Do Not Be Afraid

Do Not Be Afraid

A Christmas Eve Meditation

Rev. Dr. Tom Sorenson, Pastor

December 24, 2016 

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25 

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. 

Imagine poor Joseph. He’s engaged to Mary but not yet married to her. They have not lived together as husband and wife, although in Joseph’s time and place there wasn’t a sharp distinction between being engaged and being married like there is with us. Mary and Joseph have not come together as husband and wife, but Mary is pregnant. What was poor Joseph to think? That Mary had been unfaithful, of course. There was no other possible explanation. So Joseph decides to do what the religious law and the cultural norms of his day told him he had to do. He had to divorce Mary. It was the righteous thing to do. Joseph, Matthew tells us, was a “righteous” man, so he planned to do the righteous thing, the thing the law required. Yes, he was a decent man, so he planned to do it quietly for Mary’s sake rather than make a big public scene out of it; but he knew he had to divorce her, to dismiss her from his life.

That was bad enough, but then things got worse for poor Joseph. He had a dream. In the dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him. This angel began to speak by saying do not be afraid, which is what biblical angels usually say; but this angel has something very specific in mind with her “do not be afraid.” She says do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Why would Joseph be afraid to take Mary as his wife? The reason why might not be immediately apparent to us, but take a closer look at what was going here for Joseph. Joseph, we are told, was a righteous man. He knew, and the religious leaders of his day would tell him if he didn’t, that marrying Mary would be a violation of the Jewish religious law. The law said he had to dismiss her. If he married her he’d be breaking God’s law. He’d put himself out of right relationship with God. Marrying her would be an unrighteous act; and, being a righteous man, he quite understandably was afraid to commit that act of unrighteousness.

Yet the angel tells him not to be afraid to marry her. The angel tells him that Mary’s child is of the Holy Spirit and tells him to name the child Jesus, a name which in its Hebrew or Aramaic form means “God saves”. So Joseph overcomes his fear and marries her. Joseph didn’t have to fear violating God’s law because Mary’s child was of God, the child’s conception was God’s work; so Joseph going along with what God was doing could hardly violate God’s law or get Joseph out of right relationship with God. He need not be afraid to marry Mary.

Joseph was afraid, and, like Joseph, we are often afraid too. Perhaps we’re not afraid to violate a first century understanding of God’s law the way Joseph was, but we’re afraid nonetheless. Afraid of life and all the challenges it brings. Afraid of illness, afraid of death. We’ve got plenty to be afraid of, maybe these days especially. Joseph’s angel allayed his fear, but Joseph’s angel telling him to go ahead and marry his fiancé frankly doesn’t do much to allay our fears, does it. They’re different fears, and we need a different message if we’re going to get beyond our fear.

Joseph’s angel spoke to him but doesn’t much speak to us, but fortunately there is in this passage from Matthew something else that does speak to us and that can allay all our fears. Matthew goes on to give more of an explanation of what’s really going on here than Joseph gets from the angel. He quotes the prophet Isaiah—misquotes actually, but never mind. Matthew says that the birth of Jesus will fulfill an ancient prophecy about the birth of a future ruler who will be called Immanuel. Immanuel means “God with us.” Matthew tells us that what’s going on with the coming birth of Jesus is that in him God will be with us. This isn’t an ordinary birth. This is a divine birth. It is nothing less than God coming to us as one of us in the person of this as yet unborn child. With the coming of Jesus, God is with us. Not distant from us. Not against us. God is with us. God is present, and God is on our side. That is the assurance we receive through the coming of Jesus.

And that assurance really can allay our fears. If God is with us, what do we have to fear? Bad things may still happen to us. God with us doesn’t mean only good things will happen, but God with us tells us that in whatever happens we are safe. We are ultimately, existentially safe because God is with us. We are safe because God is holding us always in God’s unfailing arms of grace. We are safe because God with us tells us that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God.

So tonight we celebrate that divine birth. We celebrate Immanuel, God with us, coming to us in the newborn child Jesus. And as we do we know that we need not fear. We need not fear anything in life or beyond life. He is Immanuel. He is God with us, and we know that we are safe. So whatever you are finding scary in your life, do not be afraid. God is with us. God is with you, and God always will be. That is the Good News of Christmas. That is the news we celebrate tonight, and it is the best news there ever was or ever could be. Thanks be to God. Amen.