Joseph | Advent: Waiting

12.07.25

Nicholas Hect

This week we began our Advent series, “Waiting,” by looking at Joseph, an important character in the Christmas story of Jesus. Joseph carried a heavy and complicated form of waiting, one marked by shame, confusion, and social misunderstanding. Because Mary was pregnant before their marriage covenant, their community likely assumed sin and treated their relationship with skepticism and judgment. Joseph never saw Jesus’ ministry and lived most of his life quietly, faithfully, and largely unnoticed. Yet Scripture calls him righteous. In his vulnerable, defenseless waiting, God met him: not because Joseph demanded answers, but because God sees the lowly and steps into the dark places of our lives. Joseph shows us that Advent waiting is often not about getting something from God, even vindication towards those who doubted him and God, but trusting that God is already near, already speaking, and already at work in our hidden, painful, or misunderstood seasons.