Joseph’s Sunday: Faithful Obedience as our only Answer to CrisisIsaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew:18-24
This fourth Sunday of Advent presents us with a crisis situation longing for resolution. It further presents two possible solutions, either human or divine; a “yes” response based on faith and absolute trust in God, or a “no” response because of the fear of the powers that be, and a distrust of God’s power and fidelity.
Political and military powers surround King Ahaz. He sees the imminence of an attack and destruction of his people, with no military power of his own to push back. He retires in defeat. He forgets God! Suddenly, Isaiah gives him a choice either for God, who protects the “righteous weak,” or remains in his incredulity of God’s power. Unfortunately, King Ahaz fails the test! Yet, God’s magnanimity promises a Savior to come, a basis for trust and obedience in God’s power working through the weak and feeble!
The infancy narrative in Matthew’s Gospel does not begin with sentiment or wonder, but with a crisis. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…” Matthew immediately places us within a concrete human situation marked by confusion, risk, and moral tension. Before angels sing and shepherds adore, there is a young woman found to be pregnant, and a man who must decide how to respond.
Matthew gives the contrary if King Ahaz, Joseph, whom Matthew introduces with a title laden with biblical weight: “Joseph, son of David.” This is not a genealogical flourish. It is a theological signal. Matthew is telling us that the promises made to David—royal, messianic, enduring—will now pass not through power or politics, but through the obedient faith of a righteous man – Joseph.
Matthew describes Joseph as “dikaios”—“a righteous man.” This term does not simply mean morally upright in a generic sense. In Jewish Scripture, righteousness denotes faithful conformity to God’s covenant—a life ordered according to God’s law and mercy.
Joseph’s righteousness is immediately tested. Unlike King Ahaz, Joseph aces his test! Mary is found to be with child before they lived together. The text does not explain Mary’s situation at this point; Matthew allows the tension to remain. Joseph knows only what is visible, and what is visible places him at a crossroads between law and compassion.
The Mosaic Law permitted public exposure and legal accusation. Joseph chooses neither vengeance nor self-protection. Instead, he resolves to dismiss Mary quietly. This decision reveals a righteousness that is not rigid legalism but mercy-shaped fidelity. Joseph is just, but he is not cruel. He obeys the law without weaponizing it. Already, Matthew is redefining righteousness—not as strict control, but as discernment rooted in love.
Like Isaiah coming to King Ahaz, God intervenes precisely after Joseph has resolved to act. This is significant. Revelation does not bypass human responsibility; it meets it. Joseph’s moral seriousness becomes the place where divine instruction is given. The angel addresses him again as “son of David”, linking Joseph’s personal obedience to Israel’s salvation history partly addressed in our first reading (Isaiah). He is told not to fear taking Mary into his home because the child is conceived “through the Holy Spirit.” “Fear” has no place is a child of God, and anyone who wants to do God’s will!
What King Ahaz fails to achieve for lack of faith, Joseph achieves in his righteousness and fidelity: the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, the Savior is born! Matthew says, “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet.” He cites Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” The original Isaiah context addressed a historical crisis in Judah. Matthew reads it typologically: what God once promised as a sign of presence is now fulfilled definitively in Christ. Emmanuel—God with us—is not a metaphor. It is a claim about reality. In Jesus, God does not merely assist from above; he dwells within human history.
Notably, Joseph is not commanded to name the child Emmanuel, but Jesus. The theology is clear: Jesus is Emmanuel. God’s presence and God’s saving action are one and the same. What is more, Joseph never speaks in this Gospel. His faith is expressed entirely in action. “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” There is no recorded hesitation, no request for confirmation, no demand for explanation. Joseph’s obedience is immediate and total. He takes Mary into his home. He names the child. He accepts a vocation that will cost him reputation, security, and clarity, what we are also called to do in our troubled and atheistic world. This is faith as trust, not comprehension. Matthew presents Joseph as the model disciple before disciples exist: one who listens to God’s word, allows it to overturn his plans, and acts accordingly. His obedience becomes the human space in which the Word can dwell.
Joseph does not generate salvation; he makes room for it. His righteousness becomes hospitality for God’s presence. Matthew 1:18–24 teaches us that the Incarnation and God’s plans, in general, unfold not through spectacle but through hidden fidelity. God enters the world through a person who chooses mercy over judgment, trust over fear, obedience over control. This man is Joseph, hence, the calling of this Sunday “Joseph’s Sunday” as a beacon of strength and emulation for those whose crisis situations require trust, fidelity and hope in God against all odds stacked up against them!
Indeed, Paul’s crisis of faith ends when he allows God to take over his life. He opts for the righteousness that comes from God and accepts to think outside the Jewish segregated fear. Paul’s faith and trust in God shapes his gospel of justification – everyone is a child of God because of our redemption in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul conceives his mission as, “to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Indeed, trust and faith in God bring about a new dawn in the life of whosoever surrenders to God.
LESSON
Our readings confront us with a question:
Will we allow God’s purposes to interrupt our carefully constructed plans? Like Joseph, King Ahaz, and Paul, we often encounter God not in clarity, but in ambiguity; not before decision, but after responsibility has been taken seriously. The call of Advent is not to understand everything, but to obey faithfully. Where obedience is embraced, Emmanuel is born, and God’s will prevails!
2025-12-20