Loving God, just as your messenger once spoke to Joseph in a dream, so you continue to speak to us today. Grant us the ears to hear, the heart to believe and the will to act; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

How much do we actually know about Joseph, the husband of Mary, who raises Jesus as his son? What do you know about Joseph? Anything? (He was a carpenter. He lived in Nazareth. He was a descendant of David. A "righteous man." He had to go to Bethlehem for the census. He died before Jesus was crucified.) Did you also know that on three different occasions an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream?

The first time is in today’s gospel from Matthew, chapter 1. The angel appears to Joseph in a dream and says:

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 (Mt. 1:20-21).

How does Joseph know that this message is actually from God? (Would his imagination really make this stuff up? Perhaps he doesn’t – it only gets confirmed later. Perhaps the angel does something in the dream that convinces Joseph.)

Whatever the case is, Joseph believes the angel’s message enough to act on it. He takes Mary as his wife, he names the child “Jesus,” and he raises Jesus as his own son. It seems to me that Joseph would have had his actions confirmed later as shepherds showed up with a similar message, and then some wise men from the East and the old man Simeon in the temple. When Joseph put all of these experiences together, he must have eventually known that the angel’s message was true.

The second time that an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, the angel says:

Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him (Mt. 2:13).

Once again, Joseph does exactly what the angel in the dream tells him to do. He takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt and stays there until king Herod dies. Once again, his actions would have been confirmed later when he heard about how Herod had killed all of the infants in and around Bethlehem (Mt. 2:16).

Finally, we hear about an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph in a dream again at the time that Herod dies. The angel says:

Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead (Mt. 2:20).

Joseph obeys just as he did in the past and is further warned in a dream not to settle in Judea. He travels with Mary and the young Jesus to Nazareth in Galilee and makes his home there.

Thus emerges one more thing that we know about Joseph: God communicates with him in his dreams, and Joseph not only hears what God has to say but also acts on it! Joseph is a man of very strong faith!

Of course, the question that all of this leads to for us is, how does God communicate with us? -- And, do we hear and answer?! Do any of you have dreams where an angel of the Lord appears to you? Have any of you had an angel appear directly to you like Mary did? How about angelic choirs and messengers filling the night sky? No? So, does God communicate with us these days? How? (Some possibilities: In dreams; through the Scriptures; through corporate worship; inner “prompts” by the Holy Spirit; through other people; during quiet prayer times; through “signs”; through angels)

Perhaps an even bigger question is, how do we discern which messages come from God and which do not? Remember earlier when we said that Joseph might have asked, “How could my imagination possibly make all of this up?” Really, it was an unlikely thing for Joseph to imagine. It was totally opposite to what he thought was the right thing to do. It was also totally surprising: The child that Mary was going to bear would save his people from their sins (not to mention that bit about being conceived by the Holy Spirit)! It was surprising. It was wondrous. And, it was all confirmed later by the witness of other people. All of this was part of the discernment process in Joseph’s case. In his case, the message did, indeed, come from God.

However, it’s not always so clear. Austin had an interesting experience recently when he went to visit a church in Tacoma where his niece was playing her violin as part of the service. He said that when you walk into this church, the first thing that you see is the coffee shop on one side and the gift shop on the other. The seating was kind of like a theatre with cup-holders and everything. His first reaction was, “This isn’t a church. It’s an entertainment centre!” Well, then there was the message for the day. He summarized the message like this: If things in your life are not going well - if you are facing difficulties of any sort, then you need to get Jesus in your life, and then life will be good.

Now – is this a message from God, or not? Is it true that once you put your faith in Jesus Christ you no longer have problems or difficulties in your life? If you are having problems or difficulties, is it simply because you do not have enough faith? It seems to me that those in the Scriptures who put their faith in Jesus had plenty of trials to face (and sometimes more trials because of their faith!). It also seems to me that Jesus’ promise was not for a trouble-free life but that he would be with us always (Mt. 28:20) - especially in the midst of the trials that life so often brings.

However, the popular message is that Jesus is a quick fix. The popular message says that you accept Jesus into your heart and then you are blessed and happy and prosperous. Strangely enough, it is usually not the popular message that comes from God, but the surprising message. The surprising message is that God is with us through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to share our joys and our sorrows, our life and our death, our simple pleasures and our suffering. Such things will always be part of life in this world. Yet, the surprising message is that God has accepted us into his heart. He has come to us in love and has saved us and redeemed us. He waits for us to turn to him and be healed. And then Jesus continues to walk with us through the ups and downs of life in this world.

And so, if you think you hear God speaking to you, whether in your dreams or otherwise, ask some simple questions. Is this a popular message or a surprising message? Does it fit with the overall message of the Scriptures and the God who is revealed to us through Jesus Christ? And finally, is it confirmed through prayer and conversation with other people of faith? Yes – God does still speak to us. Do we stand ready to hear and to act? Amen.

Advent 4(A) Matthew 1:18-25
December 23, 2007
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

© 2007 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved