Sermon - Advent Midweek 2 - Matthew 1:1-25

“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” What a confusing thing! Why does the Lord call Joseph to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father? Why do we trace Jesus’ lineage back to Abraham through Joseph, even though Joseph isn’t the biological father? Why does Mary need a husband if she can conceive without one? Why does the incarnate Word of God, Jesus the Christ, need an earthly Father when He’s perfect and already has a heavenly father? Why Joseph?

Those can be confusing questions, but the answer is really quite plain and simple. God called Joseph to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father because husbands and fathers are an important and significant blessing from God. God our heavenly Father gives us earthly fathers and husbands who provide for us, to teach us that He our eternal Father indeed truly provides for all our needs through our Bridegroom, Jesus. 

Fathers and husbands are a blessing from God. Even though today it’s in vogue to consider fathers and husbands as unnecessary intrusions into the family, since the mother is expected to financially, socially, and spiritually provide for all of the needs of the family on her own. This has taken place because we consider men and women to be the same, as if both are to equally offer the same things and carry out the same functions.

But that’s all a lie from the devil and our own selfish hearts. Men and women are different and each offer something different in a marriage and a family. The physical and biological differences are obvious enough to any rational person. But the differences and importances of both husbands and wives is more than physical and biological, they’re God ordained.

According to both Genesis and the entirety of the scripture, husbands, fathers, are to be the head of the household. This is why Jesus’ lineage in Matthew flows from Joseph’s lineage, because Joseph is still the head of the household and Jesus’ adopted earthly father. Jesus, in becoming man, also became subject to his earthly Father. So Joseph had a significant role to play in Jesus’ life, just like every father has a significant role to play in their childrens’ lives.

The scriptures command it! “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” More important than housing, clothing, and feeding their children (which is still important), a father is to instruct his children, to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. This is a duty given first and foremost to fathers! 

The affect and influence fathers in particular have upon their children is enormous! The importance of fathers has been studied and is quite telling! When the father is present and involved in his childrens’ lives, children are known to have better academic performance, reduced substance abuse, commit fewer crimes, have fewer emotional and behavioral problems, are less likely to be abused or neglected, and are at lower risk of teen suicide. The research is clear: fathers factor significantly in the lives of their children! 

Then, do you want to know the single greatest influence on retaining children in church? Fathers! Get this! If both father and mother attend church regularly, then ⅓ of their children will end up attending regularly. However, if the father doesn’t attend church but the mother attends, then only 3 percent of their children will wind up attending regularly. What happens if the mother doesn’t attend but the father attends? Amazingly, ⅓ of their children will still end up attending church as adults! 

This isn’t meant to put down mothers, but to raise up fathers and recognize that what father’s contribute to the faith formation of their children is remarkably valuable! It’s no coincidence that father’s are to play such an important role in the lives of their children, since God did afterall ordain men to this role when they became fathers. This is recognized in our catechism when each part begins: “As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.” God has endowed fathers with the powerful task of handing down the faith to their household.

All of this points us to the fact that God, our heavenly Father, plays a powerful role in our spiritual formation as well. He, above our earthly Father, gives us all good things both physically and spiritually. Just as our earthly father is supposed to protect, provide, and instruct us, even more wonderfully does our heavenly Father do those things. “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” It’s for that reason we pray to God and call Him “Our Father” because “He is our true Father and we are His true children, and with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” 

Just as our earthly fathers hand down to us their treasures, both physical and spiritual, so does our heavenly Father. Except our heavenly father doesn’t just give us money or possessions, but He gives us His kingdom of heaven and makes it to be our own home. Through the waters of baptism we’ve been adopted into God’s family, just as Jesus was adopted by Joseph and received the title of a carpenter’s son, so are we children of God, our eternal Father.

Just as earthly fathers are great blessings to us, so are earthly husbands great blessings to their wives. “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.” Husbands are to be to their wives as Jesus is to His church. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” 

The duty of a husband is to love his wife as Christ loves His church. And how does Christ love His bride? By dying for her and cleansing her from all of her sins. Likewise, the husband is commanded to love His wife by sacrificing himself for his wife’s benefit. In a very basic sense, this means it’s the husband’s role to go to war for his wife and protect her physically, to provide for her earthly welfare, to sacrifice his own well-being, comfort, and happiness in order to ensure that his bride has everything she needs. 

In some regards, this does mean the husband must rule over his wife. Not as a tyrant does, but as Jesus rules over his church by serving her.  Afterall, “husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.” Husbands are to be models of Christ’s love for us, in the way in which they love their wives. For a Christian husband to rule over his wife simply means to lead her to Jesus and direct her towards her salvation. Sometimes it might mean the husband has to put his foot down to ensure his bride remains with Christ, but more often it means laying down his wants and feelings to sacrifice for her good.

But are all husbands and fathers like we’ve described? No, of course not! How sad it is that every father and husband fails in his duties, just as Joseph was tempted to divorce his wife! Far too often men abandon their duties, they either rule like tyrants or fail to rule at all, they’re harsh with their wives and children, they neglect to teach the faith or even provide and protect, they’re unfaithful. When husbands and fathers fail, they not only sin against their wives and children, but against God whose role of Father and Groom they abuse. 

So for those husbands and fathers who have failed, God adopts you as His children, He nourishes and cherishes you as His own flesh, and He loves you by giving Himself up for you, that He might cleanse you by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present you to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that you might be holy and without blemish. 

Husbands and fathers are very important, and through them God blesses all of us. They’re even more important because they’re to us a picture of Christ’s love for His church. This mystery is very profound and it refers to Christ and His church. So let us gladly hold up God’s institution of marriage, and regard husbands and fathers as wonderful necessary blessings to all of us. Because through them we’re reminded and pointed to God our heavenly Father, and to Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom. God alone is good, so when we think of husbands and fathers, let us not think only of the broken ones here on earth, but our God who reigns in heaven.