The King Comes in Humility

Advent is a wonderful season. It looks forward to Christmas, a joyous holiday time as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Of course, Advent also looks forward to His coming again; what a joyous time that will be. As we await the coming of our King, I have titled the series of sermons for Advent, “The King is Coming.” I preached the first sermon for Advent last Sunday, November 30^th. The text was Matthew 1:18-25:

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.”

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (NIV)

This is a familiar, simple story; or is it? As the story begins, we find Joseph and Mary in an awkward situation. They were betrothed to be married. This meant a little more than it does today. They were all but married. She could have lived under his roof. The betrothal could only be terminated by a divorce. She was probably in her early teens; a virgin – but a pregnant virgin. She knows, as do we, that she was bearing a child that was created in her by the Holy Spirit. But what was Joseph supposed to think. He wanted to take care of Mary, but she had betrayed him; she was an adulteress; she could be stoned. How could he put her away with no scandal? This was his problem.

The other actor in this story is God. He has his own purpose. He was sending his son into the world to save mankind from their sin. Jesus was the Son of God, the King of Kings, but God sent him to a rather ordinary family. God knew what Joseph was going through, so He sent an Angel to appear to Joseph in a dream. Joseph was told not to worry. He was to go ahead and marry Mary. The child was from the Holy Spirit. Then he was told to name the child Jesus (Yehoshua in Hebrew); God saves. Jesus was coming to save the world. Finally, the Angel gave the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, and stated that this child would be the fulfillment of that prophecy. Isaiah states that the child would be called Emmanuel; God with us. This is not just another name for Jesus, but it is a statement that God was coming to his people through this birth.

Joseph was a good man. He obeyed the dream. He married Mary. He didn’t assert his marriage rights; the marriage was consummated before Jesus was born. Finally we see that Joseph named Him Jesus; this claiming Him as his son. This family might be ordinary in status, but spiritually this family was far from ordinary.

This is the old familiar story, but what does it have to do with us? There are several important things to learn:

• Jesus was more than just another man
• Jesus came with a purpose
• Because of Jesus we can be forgiven
• Because of Jesus, we aren’t on our own – truly God is with us.