“Christmas Expectations”
(Matthew 1:18-25)
During the season of Advent, we talk a lot about hope,
anticipation, and expectation. In
repentant trust, the Church prepares to celebrate the First Advent of the Lord
Jesus while we watch and wait for his Second Advent.
Expectation.
That’s a big part of Advent and Christmas, isn’t it? What am I going to get for Christmas? What is inside all those brightly wrapped
packages under the tree? Will I get what
I asked for?
At our last Wednesday night Advent service, I mentioned
the longing that so many of us have for a perfect Christmas. We have an idealized picture in our head of
what Christmas should be like. Stockings hung by the chimney with care. Visions of sugar plums dancing in your head … or
at least an assortment of See’s Candy! The
pungent smell of freshly cut evergreen mixed with the sweet smell of cinnamon
and vanilla from the sugar cookies and other tasty morsels that mom or grandma
baked. Everyone home and happy for the
holidays.
But after all the packages have been ripped open, after the
turkey has been ravaged, after the relatives return home, you still find
yourself feeling a little empty. You
didn’t get that gift you were so hoping for.
Or you did and it broke soon after you used it. Or you soon bored of it. It wasn’t as exciting as you thought it was
going to be after all.
Then there were those relatives and others that rubbed you
the wrong way. Far too many Grinches
have stolen your Christmas joy. Far too
many Henry Potters have made your wonderful life miserable. You can totally relate to George Bailey. Hardly anything is going right for you. Your resentment and desperation brings forth the
nastiness in your own heart. You find
yourself snapping in anger at your little Janies and Tommies and Zuzus. Maybe you’ve even gone so far as to say right
along with George Bailey, “I wish I’d never been born.” And unlike what happened to George in the film,
an angel named Clarence never shows up to earn his wings by encouraging you and
helping you put things back into perspective, giving you the chance to see what
the world would indeed be like without you.
Joseph had expectations.
Hopes and dreams of a wife. A
family. A whole quiverfull of children. Joseph, a faithful Son of David, surely knew
Psalm 127: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the
womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand
of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them” (Ps. 127:3-5). He had only to wait for his year-long
betrothal to be over and then he could take Mary as his wife. He was committed to her in the meantime. Unlike in our culture today, engagement in
those days was tantamount to marriage … without the living together. You were legally bound to your betrothed even
before the public marriage ceremony.
Then suddenly, Joseph’s world fell apart. Mary is pregnant. All of Joseph’s expectations, all of Joseph’s
hopes and dreams, are shattered. No more
wife. No more nice little home in
Nazareth. No more child of his own. But plenty of shame. Joseph has been hurt and insulted. Mary – as it appears on the surface – has sinned.
Yet Joseph is also described as a just man. He’s a good guy. A decent fellow. He doesn’t want to take revenge on Mary. He could, you know. According to the Law of Moses, the penalty
was stoning (Deut. 22:13-29). He would
have been within his rights to go public.
It would be public soon enough, as soon as the little baby bump began to
show under Mary’s tunic. Instead, he
decides to divorce her quietly. How long
did Joseph “consider these things” as Matthew tells us? We don’t know. But whether it was a day or a week or a month
or more, you can imagine his agony. All
that he was looking forward to was now ruined.
And that’s when Joseph was visited by an angel in a dream. Not Clarence.
Probably Gabriel, if he’s the same angel that also had informed Mary of
God’s plan as St. Luke records for us. God
comes to Joseph and his unfulfilled expectations and brings him an unexpected
word. God reveals the unexpected way in
which his promises to the patriarchs were about to come to fruition … in the
fruit of Mary’s womb. The angel tells
Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. This is a miracle from the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the angel also announced the name
of this child. He will be called “Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus. Yeshua, as it would have
been in those days. “The Lord saves.” That’s what his name means. That’s what he came to be … the Savior. And Matthew reminds us that all of this took
place to fulfill the words of Isaiah some 700 years prior: “Behold, the virgin
will conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” God with us.
God in the flesh. God in the womb
of Mary.
What an amazing, unexpected turn of events for Joseph! How overwhelming for Joseph! Can you imagine his thoughts? “I’m going to be the foster father of the promised
Messiah! Am I up to the task?” But through the word of the angel, which was
God’s Word, faith was conceived in Joseph’s heart and enabled him to trust the
Lord and do what the angel said. He took
Mary home as his wife. She gave birth to
a son. And he called his name Jesus.
What unfulfilled expectations are bothering you today? What are you expecting from God today? Straighten out the messes others have made for
you through their sinful words and actions?
Straighten out the messes that you have made for yourself because of
your sinful words and actions? Are you
demanding that the Lord work according to your plans … that he act in your life
the way you expect? Or are you willing
to trust that he knows what he is doing, even when it seems like your world has
fallen apart.
God certainly knew what he was doing in Joseph’s life. Now, granted, I know that Joseph’s
circumstances were extraordinary. For
you, there has been no angelic visit.
For you, there has been no angel speaking in a dream. But God has still spoken to you. He has spoken to you through his Word. And he does some extraordinary and unexpected
things through his Word. Connected to
water, God gives you the Holy Spirit who conceives faith in your heart where
there was no faith before. Through the
mouth of your pastor, the Lord announces that the sins which weigh you down are
quickly lifted by his grace and mercy. Under
bread and wine, you receive the Body and Blood of Immanuel. In the elements on the altar, and in your
hands and in your mouths, God is with you to forgive you, to save you, to encourage
you, to help you by his might.
The Son of God entered our world in an unexpected way. And though our expectations today often go
unfulfilled, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior. Joseph may have been a “just” man, and we
honor him for caring for Mary and Jesus.
But Joseph was still a sinner like you and me. Jesus is the only perfectly “just” man who
ever lived. And although our sin brings
guilt, Jesus does not want YOU to be put to shame. And so went all the way from the manger to
the cross, from virgin womb to empty tomb, and lived up to his holy name … he saved
you from your sins. The guilt of your
sin is forgiven and you are “just”-ified.
Not guilty. And one day, you will
finally also be saved from the effects of sin in this world in the healing of
your bodies in the resurrection and the restoration of all creation at Christ’s
Second Advent.
Our hope and expectation,
O Jesus, now appear;
Arise, O Sun so longed for,
O’er this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted,
We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption
That sets Your people free! (LSB 515.4)
O Jesus, now appear;
Arise, O Sun so longed for,
O’er this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted,
We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption
That sets Your people free! (LSB 515.4)
Amen.
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