+ 4th Sunday in Advent – December 21st, 2024 +
Series A: Isaiah 7:10-17; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And yet there are some words that have a story all of their own to tell. A single word can contain thousands of words. A word can bring to mind endless words. Endless stories. Some words have a whole world within their letters.
Think of home. Rest. Christmas. We hear a few of those kinds of words this morning in God’s holy word: Son. Emmanuel. Jesus.
Although in all honesty, if we were standing in Joseph’s sandals the first words that come to mind would be words like fear. Confusion. Shock. Sin. Betrayal.
So God sends his messenger. One of his holy angels to deliver better words to Joseph’s ears.
Consolation. Holy. Awe. Wonder. Promise.
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son
Do not fear, Joseph. Yes, people will talk. They’ll whisper and wonder the worst about you and your betrothed. They’ll wag their fingers and heads in shame. They’ll cast their judgmental eyes your way and hers and the child’s. But fear not, Joseph, son of David for Mary is carrying the promised Son of David in her womb. From the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son who is David’s Son, yet David’s Lord.
Son. There’s a whole world in that word. Son takes us back to the beginning. Back to Genesis and Eden. To the tree and the temptation. To the betrayal and rebellion and death that poisoned all that God declared very good. But also to the promise. A child born of a woman. A Son who will stomp the serpent into the dust forever. A holy child born to deliver all of Adam’s fallen children. Joseph. You. Me.
So the angel’s words are for Joseph, but they’re for you too. Do not fear. For though we all have our own sin and sorrows, fears and failures, doubts and death to wrestle with – all of those words and realities are held by the one born of the woman.
It is for us as it was for Joseph. God’s word and promise must be revealed to us. On our own we’re in the dark. Alone. Confused. Trapped in our own grave. Caught in our own snares. Enslaved by our own desires and self-made deities. Tossed to and fro by our own fears, worries, doubts, and despair.
But then along comes a word. Son. The Son of David. The Son of Mary. The Son of God.
Or to say the same promise with another word. Emmanuel.
This is an old word. A Hebrew word. An ancient name. And like most Hebrew names in the Scriptures, this name is more than an ID badge. It is prophetic. It is promise. It is life. Revelation. Rescue. Comfort.
This name is a whole world of God’s grace in a word. Emmanuel.
God with us. God with us in the womb. God with us who crawls. Toddles. Wobbles. Walks. God with us in flesh and blood and bone and breath and hair. God who ate and drank, slept and awoke, laughed and wept. Who hungered, thirsted, and bled. As one of us. For all of us.
God with us yet without sin. And yet at the same time, God with us, bearing all our sin.
So he is God with us in our despair, doubts, and darkness. God with us in affliction, anxiety, and addiction. God with us in our fears, failures, and faithlessness. God with us in our terrors, trespasses, and trials. God with us in our sorrows, shame, and sin. God with us in our grief, guilt, and gut-wrenching pains.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”
Son. Emmanuel. Jesus.
When the Word made flesh made his dwelling among us, the Word of God receives a name. A whole world in a word. All of God’s promises packed into one single, saving name: Jesus.
This name is an Old Testament sacred play on words. A holy pun with a promise. You’ll recognize this name by its Hebrew translation. Yehoshua. Joshua. YHWH is salvation. YHWH saves. YHWH is savior.
The first Joshua led Israel into the promised land. Jesus, the greater Joshua will lead all people through his cross, and tomb into a new creation. The first Joshua conquered Jericho with trumpets. Jesus, the Greater Joshua conquers death and hell and the ancient serpent with his own blood and the tree of the cross. The first Joshua was told by God: Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Jesus, the Greater Joshua is the fulfillment of this promise. He is the Son of God. The Son of Mary. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the Lord your God who is with you wherever you go.
you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Jesus lives up to and dies into his name: YHWH is salvation. This Son and Emmanuel is God in the flesh who saves by giving his flesh for the life of the world. On the cross, but also in the cup. In the bread. On the altar. On your lips and tongue. YHWH is salvation in his body and blood for you.
This Son. Emmanuel. Jesus. Gives his blood for you. Poured out on the cross. Poured onto our sin-parched lips. Shed. Spilled. Given for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Here in the cup. In the blood of Jesus. YHWH is salvation.
Jesus, who is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone who ached and wept and suffered. He is with you in your sorrows, suffering, aches, pains, even death and the grave. He experienced it all. Went through it all to do what his name says. YHWH is salvation. For you.
When we endure restless nights like Joseph did. Or wrestle with our sin, sorrows, and when death opens it ugly, yawning mouth to swallow us up, it seems that fear, death, and sadness get the last word. But it is for us as it was for Joseph, and in this chapter of Matthew.
God’s holy word. God’s holy promise. God’s holy name – Jesus. He the last word.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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