by Jeffrey Spencer | Dec 21, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for December 21
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 21, 2025
Matthew 1:18-25
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
When my oldest son was little, maybe six or seven years old, he was an angel in the Christmas program. After the program we were in the fellowship hall. He was still in his angel costume when an older gentleman from our church came up to him and with a twinkle in his eye asked him, “So, are you always a little angel?” And our son looked up at him and said, “No, sometimes I’m Joseph.”
This is a Sunday for Joseph. It is easy to overlook Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. We live in a culture where fathers are often dismissed as unimportant. I’ve had pastoral conversations with fathers who tell me they feel invisible and unappreciated. In popular culture fathers are regularly ridiculed as fools or reviled as patriarchs. We have gone from “Father Knows Best” to fathers being seen as an optional accessory. In a time when fathers and fatherhood aren’t as valued as they should be, it is easy to overlook the importance of Joseph.
But this is a Sunday for Joseph. We get one Sunday for Joseph every three years, so I’m going to lean into it. Today we hear the story of Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s perspective. In this story we see the great lengths God went to in order to keep Joseph in the picture. We see how God helped him take up his vocation as husband to Mary and as the earthly father of Jesus. We see how God intervened in order to form what the church from the very beginning has called The Holy Family. God thought Joseph was important, and so we should too!
One of the first things Matthew tells us about Joseph is that he was engaged to Mary. Engagement, or betrothal, in those days was a legally binding contract in which a bride and a groom were joined together legally. It might be a year before they moved in together and consummated their relationship, but once the betrothal was made, the marriage was official.
So, Mary and Joseph had already committed themselves to one another. Joseph had promised to be Mary’s husband. Mary had promised that she would be Joseph’s wife. They had promised each other that they would give themselves to each other in that special and exclusive one-flesh relationship. It was just a matter of time. But then Mary came to him with a baby bump and a story that had to be very hard to believe.
We don’t actually know what Mary might have said to Joseph or what he might have heard, but we do know that Joseph was aware of Mary’s pregnancy, and because he knew that he had nothing to do with the pregnancy, he assumed their relationship was over. The scriptures tell us that he planned to dismiss her, cancelling the betrothal and ending the marriage.
It isn’t a stretch to imagine Joseph being deeply hurt by Mary’s unplanned pregnancy. It isn’t hard to imagine him feeling confused and betrayed and heartbroken at this turn of events. What else could he do but end the relationship?
But God intervened to keep Joseph in the picture. God values fatherhood. God knows what babies need in order to thrive and knew that his own Son would need an earthly father. God knew that Mary would benefit from having a husband in her life to help her carry out what he was asking her to do. And so God sent an angel to Joseph to keep this Holy Family intact.
My wife and I have been supporters of the Whidbey Island Women’s Clinic, our local pregnancy resource center, pretty much since we moved here 15 years ago. We have attended many of their Fall fundraising banquets along with several members of OHLC. Every year at the banquet one of the staff from the clinic tells a story of how they helped a client experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. The stories they tell are full of complicated and difficult life situations. Obviously, the stories are usually about the women they serve, which is understandable and appropriate, but some of the stories have also involved men. There is a lot of care provided by the clinic to scared young fathers too. Some of these men want to help, but they are confused. Some of them want to do the right thing, but they aren’t sure where they fit. Some of them want to step up, but often lacking fathers of their own, they don’t know how. And so the clinic also provides support for the fathers. They offer mentoring. There are parenting classes. More than anything, there is accompaniment. They come alongside these fathers-to-be with support and guidance and love to help keep them in the picture.
This ministry is a good illustration of what God is up to here with Joseph. This is a complicated and confusing situation, to say the least. Joseph is in a tough spot. We can see that Joseph is one of the good guys, because despite any hurt feelings he might have had, he was still kind towards Mary. He didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace. He didn’t want her to face the possibility of being stoned to death for adultery, which was the punishment prescribed by the law. Can we say that despite what looked like a terrible betrayal, he still loved her? I think we can. And so, he decided to make it easier for Mary. He decided to end things quietly.
But God intervened to keep Joseph in the picture. God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream. This messenger from God told him to take Mary as his wife, explaining that the child conceived in her womb was indeed from the Holy Spirit. The angel told him that this was exactly what the prophet Isaiah said would happen – that a virgin would conceive and bear a son, a son who would be called Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Emmanuel is more of a description than a proper name in this case, because Joseph was further instructed to name the baby Jesus. “For he will save his people from their sins,” the angel said.
And, remarkably, when Joseph woke up from this dream, he said, “Okay!” Joseph said, “I’ll do it!” Joseph trusted the word of the Lord and obeyed it. He took Mary as his wife. And once Mary delivered her baby, Joseph claimed her child as his own. In the ancient world, a father established parentage by naming the baby. This is what the angel told him to do, and this is what Joseph did. With God’s help, he stepped up. With the accompaniment of the angel encouraging him along, giving him guidance, he carried out God’s will. He took up God’s calling to be a husband to Mary and an earthy father to Jesus.
God’s intervention to keep Joseph in the picture in order to form this Holy Family is important for how it lifts up the vocations of husbands and fathers. St. Joseph is a beautiful image of kindness and mercy and sacrificial love and obedient faith for husbands and fathers to follow.
But Joseph’s story is for everyone – male or female, single or married, parent or child. Joseph’s story is for everyone because we all have life situations that come along which are complicated or confusing or painful. Granted, Joseph is the only person in the history of humanity to be asked to marry a pregnant virgin and then raise the Son of the holy, Almighty, and ever-living God. So, there’s that. But even so, there are so many stories which are like Joseph’s, stories like the ones told at those banquets, life stories that are fraught with uncertainty and anxiety, with turmoil and complexity, full of knotty problems and twists and turns. There are so many stories like that in our congregation. In fact, I’ll bet each of you has a story like that. Maybe it is a story you are living through right now.
Joseph’s story shows us that God accompanies us through these difficult situations in life. God comes alongside us. God sends messengers into our lives, which is what angels are – supernatural or otherwise. God sends messengers to give us encouragement and guidance and support. God intervenes in our lives through his Word, teaching us to do his will, guiding us into obedient faith. The God we come to know in Christ is truly Emmanuel, God with us!
And not only that, but Joseph’s story is our story because along with Joseph, God has given us Mary’s baby. Just as God laid Mary’s baby in Joseph’s arms, so too has God given us his Son. God has given us Mary’s baby to be our savior. Mary’s baby was named Jesus because he saves us from our sins.
And so, no matter how complicated or painful your own life is, or has been, in Jesus there is hope. In Jesus there is forgiveness. In Jesus there is new life. No matter how messy or broken your own family life might be, through Jesus God calls us all into the Holy Family of the church, where we are loved and cared for by brothers and sisters and live in communion with our Father in heaven, who loves us and will never let us go.
“Are you always a little angel?”
“No, sometimes I’m Joseph.”
Sometimes we are all Joseph. Life gets messy. Life can be confusing. But God has intervened to keep you in the picture. God sends his Word to guide you into obedient faith, and God has given you Mary’s baby to save you from your sins. Through him we have all been made part of his Holy Family, today and forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Dec 16, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for December 14
Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent – December 14, 2025
Matthew 11:2-11
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus described John the Baptist as the greatest of all the prophets. It isn’t hard to see why. While still in his mother’s womb, John famously leapt with joy at the presence of the unborn Messiah as his pregnant Aunt Mary came to visit. Even then he was preparing the way! John was a spiritual superhero, living under vows of strict asceticism, depriving himself of worldly pleasures like comfy clothes and good food, utterly devoted to his calling as the forerunner for God’s promised savior. John was asked to baptize the Messiah, and in doing so he witnessed a manifestation of the Holy Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each made themselves known as Jesus rose up from the water. There was no greater prophet that John the Baptist. Nobody else experienced some of the things he experienced. No one was as dedicated to the tasks of being a prophet as he was. And yet, there came a point in John’s life when he was confused about what God was up to in Jesus. There came a time when doubts and disappointments crept into his heart. There came a time when he wrestled with some questions. Questions like, “Is Jesus really the one?”
The John we meet in our gospel reading for today is a very different John than the one we met last week. Last week John was preaching boldly and bravely, pointing that blessed finger of his at both sin and the savior, calling people to repent, for the kingdom of heaven had come near. John lambasted Pharisees and Sadducees, calling them a brood of vipers. John was fearless and loud!
Later, John’s loud mouth and pointing finger would get him in trouble with Herod Antipas, the Jewish king who served as a puppet ruler for the Romans. Herod had his own personal sexual revolution going on which became a bit of a public scandal. Herod abandoned his first wife in order to marry his sister-in-law. Herod passed himself off as a pious Jew when it fit his purposes, but then he ignored God’s will for marriage in order to indulge his appetites. Well, John just couldn’t let that slide. He publicly rebuked Herod for his behavior, and he ended up in prison for it.
Perhaps John was expecting that his bold preaching on the sanctity of marriage and the sinfulness of adultery would earn him special protection from God. Perhaps, once he was imprisoned, he thought Jesus would put together a tactical squad to come orchestrate a jail break, or maybe that he would negotiate for a prisoner swap. After all, wasn’t the Messiah supposed to overthrow their oppressors and bring liberty to the captives?
John sat in his prison cell, waiting for something to happen. He had plenty of time to think. As weeks, and then months, went by, some troubling questions started to come into his mind. “Is Jesus the one? Was I wrong about him, because this is not at all how I expected things to go! Should I be waiting for someone else, some other Messiah, some other savior?”
John’s questions are not unfamiliar to us. They are not uncommon, even amongst the most devout and faithful Christians. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. If John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest of all the prophets, experienced this season of confusion, if he asked these troubling questions, why should we expect to be spared from them?
And it seems to me that this confusion and these questions are especially common during the holidays. We are told over and over again that it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and then people get confused or troubled when things aren’t so wonderful. People watch hours and hours of Hallmark Christmas movies, where everything gets wrapped up neatly in a nice bow by the end, where every problem gets resolved by some last-minute Christmas miracle, and then people get confused and troubled when they don’t get a Christmas miracle of their own.
The truth is this is a hard time of year for many people. It is a season with so many expectations that it leaves many people disappointed and despairing. There are gifts that land flat and recipes that are a bust and plans that fall through. More seriously, there are those fault lines in family life that come under strain, threatening to break loose with conflict as emotions run high. There is the financial stress of trying to fill every wish and make everything special. There is the aching from the absence of loved ones – the spouse who is deployed, the family on the other side of the country, the kid who isn’t coming home this year. More seriously still, there are people who can’t enjoy Christmas cookies or egg nog because they are nauseous from chemo, and widows and widowers who are facing their first Christmas without their beloved.
First there is the confusion: It wasn’t supposed to be like this. And often this confusion leads to questions, questions like John’s: “Who is this Messiah again? Who is this savior? Because I don’t feel very saved right now. Where is he? Why isn’t he breaking me out of this awful situation? Is Jesus the one? Is he my savior, or should I be looking somewhere else?”
When John faced these questions, he sent for Jesus. He had a few of his friends go and ask Jesus precisely this question. And Jesus sent word back to him. Jesus responded by sending his friends back with a word of reassurance. Jesus didn’t scold John for asking the question. He didn’t say, “How dare you ask that?” Instead, through the witness of these friends Jesus pointed John back to the promises of scripture. The scriptures said that when the Messiah came, the blind would receive their sight, the lame would walk, the lepers would be cleansed, the deaf would hear, the dead would be raised, and the poor would have good news brought to them. This is what Jesus was doing! Jesus encouraged John to look beyond his circumstances to the promises of scripture. He told John to stop looking inwardly at his feelings, and instead to keep his eyes on him, even if he isn’t doing exactly what John expected. “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me,” Jesus told him. Jesus encouraged John to live by faith.
And then Jesus went on to say some wonderful things about John. In spite of his struggles, Jesus says he is strong. He is no reed shaken by the wind! Jesus calls him a prophet – and not only a prophet, but the greatest of all the prophets. In spite of his confusion, Jesus praises and blesses him.
John may have had some questions, maybe even some doubts, but John took those doubts to Jesus. He took those questions to Jesus when he reached out to him for help. This is faith, and Jesus proclaims John righteous on account of this faith.
Jesus has a proclamation and a promise for you here too. Jesus says that among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. And yet, Jesus says, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he! Jesus is talking about us here! He’s talking about all of us who have been made part of the kingdom of heaven through Christ’s death and resurrection. We may be the least, we may not hold a candle to John the Baptist in many ways, we may not have seen all the things John witnessed, but we have the benefit of living on the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have seen things John didn’t live to see. We have received a greater, fuller picture of Christ’s saving grace than John did during his lifetime. We have seen the vindication of Jesus as the Messiah of God and the savior of our souls. We have seen his ultimate victory over the worst captivity of all, our captivity to sin and death. We have been set free from those dark prison cells once and for all.
Some of you might still have questions. That’s okay. Some of you might not feel very saved as you face various troubles in your life. That’s okay too. If John the Baptist had those struggles, we shouldn’t expect to be spared from them.
Whatever your situation in life might be today, our Lord Jesus encourages all of us to look beyond our circumstances to the scriptures, to the promises of God we find there. Jesus encourages us to look beyond our feelings and to instead live by faith in him, putting our trust in what he has done for us. Jesus isn’t angered by those tough questions. He can take them. But he doesn’t want you to stay stuck in confusion. He doesn’t want you to stay stuck in doubt. He wants you to know the truth, the truth that he is your savior. He wants you to know the truth of his saving love, the truth that he has made you his own, the truth that he has made you part of the kingdom of heaven, bringing you into right relationship with God both today and forever.
It can still be the most wonderful time of the year, even when we are facing troubles and doubts, because when we send for Jesus, he sends word back to us that it is all true. The gospel, the good news, is true. Jesus sends his Word to reassure us that he is who he says he is. He was born to save us. He is coming again to make all things right once and for all. He has made us part of his kingdom even now, and so we are never alone, and never without hope.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
