Advent 4 A
Good Men Need a Savior too!
St. Matthew1:18-25
22 December 2013 – Redeemer
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Joseph was a good man. In fact he was a great man. He was probably better than 99% of the men in Nazareth. How do I know? His fiance was pregnant and he wasn’t the father and he did not want any harm to come to Mary or the child. How would you react if your fiance announced she was pregnant and you weren’t the father? Or if your fiance fathered a child with another woman during your engagement? Joseph had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to hurt Mary – adultery in those days had a severe penalty – death, but Joesph was a good man. He decided to divorce Mary quietly, send her off to some relatives out east where she could have the child and perhaps a new start in life.
Joseph was a good man, but even good men need Jesus, for even good men are sinners in need of a Savior. We know Joseph was a sinner because every man born of a human mother and father is a sinner. We know Joseph was a sinner because he was spiritually blind to God’s plan. By his own reason and strength he had no idea that Mary was still a virgin and had yet conceived a child who was God. Even though Joseph was kind toward Mary he was acting in ignorance of God’s will.
All of us here this morning are good people – we’ve come to church after all. We’re not in jail. We’re not running from the law. Like Joseph, from time to time, we might even treat people better than they deserve, but goodness is not enough to remove our sin. Even acts of compassion serve no purpose apart from believing that Jesus is our Savior from sin.
This is why God sends His angel to Joseph. God is sending His Son into the world in order to fulfill the promise made through Isaiah in the days of Ahaz. God made promises to Eve and Abraham and David and those promises will be fulfilled in His Son becoming flesh. The Lord God is coming as the promised Savior of Joseph and Mary and Adam and Eve and while He dwells in infant flesh He will need Joseph to protect Him. “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
There are two very comforting truths we learn from this Word of God to Joseph.
First, the God of Holy Scripture, the Creator of the World, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Deliver of Israel, is willing to become small for us and our salvation. So small that only an ultrasound could see him in the Virgin’s Womb. So small that He would need a guardian like Joseph to care for His mother while she carried him in the womb. So small that He would need a protector to evacuate Him and His mother out of Bethlehem when Herod sent soldiers and swords to kill him.
God becomes so small that He puts His own life at risk for you. St. Paul proclaims to the Philippians that Jesus made Himself nothing for us. He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” This is what Jesus did for Joseph and for us. The Son not only draped Himself with our flesh, but He clothed Himself with our sin. God not only became a man He became the least of men. He became you – you whose heart worships the idols of pleasure and possessions, you who destroy your neighbor with your words, you who spend more time protecting your earthly treasure than you do receiving and guarding the heavenly treasure of Christ. As Dr. Luther reminds us Jesus became the worst sinner in the world on the cross. He became Joseph and Mary and Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah. He became Judas and Peter. He became Bruce and if you can believe it He even became you. He died for your sins so that you are forgiven. Jesus becomes small that you might be great and righteous before His Father in heaven.
Christ becomes so small that you can reject Him. You can say “No” to God. Joseph could have said, “No.” Herod did say, “No.” The Jews said, “No.” Judas said, “No.” God’s Word will never force you to faith. God’s Spirit will call you like it called Joseph, enlighten you according to the Lord’s way. God’s Word will invite you to receive the forgiveness of sins and the life that Jesus won, but the Gospel does not come by force. You can say, “I’m big enough to stand on my own. I don’t need a Savior from sin.” and God will let you go alone. You can plead your own case before Him on judgment day all by yourself. You won’t win, but He will allow you to go it alone if you’re too big for little Lord Jesus.
The second comforting truth we learn from Joseph is that God pursues us mercifully with His Word. Even good men, even men who appear to do the right thing outwardly – we still need God (even if we’re not aware of it) and so God sends an angel and the angel speaks God’s Word to Joseph.
Have you ever thought around Christmas time that if God worked in some incredible way it would be easier for us to believe? John the Baptist saw heaven opened and heard the Father commend His Son. Mary saw and heard the Angel Gabriel. Joseph was visited by an angel of the Lord in a dream. The Shepherds heard the heavenly choir and the Wise Men followed the wandering star. Wouldn’t that make believing easier? To have some special sign? Some witness from heaven to confirm the promises of God? Absolutely not.
The message of the angels is the exact same message you have today. Did the angels tell Mary and Joseph anything that you have not been told? Have you not heard that this child of Mary’s was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that when He was born she still was a Virgin? In truth you have more witnesses than they had in Bethlehem. You have the witnesses of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who recorded the history of Jesus’ life from conception to His ascension. You have over 500 witnesses who saw Jesus raised from the dead after He died for your sins. You have 2000 years of Church History, of the Gospel message being delivered to the ends of the earth. Indeed the glad tidings of great joy from Bethlehem and Jerusalem have made it to Saint Cloud, Waite Park, Sauk Rapids and all the way to Sartell. God’s Holy Spirit has seen fit so that this Word is preached into your ears.
You have heard good news from God that John, Mary, and Joseph never heard. You have heard “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.” You have heard, “Take and eat this is my body. Take and drink this is my blood for the forgiveness of your sins.” You have heard that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” You have heard more from Jesus than John, Joseph, or Mary ever heard and at the same time you have heard the very same Word. “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.”
These angels did not give to John, or Mary, or Joseph, anything other than the fulfillment of God’s promise through Isaiah to King Ahaz – a virgin birth, a King in the line of David, a Savior born. And so today, for Christmas (or for the end of Advent) God gives you His gift – His Word – His Jesus for good men and sinners, for you and for your salvation. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
21 December 2013 anno Domini