in your life. He will continue to guard and keep you from fear and unbelief by His Word of promise. He continues to gather you and us and all the church at the foot of the cross, as we confess the times that we have failed and have sinned, but then receive forgiveness again. He strengthens our flesh for eternity as we receive the flesh and blood of our crucified and risen Savior in the bread and wine.

He gives us the power to also sing and rejoice at the news of Jesus Christ, for He has fulfilled His heavenly Father’s plan of salvation through His suffering and dying and rising again for the forgiveness of our sins. And we know that He will come again in glory to bring us soul and body to our eternal rest which Christ has prepared for us in Jesus Name, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas