Sunday, December 7, 2025

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon Title: An Unexpected Mess

Every year Jesse, the girls, and I travel to Ohio to see my family between Christmas and New Year’s. We usually drive because for many years we had a dog, so that way we could take him with us. And flights can be expensive this time of year. And we have taken to driving mostly through the night so that the girls will sleep a lot of the ride since it’s about a 16-hour drive not including stops. We have left many years after our Christmas Eve service has ended. This year we plan on leaving sometime on December 26th.

A few years back, we were driving along, making good time, the girls were sleeping in the backseats, we were somewhere outside Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, and Jesse looked over and said, “our alternator light just came on. The car’s going to die any minute now.” Words you certainly never want to hear on a long car trip.

Thankfully, he had enough time to get over, so we were on the side of the roadwhen the van died, it wasn’t just in the middle of the highway. But the van died. And we’re stuck sitting at 3 or 4 am in a van, in North Carolina the day after Christmas with 2 sleeping kids and a dog in the backseat.

I think we sat there for a good hour, paralyzed, wondering what to do. We could see a hotel nearby, but we certainly didn’t want to walk our two little girls and dog across the highway.

Finally, because Jesse could think of nothing else to do, he called the Sherriff’s Department. I think the officers were so excited to have something to do, so they picked us up and drove us to a nearby hotel. To this day, Ellie still remembers riding in a cop car. We slept a few hours, then Jesse walked to Lowe’s, rented a truck from them so he could go to an Advanced Auto Parts and get an alternator. Then he sat on the side of the road and worked on our van pretty much all day, installing an alternator on the side of the highway.

Thankfully, Jesse’s dad had a friend who lived nearby, and he came and picked up me and the girls, and we hung out with their family while Jesse worked on the van all day. We basically crashed their families Christmas Festivities. But we were so thankful for their hospitality.

The situation was a mess. It was certainly not how we had planned for our trip to unfold. It was an unexpected mess. Has anyone ever experienced an unexpected mess before? Maybe a car breaking down, maybe flights delayed or cancelled? Maybe an illness for yourself or your family member? Maybe the unexpected loss of your job?

I’m guessing we’ve all experienced an unexpected mess in some shape or form.

We all have dreams or expectations about how we want our lives to unfold, how we want things to happen, and sometimes those dreams or expectations are shattered.

I imagine for Joseph in today’s scripture, he dreamed of a simple life. I imagine he dreamed of becoming a carpenter, maybe like his father, and others that came before him. I imagine he dreamed of marrying a nice good Jewish woman. I imagine he dreamed of raising children to follow in his footsteps.

And at first, it might have seemed like his dreams were coming true. He wasengaged to a young Jewish woman named Mary. What a dream come true.

But this is where Joseph’s dreams started to shatter. This is where the unexpected mess began. He learned that she was pregnant, supposedly by the Holy Spirit. I imagine he had a hard time believing that. He knew that he was not the father. And I imagine his dreams started to shatter.

What would others think of him knowing he had married a woman pregnant with a child not his own? What would others think of his future wife, pregnant with a child not her husband’s?

I imagine that Joseph was wrestling with this news. I imagine he was stressed andworried about what to do. I imagine he experienced all sorts of emotions. Anger,sadness, disappointment, embarrassment.

We don’t know that much about Joseph. We can only know what the scripture tells us. Today’s scripture tells us that Joseph has in mind to divorce Mary quietly. Joseph is faithful to the law but also does not want to cause Mary public humiliation.

This small line of scripture tells us a lot about Joseph’s character. Joseph is a man of faith.  A man faithful to the law. And yet, he does not want to cause her public humiliation. He is thoughtful. He is a man of grace and mercy. He is a man that probably still loves Mary even though he is so upset with her and the unexpected mess that they are in.  

For any of you who have maybe broken off an engagement or gone through a divorce, you might understand exactly how Joseph is feeling. Disappointment, anger, sadness, you name it. Divorce is certainly a mess.

I often get the question, if they weren’t married yet, why would Joseph have to divorce Mary?

In the Jewish Culture of this time, an engagement was much more sacred thanengagements in our society today. An engagement basically meant being married except for marital relations. An engagement was serious. It didn’t just mean calling off a wedding. It meant a divorce.  

This would have been devastating for Joseph. All his dreams were shattering.  

But then an angel appears and speaks to Joseph through a dream. Through a nighttime dream, Joseph learns that maybe even though his life is unfolding differently from how he’d dreamed, how he’d always imagined it, this was all a part of God’s greater dream for Joseph. From this Mess, a Messiah would come.

Has God ever spoken to you through a dream? I must admit, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced God speaking to me through a dream. But just because I haven’t experienced this doesn’t mean that others haven’t. When we look to scripture, thiswas a common way that God spoke to people. When we look at the scriptures, we see God speaking to Jacob, Joseph, Pharaoh, Abimelech, Daniel,  Solomon, and the New Testament Joseph of today’s scripture.

Today we see God speaking to Joseph through a dream. It’s interesting, because the most famous people in scripture to hear from God in dreams were both namedJoseph.

In the Old Testament we have Joseph, you know the one with the technicolor dream coat and all the brothers who left him for dead. And God spoke to the Old Testament Joseph through dreams.  

And now, God is speaking to another Joseph through his dreams.

The angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him these words, “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.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

Let’s unpack these words.

First, the angel calls Joseph, not just Joseph, but Joseph son of David. Now was Joseph’s father named David? No, but it’s a reminder that Joseph is in the lineage of David. The Greatest King of Israel. The same lineage from whom the Messiah will come. Remember, we heard the genealogy of Jesus last week.

The angel is saying to Joseph, “you are in the line of the Greatest King. Your dreams are not shattering. Your greatest dreams are beginning to unfold. The Lord has a great dream in store for you.”

The angel encourages Joseph to take Mary home as his wife. Mary hasn’t broken the Jewish Law. Mary hasn’t been unfaithful to Joseph. The child in her womb is from no one other than the Holy Spirit himself.

And then, here comes the great news. Mary will give birth to a son, and Joseph will get to name him Jesus, what an honor, Joseph gets to name him, and he will name him Jesus, because Jesus will save his people from their sins.  

The woman Joseph is afraid to marry is in fact carrying the Son of God. The child Joseph is afraid to raise isn’t some other man’s child, it’s the actual Son of God.  The Long-Awaited Messiah. The One who has come to save us from our sins.

After Joseph wakes up from his dream, we see a different Joseph. No longer a confused Joseph, a Joseph worried about what to do. We see a Joseph who is obedient.  A Joseph who will take his Mary home as his wife, name the Son of God Jesus, and raise him as his very own.

When Joseph wakes up from his dream, we see a man at peace.

Last week we began a sermon series called “Messy Advent,” reminding us that life is messy sometimes. We come from messy families and, like Joseph, sometimes we must face unexpected, messy situations. And yet, from a mess, came the Messiah. If a Messiah can come from a messy family, from a messy situation, what might the Lord want to do with our messy lives?

This morning, Pastor Pam O’Donnell and her granddaughter lit the Candle of Peace on the Advent Wreath, reminding us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, reminding us that we have a God who can bring peace even in the midst of a mess.

What does Peace mean to you?

For many, when we hear the word peace, we think of a world without war. We think of a world where we are not seeing bombs being dropped in Ukraine, or Palestine, or Israel. We think of a world where national guardsmen aren’t being killed in our nation’s capital.

But the true meaning of peace is so much deeper than simply, “no war.”

In the Hebrew, the word for peace is “Shalom.” This is still a greeting used today.  “Shalom,” or “peace be with you.”

But the word shalom means “wholeness.” It’s a world restored from its brokenness.So when we say Peace, we’re saying made whole, restored, no longer broken.

And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ is peace. The good news is wholeness. The good news is restoration. The good news is an end to brokenness.

When Joseph woke up from his dream, he experienced the good news of Peace.  The angel literally brought him good news. His fiancé was carrying the son of God. Joseph would get to name him. And this child would save their people from their sins.

What good news. What peace.

And it also brought Joseph peace to his unexpected mess. He was no longer anxious, worried, angry, hurt, disappointed, embarrassed, you name it. His wrestling had turned to peace. His brokenness had been made whole.  

Just through a dream. Just through an angelic encounter.

And whether we’re struggling like Joseph, we’re all struggling in some way. We’re all struggling to find peace, wholeness, restoration in some way.

Maybe its peace between us and God. Maybe we haven’t embraced and accepted God’s goodness, God’s mercy, God’s grace, and God’s forgiveness.  

Maybe it’s peace between us and someone else. We maybe need to forgive someone else. Or maybe we need to repent and be forgiven by someone else. We maybe need to experience peace, healing, and restoration in a broken relationship.

And sometimes, we need to experience peace within ourselves. Maybe we’re bitter, angry, anxious, sad, upset, whatever it may be. And we need to experience the peace that only Jesus Christ brings.

Earlier as we lit the Candle of Peace on the Advent Wreath, we heard words from the Prophet Isaiah describing Jesus as the Prince of Peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus has come to bring shalom. Jesus has come to bring wholeness and restoration. Where in your messy life are you dreaming of Peace?  Where in your messy life are you dreaming of restoration and wholeness?

Pray to the Prince of Peace for peace in your life. For peace in your family. For peace in your workplace. For peace in our church. For peace in our community.  For peace in our country. For peace in our world.

I know when we turn on the news and we see the war in Ukraine, the war betweenIsrael and Palestine, and our own political division in our country, peace can feel like a dream too good to be realized. It can feel like a dream from your childhood that failed to come true.

But we serve the Prince of Peace. We serve the one who has come to bring the Gospel of Peace.

May we not be too afraid to dream big. May we dream of Peace in all areas of ourmessy lives. And may all our dreams of peace come true.  

Amen