Matthew 1:18-25 Believing the Impossible (communion this Sunday)
Is it good or bad to be skeptical? Sometimes, it’s good, isn’t it? When you receive an email from someone you don’t know, and that someone says to you that they want to help you, but they need some information. If you could just hand over your social security number, your credit card number, and your bank account number – that’s all this stranger wants from you. Remember, this person you never met before just wants to help you. At that moment, is it good or bad to be skeptical? There’s no way I’d give that person the time of day. That person doesn’t want to help you. That person wants to steal your money.
But what about those moments when you hear something that seems to good to be true, something that seems unbelievable, but then, you find out that it’s true anyway. Many months ago you threw your name into a drawing for a $10,000 shopping spree. Suddenly, you get a phone call that tells you that you have won – you don’t even remember signing up. Maybe you’re skeptical – is this another scam? But then, you proceed with caution, and you find out that it’s true. You really did win. It seemed too good to be true, but it was.
Every year, around Christmas-time, you hear the story of Jesus’ birth, and there are certain things about that birth that seem pretty hard to believe – should you be skeptical? The Bible tells us that the birth of Christ was something that was planned even before the world was created – do you believe that? God’s Word tells us that the little infant that was lying in a manger was actually God, who had come in the flesh – that’s a pretty outrageous claim, that God would come down in human flesh – do you believe that? And then there’s the part about how Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. According to the Bible, Mary had never been with a man, and yet she became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son – that seems like a pretty impossible thing. Is it true? Is that something you believe, or is this something that you should approach with a little bit of skepticism?
If you’re not ready to believe the impossible, then you’re not ready for Christmas. The Christmas story and the meaning behind it are both filled with amazing claims, impossible promises – things that seem to good to be true. Are you ready to ponder these things? Are you ready to believe the impossible?
This morning, we’re going to look at the birth of Christ from Joseph’s point of view. We’re going to look at how Joseph, not at first, but eventually believed the impossible. We’re going to see how God blessed Joseph as he did that. We’re going to see how these blessings can also come to us Christians today, as we lay hold of the amazing claims and impossible promises of God.
Here’s the story. Joseph was a carpenter who lived in Nazareth – an extremely small town – maybe no bigger than a few acres, a few hundred people. He was engaged to a young lady named Mary. Now in that culture, engagement meant a little more than it does in our culture today. Back then, once you were engaged, you were legally bound to your fiancée. You still would have to go through the ceremony before you start living together – but once you were engaged, that was it. Legally, you were hitched.
But something happened to poor Joseph. His fiancée, Mary, started to act strange. She seemed very nervous and excited, and one day, took off to visit one of her relatives, and she stayed away for 6 months. The Bible tells us that Mary had gone to visit her relative Elizabeth, an older woman who was going to have a child – John the Baptist. 6 months she stayed there, and then she returned. And when she returned, Joseph noticed something else that was strange about Mary. She looked like she might be pregnant.
Mary told him the whole story, about how the angel had visited her, how God the Holy Spirit had caused her to conceive, how the child was going to be a boy, how he was supposed to be named “Jesus,” and how he was going to be the Messiah. The baby was due in three months. How do you picture Joseph’s reaction?
Well, the Bible tells us that Joseph didn’t believe Mary’s story. She leaves for six months, comes back pregnant, and now she’s going to have the Messiah. He didn’t buy it. Now remember, the Bible describes Joseph as a righteous man – he was a godly man, a good man. If he was going to get married, it wasn’t going to be to someone like Mary. But he didn’t want to make a public example out of her. Back then, he could have dragged her into court – remember, they were legally united – and he could have put her on trial and had her stoned to death as an adulteress. But he didn’t want to do that to her. And so Joseph was planning to fill out some paperwork, and divorce her quietly.
Now, before we go on, you have to ask yourself this question – would you have believed Mary, if you were Joseph? Or, would you have been skeptical? Think of what he was supposed to believe – a virgin birth? The Holy Spirit causing her to conceive? This child was going to be the Messiah? These were hard things for anybody, to believe.
And so, Joseph resisted. He didn’t want to believe the impossible. But then, one night, we are told that an angel from God appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her IS from the Holy Spirit.” In other words, her story is true. She had not been with another man. God the Holy Spirit was the father. And then the angel said to him, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.” There was no such thing as ultrasound back then, but Mary and Joseph both knew what the gender of the baby would be. And they didn’t have to run to Barnes and Noble to get a book on baby-names. God picked one out for them – Jesus would be the baby’s name. Do you know what Jesus means? Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua – Jesus and Joshua really are the same name, and they both have the same meaning: “the Lord saves.” That would be his name – “the Lord saves” – Jesus.
And listen to the explanation the angel gives for why Joseph should name his son Jesus: “Because he will save his people from their sins.” This baby, born just three months from now, would save the world from sin – seems too good to be true. The writer of this book, Matthew, adds something that is very interesting – this whole idea of a virgin giving birth to a son, and that son being the Son of God – that’s not a new idea. That was something that was actually talked about hundreds of years earlier: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.” God had talked about the virgin birth 700 years earlier through the prophet Isaiah, when he wrote “the virgin will be with child, and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us.’” People would someday look at Jesus and say, this is not just a man, this is God, who is with us, who has come to us in human flesh.
Joseph needed this visit from the angel. Joseph wasn’t about to believe an outrageous story about a virgin giving birth to the Messiah. But that angel of God appeared to him and shared with him God’s Word. And Joseph believed? He did what the angel told him to do. He married Mary, right away. Can you imagine that – your fiancée is pregnant, you get married, and then, just a few months later, you’re in a stable, and your wife is giving birth. Sure enough, it’s a boy. And Joseph becomes a step-father.
Joseph was someone who believed the impossible. To this day, everyone remembers Joseph on Christmas Eve. That’s Joseph – a believer in God’s impossible promises. And, in many ways, you’re in the same position as he was in. Every Christmas, you are put into a position where you are asked to believe impossible promises. “I promise you,” God says to you, “that because of my Son, born on Christmas – I promise you that I will forgive you for all the sins you have ever committed in your life.” That’s an amazing promise. “I promise you,” God says, “that the moment you die, I’m going to take your soul to be with me forever in heaven.” Do you believe that? “I promise you,” God says, that this is my body, this is my blood, and these were given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of all of yours sins.” How can that be? It seems impossible!
But that’s Christianity, isn’t it? The essence of Christianity is believing the impossible, believing that the virgin gives birth to a child, believing that this helpless infant is God, believing that this child takes away the sin of the world. That’s Christianity – believing the impossible. Do you believe? Are you ready for Christmas? Ready to believe the impossible? If you struggle sometimes, with skepticism, don’t worry – you’re not alone. God isn’t going to send an angel to you to help you. Instead, God sends to you his Word, and his Sacrament – these are God’s “angels” today. Here is where God speaks to you today. Here is where you can spend time with God, and as you do, God will work on you. Here in the Lord’s Supper, God will take away your skepticism. Here in his Word, God will take away your doubts. Here is where God will give you the same thing he gave to Joseph. Do you know what that was? Faith. This is what God gives to you – the ability to trust in the impossible promises of Christmas – that’s faith, and that is what God gives to you here, through his Word and Sacrament.
May God be with you this Christmas. May God give you the same heart that he gave to Joseph – a heart that believes things that seem to good to be true, and yet, they are. Then you are ready for Christmas. Then you are ready to welcome the Christchild, God’s gift to you, to Joseph, and to all. Amen.
