Advent Midweek 3, 2025

Exile - Joseph

If you’ve traced your genealogy back a few generations, you’ve probably found a time when your family moved- not just across town or to a different part of the state, and not merely across the country perhaps to settle on the frontier.  If you go back far enough, you’re bound to find a time when your family immigrated from another country.

For most of our families, this move was probably a voluntary choice.  They left in search of freedom and opportunity and the promise of a new life in a new world.  Life was so bad in the old country, the only way to make it better was to leave altogether. Much of my family came to America from Russia in the early 1900s in order to escape World War 1 and the communist revolution.

For others among us, the move may not have been voluntary.  Many came to America unwillingly, as slaves or captives.  This still happens with human trafficking and other forms of forced migration.

While all immigrants probably yearn for their homeland, that sorrow run deepest in those who were forced to move against their will.

Such was the case for the people of Israel. They found themselves in Babylon. They had not moved there by choice. They were not there seeking financial opportunities or freedom from oppression.  They had been brought there against their will.

Did you notice who was responsible for taking them to Babylon in that first reading? Who it was who brought them there?

You might say that it was Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.  And you would be wrong.

The Lord Himself was the one who took His people into exile.  They had become so wicked, so unclean, so rebellious that this was the only way that He could show them the seriousness of their sinfulness and to bring them to repentance, confession, and forgiveness.

For generation after generation the Lord had been patient.  He had overlooked the people’s sin for the sake of His promises to Abraham and David. But now, for their own good and the good of the land itself, they needed to go away for a time.  The Lord was the one who brought the Babylonians against them to destroy their cities, to ransack their temple, and to carry many of them off into exile.

The Babylonian exile did not last long. Already within the next generation, the Persians had defeated the Babylonians, and the exiles began to return.

But it was not the same when they returned. They rebuilt the temple, but it was only a shadow of its former glory under Solomon.  They rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but they were still under the authority of a Persian governor.  After the Persians came the Greeks, and after a brief spell of independence under the Maccabees, the Romans ruled the people of Israel. 

These years between the return from exile and the birth of Christ are probably a bit mysterious for you.  If you go to church for three years, and attend every service, you’ll only hear from Nehemiah once and never from Ezra, who tell of the history of the return from exile.

There were no more Davidic kings.  There were no more prophets after Malachi.  There are no books of the Bible that even cover this period of time. 

These names in Jesus’ family tree between the return from Exile and Joseph are unfamiliar even to the most studious biblical scholars. 

And yet, of all the periods covered by Matthew’s genealogy, this is the one that we can identify with the most closely.

It seems like all the great deeds, all the great events of salvation are in the past.  We don’t witness the same miracles as we hear of in biblical times.  We long and yearn for the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the days of David and Solomon and the kings of old.  We try to imagine what it would have been like to sit at Jesus’ feet as his disciples or travel with Peter and Paul and the missionaries of the Book of Acts.  These days are so far in the distant past, you may be tempted to doubt whether they really happened at all.

But through those silent years of watching and waiting from the return from exile to Joseph, the Lord was still at work. Not in the great and spectacular ways of old, but within these obscure families in the line of Abraham and David. Husbands and wives were married. Children were born.  Prayers were said.  The words and promises of the Lord were told to the next generation.  They believed that one day, through the seed of Abraham, all nations would be blessed.  They believe that one day, a Son of David would be born who would reign forever.  They held onto those promises even when years stretched into decades and as decades stretched into centuries.  They trusted that one day those promises would come to pass.

And that is where we find ourselves today as we watch and wait for the second coming, the second Advent of Christ. 

Remember that this season is not just about celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus a long time ago.  Advent is for looking forward to the return of Christ Jesus to reign and rule in glory.

We are still living in exile.  This is not our home.  We live in a world with a different understanding of what is right and wrong, good and bad.  We live in a world where we are oppressed by our enemies.  We long to be in our true home, to live in our Father’s house, where we are safe and free to live as He created us to be.

That is what we watch and wait for this Advent and the whole year long.  We pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” knowing that, God kept His promises and sent Jesus as the Savior of the world, and He will keep His promises once more in sending Jesus back to reign and rule forever.

Until that day, we continue on living out our faith within our families, large and small, near and far.  We continue to get married and to have children and grandchildren as the Lord grants us, raising them in the faith.  We carry out Christ’s commission, as all nations are grafted into His family tree by baptizing them in the triune name and teaching them all that Jesus has entrusted to us. 

In the weeks ahead, you will gather with your family this Advent and Christmastide.  And as you share memories and traditions from generations past, as you mourn family members who are no longer sitting around the table with you, remember to reflect and give thanks for the birth of Jesus Christ.  He was born into a human family to redeem all of us, no matter what our family background may be.  You probably have family members who have fallen away from faith, or perhaps never even known Jesus to begin with.  They, too, should recognize that all is not right in this world, and that we can’t fix it on our own.  Make the most of every opportunity the Lord gives you to tell them of the joyous birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior and the hope of everlasting life we have through His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection. 

Jesus’ family tree goes beyond these 42 names in Matthew chapter 1.  It includes you and me and all who have been baptized and taught in accordance with our Lord’s bidding.  To you Jesus promises, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

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