I was talking to my mom this week. Since my granny can’t get out to see a Christmas pageant at a church, mom is thinking about trying to organize a tiny one with my niece and nephew. My nephew Sol is a great reader, so he’ll be the narrator. My niece Lyla, with her big imagination, will probably be an angel with one line “(be not afraid”) or a shepherd with some sheep or maybe both. Mom asked me about what part of the story to have the kids read. I asked, “How much do you want to have to explain to Sol about marriage and pregnancies?” Not much, as it turned out. So, that meant Mary’s visitation from the angel in Luke 1 and today’s reading from Matthew 1 were out. They’re gonna start the story with Matthew 2. Explaining a census seems a little simpler than explaining why Joseph might not have been excited to hear that his fiancée was pregnant.

     There are some Bible stories that I think that people who have heard them frequently forget how strange or scandalous they can be the first time you hear them. The stories around Jesus’ birth are that kind of Bible story. The Advent and Christmas seasons are full of sweet scenes of the little Holy Family. Meanwhile, when we turn to the Bible story itself, we are reminded of the real stakes for this couple if they choose to do what God asks of them. People have been, and are to this day, ostracized from family and community under circumstances that are quite similar to those described in our reading. Two thousand years into this Jesus movement, when so often in the West the word “Christian” is used to mean “respectable” and “well-behaved,” it is good to be reminded of the scandal that began our relationship with Christ. Remembering the scandalous nature of the Incarnation can help us be braver in a world that too often prefers we act politely rather than justly.

     Given the differences in culture, the challenges in translating Greek to English, and years of tradition surrounding this story, the precise nature of Joseph and Mary’s relationship in Matthew is confusing. The New Revised Standard version describes them as being “engaged.” In our culture, this means not yet married but planning to be married at some point. This is how Eugene Park understands their relationship in his commentary. Mitzi Minor reads it a little differently in hers. She adds some context to help us understand what marriages in respectable families would look like in this era.

     Minor argues that a better translation indicates that they are married but not yet living together. She notes that marriages in this era were economic arrangements made between the fathers of a man and a woman with the ultimate goal of producing “legitimate heirs” for the household of the man. While it is clear that these kinds of households could be loving and something that we would call love could grow between the couple, Minor says, “love wasn’t the reason for the marriage.” Mary and Joseph’s marriage had been arranged and was already what we would consider “legal.” However, for some reason, they were not living together. Minor suggests that maybe the house wasn’t done or maybe Joseph was busy with an apprenticeship.

     Apparently, though, regardless of whether you understand them to be engaged or married but not cohabitating, Mary’s pregnancy has come at an inopportune time. If they are not yet married, they should not have been spending time together in a way that would result in pregnancy. If they are married but not yet living together, it would have been assumed that Mary would have had access to suitors other than her husband, and therefore, according to Minor, it would not have been easy to prove that her child was Joseph’s. The easiest explanation for her pregnancy would have been that she had committed adultery.
As Boyung Lee points out in her commentary on this text in our Advent devotional, there were frightening consequences for women suspected of adultery. Deuteronomy 22: 23-24 indicates that even the suspicion of adultery was enough to warrant stoning. Beyond all the dangers of pregnancy as a teenager in first century Palestine, Mary was in danger within her community. And, as Joash Thomas points out in an interesting post about the religious traditions that would have been important to Joseph, Joseph also risked damage to his reputation and future marriage prospects. This is why he initially considers divorce, though he is clear that he wants to do so quietly, in order to protect Mary. The stakes are so high in this story! Life and death and the lineage of an entire family!

     This is why God’s ask and Joseph’s assent are so important. With Mary’s life and Joseph’s family line on the line, an angel shows up in a dream with an invitation to Joseph to further turn his whole life upside down. “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.” The reasonable thing would have been divorce. The respectable thing would have been divorce. God asked Joseph to do the loving and just thing instead. Stay with Mary and do not make her do this alone.
Lee refers to this as a “theology of proximity.” That is a definition of righteousness and faithfulness that includes actively drawing closer to the vulnerable. It means “aligning ourselves with those at risk,” even if that increases risk to our own selves... even when we are afraid. In his post about Joseph, Thomas points out that Joseph is able to take this kind of risk because building his faith has been a vital part of his life. He is described as a righteous man, but righteousness doesn’t just happen, it’s cultivated. We have historical records of the kinds of faith practices that Joseph might have participated in that could have fortified him for the work of partnering with Mary to raise the Messiah.

     Thomas said that a devout first century Jewish man could have been expected to pray at three different designated times a day. He would have observed the Sabbath and attended services at the synagogue where he would have engaged with Scripture with other attendees. He also had a religious expectation to tithe and care for people who had fewer resources than him. He would have followed religious dietary and other purity laws and fasted according to their traditions. Each one of these activities and all of them together would have helped to build a foundation of receptivity to the Spirit in Joseph’s heart.

     When you know the stories of a different Joseph the dreamer, it might be easier to believe that God would show up in your dreams, too. When you know the story of Abraham and Sarah, it might be easier to imagine that a miraculous pregnancy could change the world. When you know that Isaiah spoke of God-with-us, it might be easier to believe that God would be with you and Mary through this pregnancy and in the Child to come. Thomas argues that Joseph has been preparing for this moment his whole life just by being faithful.

     Boyung Lee says, “God’s work in this world unfolds not through lone heroes, but through the joined hands of those who choose: relationship over self-protection, accompaniment over certainty, and presence over perfection.” In this Advent season, I hope you have connected to the practices that can allow you to say yes when God comes calling. Because, God will call each one of us to be a part of Christ’s entrance into this world. May we be as willing as Joseph to overcome the fear that could stop us, and stand with the ones who need accompaniment the most.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Joash Thomas: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSgMknejyzY/?img_index=3&igsh=MTIzNzNjdjc2Z2JjZw==
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew inThe New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Boyung Lee, "When We are Running Out of Hope, God is at Work," from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet
Mitzi Minor: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/jesus-as-immanuel-2/commentary-on-matthew-118-25-10
​Eugene Park: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-advent/commentary-on-matthew-118-25-11

Matthew 11:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.

Messengers from John the Baptist

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his[b] disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What, then, did you go out to see? Someone[c] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.  What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
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“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

     Though the book of Matthew starts out talking about Joseph’s family, when we fast forward to chapter 3, we’re back to Mary’s family and John, whose parents we met last week. Unlike Luke, we don’t learn anything about John’s birth in Matthew, and his parents aren’t mentioned at all, nor is his familial connection to Jesus. In fact, the first time we hear of him at all is at Jesus’ baptism. He’s fully adult out teaching in the wilderness, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” He is also described as fulfilling a prophecy from Isaiah. He’s the voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” It is clear from the moment we see him that he had a very clear sense of mission and was unafraid to tell powerful people what they were doing wrong. Even the king wasn’t beyond his rebuke. John is eventually arrested sometime after baptizing Jesus. His arrest, according to J. Andrew Overman’s notes on Matthew, is the catalyst for Jesus entering into public ministry.

     Our reading for today comes after Jesus has been preaching for a while. John, who appears to have long-ago accepted his role as prophet of the coming messiah and accepted Jesus as being particularly blessed by God, nevertheless sends out emissaries to make sure that Jesus is the one they have been waiting for. John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” John has never appeared to have been one for dithering. Maybe he knew his time was limited. He couldn’t waste what he had left. Or, maybe as Boyung Lee suggests, John needed reassurance that his mission hadn’t been in vain.

     Lee points out that John had once called Jesus “lamb of God.” Why would he need reassurance now? Being imprisoned by a dangerous and powerful man is challenging at best, terrifying and demoralizing at worst, and this was prison constructed with the intent to do harm. There was no lip service to rehabilitation in the Roman era. There was only punishment. And, sometimes that punishment was death. Are we hearing, as Lee suggests, doubt growing within John as he faced frightening consequences to tell hard truths to dangerous men? She says, “This is not doubt born of cynicism. It is the trembling that comes when conviction meets suffering— when the cost of faithfulness has been high, and the fruit appears small. It is what hope sounds like when it’s running thin.” Jesus hears whatever is going on with John through the questions of his emissaries and responds with grace and assurance.

      First, Jesus tells John’s disciples to report on the good works he’s been doing: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Jesus is bringing the care God promised to the vulnerable, and John should know about it. He also says, “bless is anyone who takes no offense at me. Overman points out in his notes on this section that all of this is a reference to prophecies in the book of Isaiah (Is. 29:18-19, 35:5-6, 42:18, 61:1). Jesus is affirming that he is fulfilling the prophecies. John doesn’t have to wait anymore. This is enough assurance for the emissaries, who take this good news back to John.

     Then Jesus turns around and does something else. After the emissaries have left, Jesus began to affirm to all who would listen John’s own call to be a prophet. This appears to me to be a kind attempt at restoring his reputation. It may also just be Jesus telling the truth. He was good about that. He wasn’t going to let Herod’s accusations of sedition be the last public word on John’s legacy. Jesus said that John was, indeed, the prophet about whom was written, “See, I am sending you my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you (Malachi 3:1 and maybe also Isaiah 40.3).” In fact, he affirmed John to be a prophet without compare in their time.

     Jesus continues this affirmation after our reading, correcting the record for those who might believe that John’s arrest shows that he was untrustworthy. Jesus argued to the contrary: John’s dedication to God’s calling, even at great personal cost, demonstrated integrity and divine inspiration. This week marked the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. I can’t help but see parallels between the story of the boycott and today’s scripture. The catalyst for the boycott was the arrest of experienced civil rights organizer Rosa Parks for not following the racist laws that allowed bus drivers to demand Black people give up seats for white passengers. She was not the only person to have been arrested for this, but she was the person organizers believed could be most successfully defended in a way that could overturn the racist law.

     The strike went on for 381 days, drawing national attention to local leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy Sr., who were involved in the boycott. The boycott was not easy. It required a significant willingness to sacrifice on the part of the boycotters and a significant amount of organizing to get Black people to and from their responsibilities without the public buses. Organizers and allies faced no small risk of violence for speaking the truth of the sinfulness of segregation. But, for them, like John, the risk was worth arrest, because they were called by God to pursue Justice.

     Today’s Advent theme is peace. About four months into the boycott, the day before he was to go to trial for violating Alabama’s anti-boycott law, Dr. King gave a sermon, where, among many things, he spoke of peace as “not merely [the] absence of ... tension, but the presence of justice.” He also said, “If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don't want it.” This feels to me a like a sentiment that both Jesus and John would have shared. Dr. King would lose that trial, though his sentence would be suspended on appeal. He would end up in jail many times though. It is good to remember that being imprisoned doesn’t always mean you did something wrong.

     I pray that you will hear the affirmation you need, like John did, when hope is short and consequences are unjust. I hope that you will have a defender who will tell the truth about who you are and what you do. In challenging season that demand truth telling and justice seeking, I pray that you have peace from Christ reminding you that you are just who you say you are and who God has called you to be. You may not have the same call as John, but, as we learned in Montgomery, regular people can make a path for God’s righteousness to enter the world, too. John didn’t have to wait for another, and neither do we. The one we have been waiting for is here and leading us forward into a future of love and justice.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Boyung Lee, "When We are Running Out of Hope, God is at Work," from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet
An article on the anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott: https://apnews.com/article/montgomery-bus-boycott-anniversary-events-civil-rights-844b1cba2267fd60d30211f596d3edbf
​Dr. King's sermon where he talks about a negative peace vs a justice-filled peace: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious
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Luke 1:5-13 The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
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Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

    Four Sundays. Four words to help guide us through the season of Advent. What are the four words that will guide our worship over the next four weeks? Does anyone remember? Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. What is today’s theme? Hope. Advent always begins with hope. The name for the season Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus,” which means “coming” or “arrival.” Who are we hoping will come during the season of Advent? Jesus. That’s right. Like anyone who is expecting a new member of the family, we are getting ourselves and our place ready for their arrival. Because, as with any new member of the household, Jesus’ arrival will change everything.

     We have already done a few things to prepare. We’ve added special paraments in purple to remind us of the season. We’ve added a tree that we will decorate throughout the season. We’ve added the special wreath of candles, one of which we’ll light every week. Does anyone light candles at home, too? If you want some candles and don’t have them yet, we have some out in the lobby. You’re welcome to take them when you leave worship today.

     In the Northern Hemisphere, where practices of Advent first developed, we start these practices of hopeful expectation in the darkest part of the year. Together, we’ll move towards the winter solstice, where the days would finally start to get longer again, days after which we will celebrate Christ’s birth. I’ve often wondered if part of the reason we want to have extra candles around during Advent is because we need a little more light and warmth in the dark and the cold. It has come to mean a lot to me personally that something beautiful and powerful and awe-inspiring and overwhelming will arrive in the darkest season. And we’ve been handed down tools to make our way through the dark together.

     There are people we usually talk about during Advent. For those of you who have celebrated Advent before, can you remember some of those people? You may have heard some of their names in the story Lacey read for today. (let the congregation name some of the people, who might include Mary, Joseph, Herod, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Angels, maybe Jesus’ whole family line, the magi, shepherds, Herod). Our reading today started by telling us the name of a king to help us understand what time frame we’re hearing about. What was that king’s name? Herod.

     Was Herod a kind king? No. He wasn’t. In a commentary on our story, Dr. Boyung Lee, who is a professor at a theology school in Colorado, reminds us that Herod had been appointed the leader of Judea by Rome. The people of Judea were accustomed to having a king that they thought God appointed, not an outside nation. Herod, and everyone else, knew he only had the job of king because Rome wanted him to. They could remove him at any time. He would become cruel and mean-spirited, hurting anyone who he worried was trying to remove him from power. He was not a kind king. He was a bully who was mean to the people he was supposed to be taking care of because he was afraid.

     Part of what is powerful about Jesus’ birth is that he won’t come into the world when everything is perfect and in a place where everything is just right. The Gospel of Luke wants us to see God’s Word become a human in the midst of a hard time in a place led by dangerous people. God will be born into humanity in a special way within a regular family living in a challenging time. This family was also a family that was being sustained by their faith in a hard time. We’ll learn more about that as we meet Jesus’ parents. Even in his extended family, who we meet in today’s story, faith in God was a vital part of their lives. Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary’s older cousin and her husband, were deeply faithful people. And even they were surprised by God in this story.

     Elizabeth and Zechariah wanted to have a baby but had never been able to do so. Dr. Lee reminds us that in this time, if you wanted to have children but were unable to become pregnant, lots of people thought that meant God was mad at you and therefore wouldn’t help you to become pregnant. The Bible tells us that God wasn’t mad at them, though. They just were having a hard time having a baby and had thought that they were so old that they never would. But, as Dr. Lee says in our devotional, “their faith endured, even in waiting.” They are good examples for us as people living in a hard time both because they had a wicked king and because of medical issues in their family. They show us how faith and our faith practices can be a tool for making our way into a future that is unclear.

     It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when the angel of God appears to Zechariah, even though he was faithful and hoped something like this would happen, he was still afraid. We don’t stop being afraid of surprising things just because we love God. Dr. Lee points out that Zechariah isn’t just slightly startled. He’s afraid in a way that leaves him shaken in body and spirit. When enough bad stuff happens, we can come to expect only bad things. Or, as Dr. Lee puts it, “we may grow so used to disappointment that when hope finally arrives, it startles us. When God interrupts, we flinch.” One of my hopes for us in this season of Advent, is that we can be reminded that fear is a natural response to scary things and uncertain things, but we mustn’t let fear totally shape how we engage with the world. Today’s scripture shows us a God who hears our fears first. And then, responds to them.

     Dr. Lee points out that Zechariah’s fear does not disqualify him from receiving a gift from God. Instead, this moment of fear is the beginning of Zechariah’s transformation. The transformation will not be easy. Zechariah’s not going to be able to speak for a while... like the entire nine months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Elizabeth seems to have gotten most of the bravery in the family. Eventually, her faithfulness appears to move her husband. When their son is born and she wants to name him John, Zechariah agrees with her that that will be their child’s name. In standing up for and with his wife, Zechariah finally allows himself to be overcome with hope and is able to speak again. Fear is a part of his story, but it doesn’t stop him from being present with his wife, and it doesn’t stop him from embracing the son he thought he’d never have.

     I read a commentary from the Salt Project this week that talked about a Christian monk named Bernard of Clairvaux, who lived about 900 years ago. Bernard wrote about “three Advents.” The first Advent was when Jesus was born into a human family. The third Advent will be Jesus’ return in the future. He called everything thing else that is happening between that first Christmas and Christ’s return the “middle Advent.” We are living in that Middle Advent. This is the “everyday arrival of Jesus” in our ritual life at church, in the Spirit that moves us in our hearts and minds, and in the faces of the hungry and thirsty people, weary asylum seekers, and those isolated in prison. As we go about the work we’re called to, as Zechariah worked in the temple, we may find ourselves afraid and overwhelmed. Let us remember that our fear does not make us incapable of carrying out the mission God calls us to. And, in the end, may our faith and hope overwhelm the fear that has kept us silent. God has heard our prayer. May we hear God’s messengers who assure us that the future we have hoped for can still come to pass.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
General Advent info: https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/11/26/be-ready-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-advent-week-one
A nice history of Advent from the United Methodist Church: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/book-of-worship/advent
​An introduction to the season from the UCC: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/2025-2026-advent-and-christmas-series-may-peace-be-within-you/
Boyung Lee, "In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In, " from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet