For the week of the 4th Sunday in Advent, pastors are welcome to utilize this homily for church members on hospice, adding and subtracting what they desire. A sermon hymn is added if the pastor wishes to sing to the dear saint.
Festival: 4th Sunday in Advent
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon Hymn: LSB #387 Joy to the World
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The story of Jesus’ birth begins not with peace and certainty, but with fear and confusion. Matthew tells us Mary was found to be with child before she and Joseph had been married, and Joseph, being a just man, resolved to divorce her quietly, thinking she had been unfaithful [vv. 18-19]. This is a story about a world where things don’t go as planned, where human righteousness is not enough to fix what’s broken, and where obedience is often costly. Joseph stands before a situation he can’t control or explain. He must let go of his expectations, his sense of order, and his future as he imagined it. In that way, his story isn’t far from yours. Serious illness strips away plans. It exposes how little control we truly have. It leaves us standing in uncertainty, asking how things came to be this way.
But it is precisely into such uncertainty that God speaks. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel says, “do not be afraid,” [v. 20]. Fear is named because fear is real—fear of the unknown, fear of shame, fear of loss, fear of what lies ahead. God doesn’t deny these fears, but He answers them with His promises. The child conceived in Mary is of the Holy Spirit. What appears to be chaos is, in truth, God at work. This isn’t a God who waits for life to be orderly before He acts. This is the God who enters disorder to redeem it from within.
The angel continues, “She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” [v. 21]. The name Jesus means “Yahweh saves.” Not “Yahweh advises,” not “Yahweh waits for us to improve,” but “Yahweh saves.” He rescues those who cannot rescue themselves. He enters a world of weakness as a child so that no human frailty would be foreign to Him—not hunger, not sorrow, not suffering, and not even death. The One born in Mary’s womb would one day stretch out His arms on the cross to bear the full weight of sin and fear. Your sins were carried there, and your guilt was answered there. Even your fear of dying, should it be present, was faced there, as Christ Himself breathed His last and entrusted His own spirit into the Father’s hands.
Matthew tells us that all of this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ” ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us'” [vv. 22-23; Isaiah 7:10-17]. God with us—not only in joy, but in sorrow; not only at beginnings, but at endings, for He is the Alpha and the Omega; and not only in health, but in weakness. God with you here. In this room/house. In this hour. He doesn’t remain at a safe distance from suffering. He draws near and enters it. He sanctifies it with His holy presence.
Joseph awoke and did as the angel commanded [vv. 24-25]. He trusted the promise and took Mary as his wife, though the road ahead would not be easy. Faith here is not confidence in outcomes, but trust in God’s presence. And that is the gift given to you now. You’re not asked to understand what’s happening or to be strong in the face of it. You’re given something better: Immanuel. God with you. The child born of Mary has become your Savior, your companion in suffering, and your Lord in death and in life.
So you can rest in this holy name: Jesus, in whom Yahweh saves, for He is Yahweh in the flesh. He saves you here. He saves you now. He saves you forever. God is with you, and He will not let you go.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
The Lutheran Column 