The Dream Said “Do Not Be Afraid” – 18 December 2022 – Fourth Sunday in Advent

Matthew 1:18–25

The message began, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.” It is the message of the season, and Luke says other angels provide music for these same lyrics. The heart of the gospel today and every day is, “Do not be afraid.” It is the dream that leads to liberating action which is the God-sent dream, and Joseph is our model for acting on such dreams. His dreams were not fantasies of eliminating difficulties or embracing all manner of good things for himself; his dreams were touched by the graceful spirit of God, who made a place in his dreams for Mary, so that he could then make a place in his home for her.

He made his life large enough to include the mother of his own liberator, who he had the privilege of naming and of fathering into his own family, David’s line. Joseph’s prophetic dreaming and prophetic action, his devotion to reflection and his commitment to action are his gifts, offered each time we hear him share his dreams at Advent’s end.

Do not be afraid: We can take Mary home with us as Joseph did, so that she may present us with the one who is all our dreams for justice and peace come true, the one who is Jesus Emmanuel, God with us. —David Philippart [Homily Service 38, no. 1 (2004): 29–35.]

Romans 1:1–7

Paul introduces himself to his readers as an apostle and begins to develop one of the primary themes of the letter: the good news of God’s victory in Jesus Christ is for all believers, whether of Jewish or gentile ancestry. For this reason, Paul is careful to link his commission as an apostle to the gentiles to the Jesus-movement’s Jewish roots. The mess- age of Jesus was promised through the Jewish prophets and recorded in the Jewish scriptures. Jesus himself was descended from King David. Raised from the dead, Jesus was revealed to be the Son of Israel’s God. Read on the last Sunday of Advent, Paul’s words remind the Christian assembly of the great scope of God’s saving work—intended by God through the millennia, rooted in the faith that traces its origins to Abraham, yet inclusive of the whole human family. –– Aaron J. Couch [Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 43–52]

Isaiah 7:10–16

Though the child is certainly contemporaneous with the events of the next few years, there are two ambiguities in the text of Isaiah 7:14 that would invite the early church centuries later to interpret the verse messianically, with reference to Jesus. . .

First, there is the young woman. The Hebrew text of Isaiah does not imply that she is a virgin, but the later Greek translation of this passage does. (And the Greek version is one to which many Second Testament writers had access.)

Second, the Hebrew verb that means “conceive” does not note whether the young woman has conceived or will conceive. Either reading is possible. (The second option allowed Christians to construe the passage as a long-term prophecy.) —David Philippart [Homily Service 38, no. 1 (2004): 29–35.]

Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

David Philippart is the liturgy director at Old Saint Patrick’s Church in downtown Chicago and a past editor of several volumes of Liturgy published by The Liturgical Conference.