Fourth Sunday of Advent
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Bart Morrison December 21st, 2025
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Joseph’s Obedience
and the Name That Saves
Text: Matthew 1:18–25
The Gospel of Matthew begins not with angels in the fields or wise men bearing gifts, but with a problem—
• a scandal,
• a crisis of conscience,
• a righteous man caught between obedience to the Law and mercy toward another.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…”
That phrase is deceptively calm. What follows is anything but. Mary is found to be with child. Joseph knows the child is not his.
And suddenly the story of salvation is lodged not in abstraction, but in the anguished heart of a man who must decide what faithfulness looks like when obedience is costly.
The Christian faith does not begin in ideal circumstances. It begins in confusion, obedience, and trust.
I. Joseph: Righteousness Without Cruelty
Matthew tells us:
Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
This single verse reveals a deeply Anglican truth: holiness is not opposed to mercy; it is perfected by it.
Joseph is just—dikaios. He takes the Law of God seriously. He does not dismiss sin, nor redefine righteousness to suit his feelings. And yet he is also unwilling to shame Mary.
This is not the righteousness of the Pharisee who obeys the letter and forgets the neighbor. Nor is it the modern temptation to redefine righteousness so that mercy no longer costs anything.
Joseph embodies what Cranmer and Hooker would later insist upon: true righteousness is ordered by charity. He chooses the narrow path—obedience without vindictiveness, faithfulness without self-righteous display. Before Joseph ever hears an angel, he is already walking in the fear of the Lord.
II. Revelation Comes to the Obedient, Not the Curious
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
Notice the timing. The angel does not appear immediately. Joseph must first consider. He must wrestle. He must exhaust his own wisdom.
God does not rush to relieve every tension. Revelation often comes after faithful deliberation, not instead of it.
And when the angel speaks, he does not say, “Ignore the Law.” He says:
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
Grace does not abolish the Law; it fulfills it. Joseph’s righteousness is not negated—it is completed by obedience to a higher command.
This is profoundly Anglican: Scripture interpreted by Scripture, the old covenant illuminated—not erased—by the new.
III. The Child Who Saves from Sin
Then comes the heart of the Gospel:
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The angel does not say:
• He will save them from Rome
• He will save them from suffering
• He will save them from injustice
Those things matter—but they are not first.
He will save his people from their sins. This is not a therapeutic gospel. Not a political gospel. Not a vague spiritual uplift.
It is a soteriological claim. Sin is not merely external systems. It is not only broken structures. It is the deep disorder of the human heart.
And Jesus does not merely teach about salvation. He is salvation.
The Anglican formularies insist on this point with clarity: Christ is not a helper to our moral improvement; He is the Redeemer who accomplishes what we cannot.
The name Jesus—Yeshua—means “The Lord saves.” Not advises. Not inspires Saves.
IV. Emmanuel: God With Us
Matthew now steps back and gives us the theological lens:
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.’
Matthew is not proof-texting. He is teaching us how to read Scripture Christologically. The Old Testament is not a collection of moral tales. It is a unified witness pointing to the Incarnation.
And Emmanuel does not mean God near us, or God sympathetic to us. It means God with us—
• in flesh,
• in vulnerability,
• in obedience,
• in suffering.
This is the great Anglican emphasis: the Incarnation is not an episode—it is the hinge of history. God does not save us from a distance. He enters our condition. V. Joseph’s Silent Obedience
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
No speech. No recorded prayer. No explanation to neighbors. Just obedience.
Joseph never preaches a sermon in Scripture. But he embodies the sermon. He receives Mary. He names the child. He accepts the cost.
The Church often remembers Mary’s “Let it be unto me,” but Joseph also says Amen—with his life.
Anglican spirituality has always prized this kind of faith: not noisy, not performative, but steady, obedient, and faithful in ordinary duties.
Conclusion: The Gospel Entrusted to the Faithful
Matthew 1:18–25 teaches us that:
• God works through obedience, not control
• Righteousness is perfected by mercy
• Salvation is from sin, not merely discomfort
• Emmanuel comes to dwell with us, not simply to advise us
And the Kingdom advances through faithful, often unseen obedience. Joseph does not understand everything. But he trusts the Word given to him.
And so the Savior enters the world—not through power, but through faithfulness.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
©2025 The Rev. Bart Morrison
