Advent Four (Revised Common Lectionary) | 12.21.25 | Matthew 1.18-25 | Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with a child of the Holy Spirit;  and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

“But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”

“All this took place to fulfil what the LORD had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’ (which means God with us).”

“When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.”

          [Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]

“Search for the LORD and his strength; continually seek his face.  Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.”          [Psalm 105.4-5]

  In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

Four weeks ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, the Lord’s people were coming off the traditional celebrations of Thanksgiving and the sales of Black Friday.  On Advent One it was noted how the world and the Church have such different understandings of the life swirling around them.  The world’s life centers around “me, myself and I”; the Church’s life focuses on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

From the world’s perspective, businesses are hoping (perhaps even praying?) that the marketing strategies begun earlier in the year will have a positive effect on their profit margins.  Fueled by purchases from Home Depot or Lowe’s, thousands of yards are crowded with a staggering number of inflatables that reflect the culture’s way of seeing and maintaining their understanding of Christmas.  The trees outside and inside our homes have been decorated, their colorful lights piercing the evening darkness.

The Church’s perspective, however, is considerably different.  In these four weeks of Advent, it has been pointing to Christ Mass, the 25^th of December, the Day when we are overwhelmed with the Incarnation of the Father’s Son!  The Lord’s people, while participating every day in the world’s life, notice its dark side.  They recognize its attractiveness, but are also keenly aware of its destructiveness.  They are well acquainted with the tensions of “me, myself and I”, but are deeply grateful that the Father, Son and Spirit push their Life into the world so its people can be rescued from always settling in on themselves!  There have been steady collisions between the world’s Christmas and the Church’s Christ Mass during these Advent weeks, but now we are being turned into the Son’s Incarnation!

The Son’s Incarnation opens with the recognition that the waiting which began four weeks ago is concluding this week on Thursday.  These weeks, hidden from the world, yet intense in the Church, have been anticipating that the LORD God is about to unleash his Life in this world!  Such waiting, while reflected in these four weeks, has really been stretching out for thousands of years.  What keeps our observance of these weeks sharp and fresh is the realization that this waiting streams out from the Lord’s Scriptures and his Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Supper.  It is in and from these holy places where Lord’s activity makes itself known in the Church during these days!

Today, on Advent’s fourth Sunday, this activity gets very specific.  The day’s Gospel unpacks how the Son’s birth occurs and it describes his birth’s purpose – to save the world’s people from their sins!  This activity is highly familiar to many of us, but, because it is from eternity and it works in unexpected ways, it is refreshing and renewing to look again in the Incarnation of the Lord’s Son as we approach this coming Thursday.

There is a man, named Joseph, who has promised to marry a young girl, Mary.  Before his promise is completed in their marriage, however, they find out that Mary is

pregnant!  Joseph is not the one who has caused this pregnancy and he is distressed to find out that she is going to be a mother.  So he decides to quietly break his promise to Mary and back away from the completion of their marriage.

But when the Lord’s angel appears to him in a dream he tells Joseph to not be afraid to keep his promise to Mary.  The angel acknowledges Mary’s pregnancy, but, in ways beyond our knowing or understanding, explains that this is happening because of the Holy Spirit’s mysterious actions.  Joseph is then told that Mary will give birth to a son and that Joseph is to name him Jesus.

The passage concludes with the angel reminding Joseph that Isaiah had pointed to the day when the LORD God would be among his people.  Waking from his dream, Joseph allows his concerns to be overwhelmed by what the Lord is intending to do.  Joseph continues on with his promise to Mary and when she gives birth to her son, he names him Jesus.  Jesus, THE Son of God, is being born to save the world’s people from their sins!

What does all this mean for the Lord’s people?  From numerous biblical studies we know that sin is “desire to be like the LORD God” (a definition which first surfaces in Genesis 3).  This instinct is the desire streaming from one’s self; it is the attitude which surfaces when one is born into the world; it is what we often describe as self-absorption or narcissism or self-centering.  This desire is a condition and an activity which creates the collisions between the world’s understanding of Christmas and the Church’s Christ Mass.   This instinct is why we clash with one another, why there are noises and messes inundating us on a daily basis.  We need to be rescued from the world’s understanding of Christmas and to be drawn more fully into the Christ Mass which begins to surface this Thursday!  Christmas revolves around the world’s life.  Christ Mass turns around the Son’s Incarnation, rooted exclusively in the actions of the Father, the Son and the Spirit!

Because we have been born into the world’s life, we convince ourselves that our natural desire for the self is not that serious, that it is merely a bad habit to be changed or a narcissistic condition which is manageable.  The reality, however, is the instinctive desire grabs us so powerfully we cannot change or manage it.  While presenting us with all sorts of attractive possibilities, the desire moves in on us and holds us permanently in the grip of its destructive and deadly ways.

Through the Incarnation of the Son, though, the Father and the Spirit begin their attack on this desire; an attack that reaches full completion in the Son’s dying, rising and ascending.  Ignoring the Incarnation, however, the world leans on its own understandings of Christmas as it attempts to deal with its natural desire.  The world is not ignorant, it is well aware of the dark side which attaches to its life; we know the world is highly skilled at noticing such darkness.  Daily it reminds of the hurts and wrongs which run between people, of the injuries and illnesses which press in on them.  Still, the world stubbornly comes up with its own understandings and labels them Christmas, thinking such knowledge will protect and manage its people from all their trouble.

But such understandings do not get to the center of where the trouble is really located, namely, our instinctive desire to be like the LORD God.  The world’s understandings explain why people shut their lights off on the Day of Christ Mass, why the decorations are taken down quickly and why the trees are put in storage or dragged to the street.  We have to get going; it is time to move on to other things!

However, it is much healthier to be immersed in the Church’s understanding of Christ Mass, the Day when the LORD God slips his Life into this world.  Working from the Lord’s holy places of the Scriptures and Sacraments, the Father and Spirit help us recognize their activity in the Incarnation of the Son; THE holy birth that leads to the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension – THE holy events which free all people from their desire to be like the LORD God!

This is why the Church exults in its understanding of Christ Mass!  The Son’s Incarnation spills out for the Twelve Days following 25 December and lets its celebration extend all the way to the Son’s Epiphany on 06 January!  More and more we come to understand that the Son’s Incarnation pushes into the world’s darkness – that it deals with the hurts and wrongs, the injuries and illnesses of the world’s people.  The Son’s Incarnation sweeps into the tensions which exist between “me, myself and I” and the holy activity of the Father, Son and Spirit, pulling us away from the first reality and immersing us more fully in the second reality!

So, on this fourth Sunday in Advent, we are being turned into the Son’s Incarnation!

This Incarnation powerfully reminds us that the Lord is always plunging from his holy places into our chaotic lives.  He is steadily crossing the lives of broken and afflicted people with his own, surrounding them with the realities of the Son’s crucifixion and resurrection!  This Incarnation encourages the Lord’s people to hold off on their quick removal of the decorations and to leave their lights burning.  His people have not only received the Gift which does not tire or wear out; they are freshly aware that this Gift runs on into eternity!

The Son’s Incarnation stirs the Lord’s people to exult as they reflect this Gift in the soaring liturgies of the Church, along with the gatherings of their families and friends!

The waiting that began four weeks ago concludes in just three days and it will be our privilege this coming Thursday to step into the Twelve Days of the Son’s Incarnation!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our

   hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

—

Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com