Love, of course; Matthew 1:18-25; December 21, 2025
Scripture Reading Matthew 1:18-25
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 pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Sermon Love, of course Pastor Anne Nelson
I confess that I have had a tendency to overlook gentle Joseph, the father who chose to adopt Jesus as his own son. This year, the story practically leaps off the page.
Perhaps it is because of Joseph’s staunch decency — noble, humble and principled. This in sharp contrast to the indecency of the world, present in every age, our own no exception. Loud and insistent we hear the furious clamor, the indecencies of racism and contempt, the calloused indecencies of cynicism and unrepentant greed. The din of cruelty, lies, lawlessness.
Joseph’s own context is far removed from our own, but his decency is still remarkable.
Believing that his betrothed seems to have broken his trust and declined his partnership, Joseph refuses to humiliate Mary, take vengeance upon her, or contribute to the vulnerability of her pregnant state. Privately he decides to swallow his hurt, instead dissolving the engagement quietly. His initial instinct are natural, yet they reveal the goodness of the man.
Into this demonstration of forbearance, a heavenly message breaks through - Joseph, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, she is carrying the child of God.
Very few among us would find this message comforting or clarifying. It provokes far more questions than it answers. And yet Joseph discerns through dream a reason for faith, reason to renew the course of love.
By law, Joseph could have chosen to wash his hands of the whole matter. According to his own understanding, and the religious and social context he lived in, he was well within his rights to walk away. But he did not.
Beautifully, Joseph chose to listen to the strange promise, to step out in faith, entering into the mystery of God. He believed that the unknown would unfold into something good, because God said it would.
And his first act of faith was a recommitment to love. He affirmed his marriage contract with Mary, committed to raise Jesus as his adopted son. Joseph’s love in turn multiplied love, and multiplied faith.
On this Sunday of love, we are very near to the moment of Incarnation. The moment when God takes on a fleshy human body. And while Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection are the ultimate expression of God’s delight and care for us, indeed become the well of grace that saves us, who would Jesus have become without the extraordinary humanity of his mother and his adoptive father? Mary, with her keen understanding of God’s kingdom, the justice and abundance of it. Joseph in his stalwart faith. These loving human parents nurtured the human child who was Jesus, who was God.
Their faith in the faithfulness of God, expressed in ordinary love for each other, and ordinary love for a tiny little baby, encourages us.
Like Joseph, it is often the case that to step out in faith we should step out into love. For his part, Joseph did not yet grasp the full implications of Jesus’s birth, the way the Gospel writing understood them decades later. Joseph did not take faith to mean — the formation of a defined theology of incarnation, the ability to learn and recite a creed. Joseph’s response to God’s call was to be faithful and gentle in relationship. At once continuing in the decency he already cultivated, and yet stretching further into radical acceptance and personal vulnerability.
God would have remained faithful to Mary even if Joseph had walked away, but imagine the way Joseph’s renewal strengthened and encouraged her and became a firm foundation for those difficult early days of their life together.
I wonder - who are the Josephs in our own lives? And — how can we extend that deep, unshakeable support to someone else? How does that love, and decency, serve as a firm foundation for the way of God, its unfolding, though unknown, the belief that love will triumph, that we can be part of receiving and multiplying it?
The Josephs in our own lives are those who have formed us, encouraged us, taken us into their hearts and their lives, given of themselves personally and sacrificially, often quietly and with a decency that becomes an overflowing source of relief, a pathway toward the coming of God in the world.
Recently I’ve been feeling such dread and horror as I witness the seemingly unstoppable forces of power harnessed for lawless deeds, when I witness un-mitigated greed, violence poured out on innocents. I have been in touch with the powerlessness such spectacles are meant to inspire.
But then in recent weeks I’ve also shown up in support Somalis attending Friday prayer. I’ve been at events for those planning for how to witness those who are struggling make ends meet, how to support those who are simply trying to live decent lives. I’ve been at musical events, appreciating the beauty of human creativity and pathos. On Friday I was at a performance of Handel’s Messiah, and was moved to tears by the enduring power of that music and those scriptures. I felt transported into worship when the audience stands to its feet for the Hallelujah chorus. All these moments were gifts mostly from strangers, actually, but willingly entering into relationship with one another, a source of encouragement to keep going. To love God, love neighbors, love the best of what people can be and appreciate the best of what people can do.
Friends, here we are. God is on the way. God will come - again and again - into the midst of darkness - light dawns again upon the earth. This is the shortest day of the year, the longest, darkest night, and yet the sun will return. When the light and life of humankind grows dim, in whole or in part, there is still the wisdom, the goodwill of God, making itself known in the love and decency of all the Josephs, not to mention the Marys, of the world. Those who willingly and faithfully say yes to the birth of Christ and are willing to labor to see it come to fruition, take comfort in the faith of Joseph. Let his exemplary love be a little shelter for us today. Let his decency give us space to take a deep breath of relief.
