Text: Matt. 1:18-25
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22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(Which
means, God with us).
Our joy is nearly complete! Soon we celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, not in holiday joy of man-made origins that is merely here today and gone tomorrow, but in a joy that is truly a divine gift of God Himself, who at His incarnation, born of a virgin, became man so that through Him the forgiveness of sins and salvation might be freely given.
So the Gospel reading for today tells of the dilemma Joseph faced. His
betrothed – or the one he was pledged to marry, had been found to be with
child.
Not through the course of natural events but by the Holy Spirit, Mary was
pregnant.
Before a betrothed virgin was formally given in marriage, Mary had made a
pledge and promise – a betrothal contract if you will, to marry Joseph to be
faithful to him … and to be his wife. There was no cohabitation during this
betrothal period but the betrothed virgin would use this time to prepare and
put all things in order at her father’s home for the upcoming wedding.
This contract was as binding as a marriage was and Joseph is also called “her
husband.” The fact that a “divorce” was required to break the betrothal shows
the seriousness of this legally binding contract. To be found guilty of
adultery during the betrothal period would have caused Mary to be subject to
the punishments that the moral law required.
Now Joseph, even in this tenuous situation … being a just man and unwilling to
put Mary to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
True love looks to the needs of another and Joseph, though he didn’t understand
the situation … was still loving … towards Mary in how he thought he might
dissolve the contract not causing he shame.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream, saying, “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.
Matt. 1:20
Through this awkward betrothal, God Himself took on flesh and became man to
endure the shame and guilt that you deserved, nailing your sins to His cross
some 30 years after His blessed birth.
Our loving God and savior Jesus Christ could have left you to the fires of Hell
and damnation. It was not His sin for which you and I are condemned but the
sins and brokenness of this corrupted world.
The “Christmas spirit” we are told comes to life as people focus on the joys of
giving gifts and celebrating family and friends and the love we share for and
with one another. But, true love came down from heaven, in the form of a babe
in a manger, born of the Virgin Mary who was called by God to this special
task.
“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.21 She will bear a son, and
you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Matt.
1:20b-21
Christ comes to you and to each and every one of us, dear friends, not by our
Christmas spirit but by the working of the Holy Spirit, who calls and gathers
all who would believe to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord through
faith in His blessed work.
Martin Luther had this to say about the human heart:
“Hearts are polluted with idols and vain thoughts about God, lust, and other
vices which arise from the fact that they do not have a sound knowledge of God.
All of this our fine bath attendant’s neglect; they are only concerned that
their bodies and clothes should be clean. But, O God, cleanse Thou my heart,
that I might acknowledge Thy will as it is, good and gracious, lest I be led
away to wicked opinions by wild speculations about God.”
Martin Luther – LW Vol. 12 Selected Psalms 1 pg. 378
“Take a look at your own heart, and you will soon find out what has stuck to it
and where your treasure is. It is easy to determine whether hearing the Word of
God, living according to it, and achieving such a life gives you as much
enjoyment and calls forth as much diligence from you as does accumulating and
saving money and property.”
–Martin Luther
http://dailychristianquote.com/dcqluther.html
True joy is not found in the things you work to possess, but in that which you
receive and which you are freely given that you could never work for or truly
deserve.
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the
prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means, God with us).
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had
given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
True joy, dear friends, is found only in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Well, the Apostle John said much the same thing in his first epistle:
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has
given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1
John 4:13-15
Confess it, say it and ask for it for salvation is found in Christ alone!
The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you now and forever.
In the
name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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