Sunday 12/22/13 Freeville/Homer Ave
UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Jesus: Joseph’s adopted Son”
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 7:10-16
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Romans 1:1-7
Gospel Lesson: Mathew 1:18-25
Welcome once
again on this the fourth Sunday in this Advent Season. In this season in the
Christian calendar, we are awaiting the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus
Christ. Even though Jesus was born in the literal sense almost 2,000 years ago,
this season helps us to remember the gift of Jesus Christ. This season helps us
to remember how magical, how powerful, and how grace filled that first
Christmas must have been.
That Jesus’
father Joseph was feverishly looking for a place for his wife Mary to give
birth. He likely feverishly thought, “Where will my wife Mary give birth to the
Messiah?” You see, the savior was and is coming. While we only symbolically
celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ every Christmas now, that first year,
Joseph was preparing for the birth of the savior.
While there is
so much to Christmas, and while there is so much to the birth of Christ, such
as, who Christ was and is, and all of the things that Christ taught us, I want
to focus in this morning on Jesus’ father Joseph. Or should I say, Saint
Joseph, who adopted Jesus Christ as his own son.
You see Jesus
was Joseph’s adopted son. I say this because an angel of the Lord came to Mary
and told her that she was to conceive a son and name him Jesus. She was told
that this son would be conceived of Holy Spirit. Yet I can imagine that whole
city of Nazareth where Mary and Joseph lived, rejected Mary once she was “showing,”
as the term goes. Joseph was likely hurt, angry, and let down when he found out
that Mary was pregnant. He then severed the engagement to Mary, until in a
dream an angel of the Lord told him that Mary’s baby was of the Holy Spirit.
The angel of the Lord told Joseph to not be afraid, and because of this, Joseph
decided to stay engaged, and then married to Mary.
I can imagine what the city of
Nazareth probably said about Joseph behind his back. They probably said things
like, “Can you believe that Mary is having a baby with another man, and that
Joseph is staying with her?” I can imagine as much as Mary was persecuted, that
this wasn’t easy for Joseph either. You see Joseph was a hard working carpenter,
or perhaps a stone mason, who likely had built a nice home for Mary, and would
provide well for her. Further, Mary’s child, Jesus, was fully God and fully
human. It was of her flesh and of God, not of Joseph’s.
In this way,
Joseph had no genetic connection this child Jesus, yet he listened to the angel
of the Lord. Joseph decided that he would adopt this child. That he would fully
make this child his son. You see in the way then that a person can graft a twig
or a branch into a tree, Joseph decided to graft Jesus Christ fully into his
family. Mary was genetically of the line of King David, the one in whom God
promised to raise up an heir to be the Messiah. Joseph was also related to King
David, and by grafting Jesus Christ into his family tree, he fully accepted
Jesus Christ, and made him fully part of his lineage. Jesus was now connected
to King David through his mother, and through his adopted father Joseph.
Further, not
all of us have had the luxury of having great earthly fathers. In my own parents
being divorced and remarried, I have been blessed with a great father, a great
step-father, a great mother, and a great-step mother. While all of these
parents are great parents, I am only genetically related to two of them. In
this sense I only share “blood” with half of my parents. Yet, I remember when I
was leaving my last church appointment in September, and my step-father said to
one of the whole churches, “Paul is a son, that any father would be proud to
have.” You see to my step-father Mike, I am much more than just his “step-son,”
he has grafted me into the tree of his family. He considers me in flesh and
blood to be fully his son, like Joseph did to Jesus.
While I have
had and continue to have great parents, a good chunk of my child-hood was spent
with a single working mother in Orange County, NY, while the entire rest of my
family lived and still lives in Northern Illinois. Yet in being involved in the
church, I found many Josephs there. These Josephs included family friends,
pastors, and etc., who took me under their wings, who encouraged me, and who feed
me the truth of God when I was desperately in need of it. You see I have had and
continue to have many Josephs in my life.
Men that have
decided to love and encourage me, that have developed my character, my
strength, and my faith. You see I am the product of then of the Christian
Church. I am a pastor, because many Marys’ and Josephs’ raised me up.
The question I
have for you today then, is who were and are the Josephs in your lives? Can we
imagine the sacrifice that Joseph must have made to protect Jesus Christ, to
take care of Mary? Did he work many extra hours when it was needed? Was he strong
when everyone else was week? Saint Joseph was truly a great man, a great
father, and is vital in the story of Christmas.
On this day then,
let us remember that part of the majesty of Christmas is not only that God
comes down from heaven, not only that we now have salvation offered freely to
us through Jesus Christ, not only did Jesus Christ come to teach us a new way
of living and being, but his father was not genetically his father. Saint Joseph
chose Jesus, the way that Jesus chooses all of us. When the men of the world
love children like Jesus did and do, they are being like Jesus, but they are
also being like Joseph. When the men of this church take time to work with our
children, teach them in Sunday school, take an interest in them, they are being
like Jesus, but they are also being like Joseph.
When looking
at the scripture from the prophet Isaiah from this morning, it says, “Again the
Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as
Sheol or high as heaven.” Joseph like Mary was given a sign, that Mary’s baby Jesus
was the Messiah. Isaiah then went on to
prophesize, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young
woman is with child and share bare a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” This
prophecy of course, is the prophecy of the Messiah, of Jesus Christ. These
words were written by Isaiah almost 700-years before Mary was to bear the
Christ-Child.
In looking at
the New Testament reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome,
or Romans, the Apostle Paul spoke of the gospel and how Jesus was descended
from King David, and how he was declared the Son of God. The Apostle Paul says
further in scripture from Romans, that we are all “called to belong to Jesus
Christ.” Joseph chose to belong to Jesus Christ. He chose to adopt this child
and call him his own. To protect him, to raise him, and likely to teach him the
family business of carpentry, or perhaps it was stone masonry.
When
looking at the reading from the gospel of Mathew from this morning, the gospel began
by saying, “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.” It then
says, “When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived
together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” Then speaking
of Saint Joseph, the gospel says, “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man
and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.”
Then
the gospel says, “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.” The gospel reading then continues on to say, “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.”
The gospel reading for this morning then
concludes by saying, “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 borne a son; and he name him Jesus.”
You
know though, sometimes, I wonder if when Jesus was a little child if other kids
said things like, “Hey look there is Jesus, the one whom his mother Mary had
with another man.” Perhaps Joseph then said, “Hey! That is my boy you’re talking
about, and he is fully my son! In fact, he’s the Messiah!” For Joseph grafted Jesus
into the family tree, just as Jesus grafts us all into the tree of life.
I would like to close with a story
this morning called “Do You Love Me?” Here is how it goes: “One day, I woke
early in the morning to watch the sunrise. Ah! ... the beauty of God's creation
is beyond description. As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work. As I
sat there, I felt the Lord's presence with me. He asked me, "Do you love me?"
I answered, "Of course, God! You are my Lord and Savior!" Then He asked, "If you were physically
handicapped, would you still love me?" I
was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs and the rest of my body and
wondered how many things I wouldn't be able to do and thought about the things
that I take for granted. I answered, "It would be tough Lord, but I would
still love You."
Then the Lord said, "If you were
blind, would you still love my creation?" How could I love something
without being able to see it? Then I thought of all the blind people in the
world and how many of them still loved God and His creation. So I answered,
"It's hard to think of it, but I would still love you." The Lord then asked me, "If you were deaf,
would you still listen to my word?" How
could I listen to anything being deaf? Then I understood. Listening to God's
Word is not merely using our ears, but our hearts. I answered, "It would
be tough, but I would still listen to Your word."
The Lord then asked, "If you
were mute, would you still praise My Name?" How could I praise without a
voice? Then it occurred to me, God wants us to sing from our very hearts and
souls. It never matters what we sound like. And praising God is not always with
a song, but when we are persecuted, we give God praise with our words of
thanks. So I answered, "Though I could not physically sing, I would still
praise Your Name." And the Lord asked,
"Do you really love Me?" With
courage and a strong conviction, I answered boldly, "Yes Lord! I love You
because You are the one and true God!"
The man then summoned the courage to
say to the Lord, Lord why do you keep forgiving me and why do you love me so
much?" The Lord answered, "Because
you are My creation. You are my child. I will never abandon you. When you cry,
I will have compassion and cry with you. When you shout with joy, I will laugh
with you. When you are down, I will encourage you. When you fall, I will raise
you up. When you are tired, I will carry you.”
My brothers and sisters
let us all seek to be the people that God has called us to be in this Christmas
Season. Let us seek spiritual renewal, seek to grow in love, in truth, in joy, and
in faith, as the Christ-Child will soon be among us. And if a small boy says to
us, “I want to be Jesus, but I also hope to be a dad like Jesus’ dad Joseph
was,” then perhaps we should just smile at the small boy, and say Amen.
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