Matthew 1:18-25
Sunday, December 21, 2025 – Advent 4
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
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.
I caught the travel bug early in life, even before I went to school. My parents used to call me their little gypsy – claiming that I was always ready to go – anywhere, any time. And so, when at 17, I had the opportunity to be an exchange student to Spain, I was over the moon.
Before that experience, I had never flown on an airplane before. I had never been abroad before. I had never seen Roman ruins or eaten blood sausage or been to a disco before. My world view had never been challenged before. I had never been in the minority before. But Spain changed all of that. Spain changed me.
But lo these many years later, I have discovered that not all trips are as delightful. Not all first experiences are enlivening. Sometimes to utter the words, “I have never been here before” is actually an expression of terror. “I have never had a brain scan before.” “I have never been in court before.” “I have never lost my job before.” “I have never made funeral arrangements before.”
“I have never been here before” is something we now say every day. It is our daily mantra, as we teeter on the verge of ecological collapse. And class and economic and racial divisions only widen. And the vitriol and cruelty of our political discourse rivals the days before the American Civil War. What does it all mean? I don’t know, because we have never been here before.
Once there was a man named Joseph who was engaged to a very young woman named Mary. To be engaged in first century Palestine did not mean what it means for us today. Back then, to be engaged was a legally binding agreement that preceded the marriage feast, sometimes lasting as long as a year. During this time, the man and the woman did not have sexual relations or live with one another. But they were, in a very real sense, already in the first stage of matrimony.
One day, Mary came to Joseph with the jaw-dropping news that she was pregnant. The implication, of course, was that she had been unfaithful. And in that moment, Joseph’s whole world imploded. He had definitely never been there before.
Suddenly the once happy bridegroom had to make a heart-rending decision. He had two choices in how he ended this engagement, but it must be ended. He could do it publicly and expose Mary to the judgment of society. If he did, according to the Law of Moses, Mary could be put to death for her supposed sexual impurity. Deuteronomy 22:21 starkly states that if a young woman, ready to marry, is not found to be a virgin then “she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.”
And even if by some chance Mary escaped this fate; even if by this point in history, that law was no longer followed to the letter, she would still be shunned for the rest of her life. No other man would ever have her.
But Matthew says that Joseph, being a good-hearted man, could not bring himself to publicly divorce Mary. Instead, he chose to divorce her quietly, without any public charges of sexual impurity. Perhaps he hoped that in doing so he could shame the real father into marrying her and bringing up this child as his own.
And so, it was decided. Until, that is, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. And the angel claimed that the child in Mary’s womb was not the result of unfaithfulness, but instead, incredulously, was from the Holy Spirit. The angel said that Joseph should raise this child as his own and should name him Jesus. And that instruction is especially significant because in ancient Palestine, a naming ceremony could also double as an adoption proceeding. To name a child publicly was to claim a child publicly.
Mary was also in a terrifying place she had never been before. Although the Gospel of Matthew is told from Joseph’s perspective, the Gospel of Luke is told from Mary’s perspective. And in Luke when the angel of the Lord announced that she would bear a son, Mary was incredulous and replied: “But how can this be since I am a virgin?”
The virgin birth is one of those doctrines that causes a lot of modern people to stumble. What are we to do with this tale of a miraculous conception, accomplished outside normal biological functions?
Well, some folks just flat out dismiss it as the superstitious belief of ancient people. Others take a more nuanced approach and consider it a very clever allegory or literary device, and one that other ancient cultures also used. Still others simply accept the virgin birth without the need to demythologize it or parse it. After all, they say, isn’t the Bible already full of miracles? Why should this one be any different?
But no matter how you view this story and its details, what we are all left with is the tale of two people who, through no choices of their own, were taken to a frightening place they had never been before.
So why all this drama? Couldn’t God accomplish God’s purposes in a more natural and orderly way? Why put these two poor people through all this stress?
I don’t know. But I do know this: that in their stress, I see my own. In their inability to control their circumstances, we see our own inability to do the same. And just like them, we are called to trust in the Lord, whose preferred method of self-revelation is always through messy humans like us. God always comes to us disguised as one of us.
And that makes God vulnerable. What else could an infant in a feeding trough mean? But I don’t think that’s the kind of God we really want. It’s not the kind of God we have been taught to believe in. We’d much rather have a magician God, who swoops in to rescue us from all that frightens us. But instead, what we have is Emmanuel, a Hebrew phrase literally meaning “with-us God” or as we say it “God is with us.”
God is with us, in this moment. God is with us, as we stand at the edge of a new year full of uncertainty. God is with us, as we prepare to be taken to places we have never been before.
Blessed Mary was not rescued from her doubts and fears and dreadful predicament. Faithful Joseph was not rescued from his nagging questions and heavy responsibilities. But they would come to know for themselves what the angels first announced - that God was with them - not above, not beyond, not remote - but right there, lying in a manger.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sunday, December 21, 2025 – Advent 4
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
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.
I caught the travel bug early in life, even before I went to school. My parents used to call me their little gypsy – claiming that I was always ready to go – anywhere, any time. And so, when at 17, I had the opportunity to be an exchange student to Spain, I was over the moon.
Before that experience, I had never flown on an airplane before. I had never been abroad before. I had never seen Roman ruins or eaten blood sausage or been to a disco before. My world view had never been challenged before. I had never been in the minority before. But Spain changed all of that. Spain changed me.
But lo these many years later, I have discovered that not all trips are as delightful. Not all first experiences are enlivening. Sometimes to utter the words, “I have never been here before” is actually an expression of terror. “I have never had a brain scan before.” “I have never been in court before.” “I have never lost my job before.” “I have never made funeral arrangements before.”
“I have never been here before” is something we now say every day. It is our daily mantra, as we teeter on the verge of ecological collapse. And class and economic and racial divisions only widen. And the vitriol and cruelty of our political discourse rivals the days before the American Civil War. What does it all mean? I don’t know, because we have never been here before.
Once there was a man named Joseph who was engaged to a very young woman named Mary. To be engaged in first century Palestine did not mean what it means for us today. Back then, to be engaged was a legally binding agreement that preceded the marriage feast, sometimes lasting as long as a year. During this time, the man and the woman did not have sexual relations or live with one another. But they were, in a very real sense, already in the first stage of matrimony.
One day, Mary came to Joseph with the jaw-dropping news that she was pregnant. The implication, of course, was that she had been unfaithful. And in that moment, Joseph’s whole world imploded. He had definitely never been there before.
Suddenly the once happy bridegroom had to make a heart-rending decision. He had two choices in how he ended this engagement, but it must be ended. He could do it publicly and expose Mary to the judgment of society. If he did, according to the Law of Moses, Mary could be put to death for her supposed sexual impurity. Deuteronomy 22:21 starkly states that if a young woman, ready to marry, is not found to be a virgin then “she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.”
And even if by some chance Mary escaped this fate; even if by this point in history, that law was no longer followed to the letter, she would still be shunned for the rest of her life. No other man would ever have her.
But Matthew says that Joseph, being a good-hearted man, could not bring himself to publicly divorce Mary. Instead, he chose to divorce her quietly, without any public charges of sexual impurity. Perhaps he hoped that in doing so he could shame the real father into marrying her and bringing up this child as his own.
And so, it was decided. Until, that is, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. And the angel claimed that the child in Mary’s womb was not the result of unfaithfulness, but instead, incredulously, was from the Holy Spirit. The angel said that Joseph should raise this child as his own and should name him Jesus. And that instruction is especially significant because in ancient Palestine, a naming ceremony could also double as an adoption proceeding. To name a child publicly was to claim a child publicly.
Mary was also in a terrifying place she had never been before. Although the Gospel of Matthew is told from Joseph’s perspective, the Gospel of Luke is told from Mary’s perspective. And in Luke when the angel of the Lord announced that she would bear a son, Mary was incredulous and replied: “But how can this be since I am a virgin?”
The virgin birth is one of those doctrines that causes a lot of modern people to stumble. What are we to do with this tale of a miraculous conception, accomplished outside normal biological functions?
Well, some folks just flat out dismiss it as the superstitious belief of ancient people. Others take a more nuanced approach and consider it a very clever allegory or literary device, and one that other ancient cultures also used. Still others simply accept the virgin birth without the need to demythologize it or parse it. After all, they say, isn’t the Bible already full of miracles? Why should this one be any different?
But no matter how you view this story and its details, what we are all left with is the tale of two people who, through no choices of their own, were taken to a frightening place they had never been before.
So why all this drama? Couldn’t God accomplish God’s purposes in a more natural and orderly way? Why put these two poor people through all this stress?
I don’t know. But I do know this: that in their stress, I see my own. In their inability to control their circumstances, we see our own inability to do the same. And just like them, we are called to trust in the Lord, whose preferred method of self-revelation is always through messy humans like us. God always comes to us disguised as one of us.
And that makes God vulnerable. What else could an infant in a feeding trough mean? But I don’t think that’s the kind of God we really want. It’s not the kind of God we have been taught to believe in. We’d much rather have a magician God, who swoops in to rescue us from all that frightens us. But instead, what we have is Emmanuel, a Hebrew phrase literally meaning “with-us God” or as we say it “God is with us.”
God is with us, in this moment. God is with us, as we stand at the edge of a new year full of uncertainty. God is with us, as we prepare to be taken to places we have never been before.
Blessed Mary was not rescued from her doubts and fears and dreadful predicament. Faithful Joseph was not rescued from his nagging questions and heavy responsibilities. But they would come to know for themselves what the angels first announced - that God was with them - not above, not beyond, not remote - but right there, lying in a manger.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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