Do Not Be Afraid
“Do Not Be Afraid”
Based on: Matthew 1:18–25
Rev. Dr. Kristopher D. Schondelmeyer
There is a particular tenderness in Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ birth that we sometimes miss in the glow and glitter of Christmas. Before there were angels singing in the night sky… before magi traveled with gifts… before Mary wrapped her newborn in swaddling cloth… there was Joseph. Quiet Joseph. Anxious Joseph. Heartbroken Joseph. A man standing in the shadows of a story that felt like it was unraveling.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.”
For many of us, the holiday season carries a weight that doesn’t show up in the commercials or the carols. Grief, heartache, disappointment, or exhaustion can settle in beside us—sometimes quietly, sometimes overwhelmingly. And in these tender places, we often find ourselves standing a little closer to Joseph than we usually do. We stand in the gap between what we hoped for and what actually unfolded. We stand with the fear that wakes us in the night, the grief that sits silently beside us, the ache we don’t know what to do with. We stand with the questions Joseph surely asked: How did I get here? What am I supposed to do now? Where is God in this?
Matthew tells us that Joseph had resolved to do the “right thing”—to step back quietly, to protect Mary from shame, to carry his own confusion by himself. And it’s in that quiet place, when the world felt heavy and uncertain, that the angel came to him with the very first command of Christmas: “Do not be afraid.”
I need you to notice something.
The angel did not say, “Do not feel.”
The angel did not say, “Do not grieve.”
The angel did not say, “Everything is fine.”
The angel said, “Do not be afraid”—not to dismiss Joseph’s pain, but to meet him within it. To remind him that the Holy Spirit has a way of working in the places that feel broken. That God does not stand apart from our fear, but speaks directly into it. That Emmanuel—God with us—is born precisely in those moments when life is not what we expected it to be.
Standing close to Joseph reveals a truth that many of us carry:
Sometimes the weight of December is too heavy.
Sometimes joy feels distant.
Sometimes the empty chair at the table is louder than the songs on the radio.
Sometimes the shadows feel longer than the daylight.
And yet… even here… perhaps especially here… the whisper comes again:
Do not be afraid.
Not because the grief disappears.
Not because the wounds magically heal.
Not because faith erases the hard things.
But because you do not walk through any of this alone.
Joseph didn’t.
And neither do you.
God meets him in a dream—not to solve everything, but to say, “I am here, and I am doing something you cannot yet see.” And Joseph wakes up with just enough courage for the next step. Not the whole journey—just the next faithful step.
This Christmas, that is all God asks of you.
Not to be merry.
Not to pretend.
Not to push the grief aside.
Just to take the next step, however small, knowing that Emmanuel is already beside you.
In the quiet honesty of this Advent seasons, hear the first gospel promise spoken again to your heart as we await the birth of Christ:
“Do not be afraid…
for the child’s name is Jesus…
and he will save his people…
he will save you…
he will hold you…
he will meet you…
right where you are.”
May you rest this Christmas in the gentle truth that God is with us—especially in the shadows—and that like that first Christmas night, Love is still being born in the darkness.