Matthew 1:20-21
But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
From anger to shock. From hurt to hope. And from disappointment to disbelief…and then to belief. This is how I imagine the transformation in Joseph after the angel visited him.
And above and beyond all these shifts in emotion, I suspect there was one other, as Joseph moved from fear to courage.
As we’ve noticed before, Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth differs in any number of ways from Luke’s. But on this one detail they agree. When the angel comes – in Matthew to Joseph, in Luke to Mary – the message is preceded by a simple but powerful exhortation: do not be afraid! This, in fact, is the hallmark of good news throughout the biblical witness. Do not be afraid.
So much of life, when you think about it, is colored by fear. Fear for our safety, fear for the safety and wellbeing of those we love. Fear about the future. Fear about our relationships. Fear. It has dominated the human story as long as there has been a human story. It has always stuck me, for instance, that once Adam and Eve first ate the forbidden fruit, they became almost instantly afraid, even of that which once gave them great joy – the presence of the Lord.
There is, I believe, no more true measure of the character of the God we worship than that the primary message carried by angelic messengers is the antidote to our condition: do not be afraid. God comes bearing not judgment or condemnation or terror but instead courage and joy and love.
And so the angel comes to Joseph in the middle of his distress and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary his betrothed into his home as his wife and partner, for the child she carries will be called Jesus – “he saves” in Hebrew – and he will indeed save us from the tyranny of sin, the law, death…and fear.
Prayer: Dear God, send out us as your messengers with words of courage and grace that others may know you and escape their fear. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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