December 21, 2025 "What does Joseph have to do with it?"

4th Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 7:10-16

Psalm 80:1-7,17-19

Romans 1:1-7

Matthew 1:18-25

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

 from love who says we are necessary. Amen

Have you ever wondered if Joseph

 is really all that necessary for the Christmas story? 

He doesn’t say anything,

he really just seems to be there for his family connections,

which I’m sure God could find another way to make,

 and let’s be honest,

God and Mary are really doing the heavy lifting here,

 do they really need Joseph?

 The gospel writer Mark doesn’t think so,

only calling Jesus ‘Mary’s son’

John only refers to Joseph twice

but seems to imply that he is out of the picture by that time.

 Joseph plays more of a role in Luke,

 but Matthew is really the gospel where Joseph shines

 and still even in Matthew’s account

even Joseph seems to wonder

 and even decide that he’s not necessary for the story

until God pulls him back in with a resounding ‘yes’

Matthew is pretty spare in his narration of Jesus’ birth,

he establishes right away that Mary is engaged to Joseph

 but that they don’t live together

which makes it all the more surprising

 when Mary is found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

 The next thing Matthew tells us

is that Joseph is planning to divorce her quietly

 which is quite a leap,

 we’re missing his initial reaction

 and his decision making,

Matthew leaves that up to us to imagine,

 and we usually fill in the gaps

 by imagining that Joseph thinks Mary has been unfaithful to him

and thus the divorce,

 but he’s a nice guy so he’ll do it quietly

 so she doesn’t face the harsh punitive measures

 outlined in the law (Deuteronomy 22:20-27)

which include being stoned to death.

What a guy…

but this interpretation overlooks the fact

 that among the sparse details Matthew has included

 he included that when Mary is found to be pregnant

 it is by the Holy Spirit, that detail is included up front.

What if Joseph’s hesitation to be with Mary

 is not founded on his doubt of the origin of her pregnancy

 but rather his belief in the truth of it?

What if he is afraid of getting in the way of God’s work?

 presumably if he sticks around

 he will get credit for this child

and where would the miracle in that be?

 Or perhaps as a righteous man

 he is unnerved by the close proximity of the presence of God,

or he feels unworthy to help care for this child of God,

 or he simply sees himself as unnecessary to this unfolding story

 and so he resolves to slip out the side door as it were,

remove himself from the picture

but in a quiet way so not as to disgrace Mary,

setting her free from him,

it will be better this way.

But just as he had resolved to do this,

an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…

and what the angel tells him

makes it abundantly clear

 that not only does God think he won’t get in the way

but that he is necessary to the unfolding of God’s plan.

The angel in the dream says to Joseph “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.” 

 Right away by calling Joseph son of David

the angel establishes that he does have something to offer

 his connection to the family of David,

 which is no little matter

 since the long prophesied messiah

 is to be a descendant of David,

as a righteous man Joseph would know this,

how important the connection will be to the people

 as a sign that this baby really is the one.

It’s so important that Matthew writing the gospel

continually mentions all the ways

 that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophetic proclamations.

But to make this connection

Joseph is going to have to do something,

he will need to accept this child as his own

 even as he acknowledges the greater purpose for him

- that he will be Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

And Joseph is convinced

(angelic visions tend to do that),

 he goes ahead with his marriage to Mary

so Jesus will not be born outside of wedlock

but still respects her holy calling

 and when the child is born he names him,

just as the angel said, yes

but also a sign for those who knew of the unusual nature of this child

that he Joseph is accepting, adopting this child as his own.

and I imagine that he did so

with the same care and consideration

 he used to make his first decision,

when he had resolved to divorce Mary quietly,

 whatever his motivation had been

he was intent on choosing

 the most merciful and caring way of acting out his decision.

  As one commentator noted

“ The distinguished preacher and scholar Fred Craddock once called Joseph the first great interpreter of scripture in the New Testament: in effect, Joseph subordinates texts like Deuteronomy 22 in favor of texts like, say, Micah 6:8: “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.” In other words, Joseph wisely acts upon a justice deeper than what is superficially “legal” (a theme his son, Jesus, will later expound at length in his preaching). Against the shadows of hateful violence dressed up as law, Joseph acts with merciful love — and the Gospel story begins.” https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/12/16/courageous-love-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-advent-week-four 

Is Joseph necessary?

Yes,

 and not just for the superficial reasons

 but for whole hearted reasons,

 faithfulness, mercy, and most of all love,

 love that drove out the fear of what was to come,

or at least tempered that fear with the courage to face the future,

 because a future framed in love must be worth encountering.

On this fourth Sunday in Advent

we light the candle of love,

not only for the nearness of love incarnate entering the world

but for the love of Mary that welcomed him into her body,

 and the love of Joseph that connected and protected Mary and Jesus

so that the word of God could be fulfilled.

Is Joseph necessary?

Oh yes,

Joseph is necessary,

 he is necessary for his love.

 And you if you have ever wondered

 if you are necessary to God’s story,

 to the life another?

 hear with Joseph the resounding ‘yes’

you are necessary as a receiver and giver of love,

 love that will transform the world. Amen