Love Goes All the Way
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | December 21, 2025
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Read Matthew 1:18 – 25 (NIV)
Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent and in just a few days, we will come to the ultimate celebration for what we know is the real reason for the season… the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the gift of love that came down at Christmas… “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God loves us so much that He gave us the greatest gift imaginable… the One who opens the door that leads to eternal life. Not because we have done anything to deserve the gift… not because we have taken the necessary steps to get our lives and our houses in order to be able to receive the gift… and not because we have been able to demonstrate some special aptitude for what to do with the gift.
No. God has given us this most precious gift simply because He loves us with what the Greek writers refer to as “agape” or as it is translated in English... unconditional love…
Agape or unconditional love is a selfless, self-sacrificing, all-encompassing form of love... or to put it another way... it simply means that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And that is what I want to invite our attention to this morning... this idea that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY... particularly as we reflect on the love that God has for us... but also as we think about the love that we should have for God as well as the love that we have for one another.
It is this agape/unconditional love that we find when we look closely at our New Testament lesson this morning. However, before we look at our text for this morning, I believe we can find an example of what is meant when we say LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY by taking just a moment to consider the author of the text… a tax collector who goes by the name of Matthew.
It would seem fair to say that tax collectors are not the most highly revered people in our society today… and when we consider what was taking place during biblical times, it is not a far stretch to say that tax collectors were even less popular back then.
That is because tax collectors had been given the authority and ability to collect not only the taxes that had been levied by Rome… they were also allowed to collect whatever extra they wanted to add on for themselves. As long as they surrendered what the Roman government required… they could pocket whatever difference they were able to extract from the people.
Now, according to scholars, there were some tax collectors who used hired hands to do the dirty work for them, however, it would appear that Matthew did the collecting himself, right out in the open.
And that is what makes his selection to become one of Jesus’ disciples all the more intriguing.
After all, it seems hard to believe that Jesus would not have known what kind of person He was consorting with. So, what could He have seen in a greedy, self-serving individual like Matthew?
But beyond that, what possible reason would Matthew have had for responding, “Yes,” to Jesus’ call to come and follow Him? I mean, Jesus was not exactly the kind of person Matthew would have been used to hanging around.
Jesus did not live a flashy or flamboyant lifestyle… He did not drive around in a decked-out Tesla or live in a glamorous house in South Russell… and His closest companions were some smelly fishermen.
What kind of life did Matthew think he would be leading by choosing to follow Jesus? And why was he willing to exchange his current lifestyle for something so drastically different?
Just what was it that brought these two unlikely candidates together? Let me suggest it was agape... unconditional love... that set them on the path together with the understanding that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Jesus was able to look past Matthew’s sordid lifestyle as a tax collector and see the man who was willing to go all the way with Him... the man who was committed to spending the rest of his life doing what it took to show others that Jesus was the Messiah.
And on the other hand, Matthew was able to look beyond the lowly carpenter that most people saw... and see instead the One who would give His very life as a ransom for them all... accepting the fact that real LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And there is good news for us today because if Jesus can use a lowly and despised tax collector to spread the Gospel... just imagine what He can and will do with us!
So, that tells us a little bit about the author of our New Testament lesson. But, before we take a closer look at the actual subject of our text this morning, I want to tell you a story.
It is a story that we may have seen posted on social media or other news websites... about a family that was forced to leave their homeland in search of safety and what they hoped would be an opportunity to lead lives as productive citizens.
This family had initially started on their journey, trying to comply with all the rules imposed upon them… but when they got to their first stop, there was no one who would help them. No one would give them so much as a place to sleep despite the fact that the wife was pregnant and extremely close to her due date.
They found one door after another closed to them… until one caring and compassionate person gave them a small space where they could take shelter until the woman had her baby.
But sometime after the baby was born, word came down that there was a bounty on their heads and they needed to flee the country… fast... before ICE agents could descend upon them. So, they left under cover of darkness, in search of refuge… instantly becoming refugees in search of asylum.
But where would they go? Who would allow them to come in?
They had come to the United States... because they had been told about the promises found on the famous Statue of Liberty:
Read Matthew 1:18 – 25 (NIV)
Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent and in just a few days, we will come to the ultimate celebration for what we know is the real reason for the season… the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the gift of love that came down at Christmas… “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God loves us so much that He gave us the greatest gift imaginable… the One who opens the door that leads to eternal life. Not because we have done anything to deserve the gift… not because we have taken the necessary steps to get our lives and our houses in order to be able to receive the gift… and not because we have been able to demonstrate some special aptitude for what to do with the gift.
No. God has given us this most precious gift simply because He loves us with what the Greek writers refer to as “agape” or as it is translated in English... unconditional love…
Agape or unconditional love is a selfless, self-sacrificing, all-encompassing form of love... or to put it another way... it simply means that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And that is what I want to invite our attention to this morning... this idea that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY... particularly as we reflect on the love that God has for us... but also as we think about the love that we should have for God as well as the love that we have for one another.
It is this agape/unconditional love that we find when we look closely at our New Testament lesson this morning. However, before we look at our text for this morning, I believe we can find an example of what is meant when we say LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY by taking just a moment to consider the author of the text… a tax collector who goes by the name of Matthew.
It would seem fair to say that tax collectors are not the most highly revered people in our society today… and when we consider what was taking place during biblical times, it is not a far stretch to say that tax collectors were even less popular back then.
That is because tax collectors had been given the authority and ability to collect not only the taxes that had been levied by Rome… they were also allowed to collect whatever extra they wanted to add on for themselves. As long as they surrendered what the Roman government required… they could pocket whatever difference they were able to extract from the people.
Now, according to scholars, there were some tax collectors who used hired hands to do the dirty work for them, however, it would appear that Matthew did the collecting himself, right out in the open.
And that is what makes his selection to become one of Jesus’ disciples all the more intriguing.
After all, it seems hard to believe that Jesus would not have known what kind of person He was consorting with. So, what could He have seen in a greedy, self-serving individual like Matthew?
But beyond that, what possible reason would Matthew have had for responding, “Yes,” to Jesus’ call to come and follow Him? I mean, Jesus was not exactly the kind of person Matthew would have been used to hanging around.
Jesus did not live a flashy or flamboyant lifestyle… He did not drive around in a decked-out Tesla or live in a glamorous house in South Russell… and His closest companions were some smelly fishermen.
What kind of life did Matthew think he would be leading by choosing to follow Jesus? And why was he willing to exchange his current lifestyle for something so drastically different?
Just what was it that brought these two unlikely candidates together? Let me suggest it was agape... unconditional love... that set them on the path together with the understanding that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Jesus was able to look past Matthew’s sordid lifestyle as a tax collector and see the man who was willing to go all the way with Him... the man who was committed to spending the rest of his life doing what it took to show others that Jesus was the Messiah.
And on the other hand, Matthew was able to look beyond the lowly carpenter that most people saw... and see instead the One who would give His very life as a ransom for them all... accepting the fact that real LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And there is good news for us today because if Jesus can use a lowly and despised tax collector to spread the Gospel... just imagine what He can and will do with us!
So, that tells us a little bit about the author of our New Testament lesson. But, before we take a closer look at the actual subject of our text this morning, I want to tell you a story.
It is a story that we may have seen posted on social media or other news websites... about a family that was forced to leave their homeland in search of safety and what they hoped would be an opportunity to lead lives as productive citizens.
This family had initially started on their journey, trying to comply with all the rules imposed upon them… but when they got to their first stop, there was no one who would help them. No one would give them so much as a place to sleep despite the fact that the wife was pregnant and extremely close to her due date.
They found one door after another closed to them… until one caring and compassionate person gave them a small space where they could take shelter until the woman had her baby.
But sometime after the baby was born, word came down that there was a bounty on their heads and they needed to flee the country… fast... before ICE agents could descend upon them. So, they left under cover of darkness, in search of refuge… instantly becoming refugees in search of asylum.
But where would they go? Who would allow them to come in?
They had come to the United States... because they had been told about the promises found on the famous Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
They thought that perhaps that was a place where they would find safety, security, and what they hoped would be unconditional love from others.
But then they began hearing about asylum seekers arriving in the United States and being shipped around like cargo… So, they worried that it might not be such a safe place for them to go after all.
They heard how innocent people who wanted nothing more than a safe place to live were being treated like pawns in a chess game… being sacrificed for the sake of the more powerful politicians (I mean the more powerful pieces).
And so, despite the dreams they had for their family… Joseph and Mary thought it would be better to find somewhere else to raise their son, Jesus…
Now, as I read the text for the morning, I was reminded of the unlikely and extremely challenging circumstances that this young couple, Joseph and Mary faced from the very beginning. The couple was engaged to be married but before the actual wedding could take place... Mary was already with child.
Now, in today’s society, a woman getting pregnant before getting married is not all that unusual… it has become so commonplace, in fact, that very few people bother to take the time to count back from the birth of the child to the wedding day to see how much time has elapsed between the two occasions.
And even fewer people stop to consider whether or not the groom is really the father of the baby. It is as if no one really cares one way or the other because almost no one gives these matters a second thought.
However, back in biblical times, it would have been quite a different story for a woman who found herself in Mary’s shoes.
Because Mary had never been with Joseph... her pregnancy must have certainly been the result of her being unfaithful… at least that is what Joseph, as well as their respective families and basically the entire community would have thought.
And, according to the customs of that time... Joseph would have been well within his rights to divorce Mary... which was the only way to end a betrothal in those days… well, other than death that is… and as horrible as that sounds, that could have actually been the punishment for such an offense under Jewish law.
But Joseph was a good man, and he did not want to hold Mary up to public ridicule... so the scriptures tell us that he planned to simply divorce her quietly.
That is until the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him the real story… that Mary was indeed with child, but it was not because she had been unfaithful.
It was because God had chosen Mary to become the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NKJV).
Mary was going to give birth to a son and the angel of the Lord told Joseph that he was the one who was to give the child the name, “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
And when Joseph awoke from this dream... he did what the angel of the Lord had instructed him to do… he took Mary home as his wife and when the child was born, he gave him the name, Jesus... proof positive that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Now in the next chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we find the familiar story about the Magi (or the three wise men) who went in search of the one who had been born king of the Jews (Matthew 2:1)… and how Herod tried to find out where the Christ child had been born… by falsely claiming he wanted to go worship him as well.
However, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in yet another dream and told him that Herod was on a mission to kill the child... so, Joseph needed to take his family and escape to Egypt… which is what Joseph did… once again following the direction of the Lord.
And according to the scriptures, Joseph and his family remained in Egypt until the angel of the Lord came to him again in still another dream… this time sending Joseph and his young family to the land of Israel and ultimately to the region of Galilee and a city called Nazareth… again in fulfillment of prophecy that declared the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.
Now, one of the key points for us to take notice of in this story of Joseph and Mary and the baby, Jesus, is that at no point in time, do we read anything about Joseph hesitating to do as the angel of the Lord instructed him to do.
He took Mary as his wife. He gave the child the name, Jesus. He took the family and fled to Egypt. He left Egypt and ultimately went to Nazareth… all with seemingly no thought to how this would impact him... Why? Because LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Joseph’s actions really were selfless and self-sacrificing… he would have been subject to ridicule for taking Mary as his wife when she was already pregnant with a child that was not his… and yet, he married her anyhow.
He left his home and fled to a foreign country for the safety and security of that child which was not his own… and then he left that country, again for the sake of a child that was not his own.
Talk about demonstrating unconditional love... and what it means to say that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And here we are… roughly two thousand years later… the direct beneficiaries of that love.
And sadly, there are some who are resistant... some who are unwilling to accept the fact that we have all been called to live and love like Jesus... that we have been commanded to love God with all of who we are and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:36 – 40).
But in this season of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus… we are reminded that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY... and that is the love that we are called to share with one another.
And on the off chance that we find ourselves trying to be selective in where and how we share that love and to whom we share it… I want to leave us with this reminder that I came across on Facebook a while ago:
But then they began hearing about asylum seekers arriving in the United States and being shipped around like cargo… So, they worried that it might not be such a safe place for them to go after all.
They heard how innocent people who wanted nothing more than a safe place to live were being treated like pawns in a chess game… being sacrificed for the sake of the more powerful politicians (I mean the more powerful pieces).
And so, despite the dreams they had for their family… Joseph and Mary thought it would be better to find somewhere else to raise their son, Jesus…
Now, as I read the text for the morning, I was reminded of the unlikely and extremely challenging circumstances that this young couple, Joseph and Mary faced from the very beginning. The couple was engaged to be married but before the actual wedding could take place... Mary was already with child.
Now, in today’s society, a woman getting pregnant before getting married is not all that unusual… it has become so commonplace, in fact, that very few people bother to take the time to count back from the birth of the child to the wedding day to see how much time has elapsed between the two occasions.
And even fewer people stop to consider whether or not the groom is really the father of the baby. It is as if no one really cares one way or the other because almost no one gives these matters a second thought.
However, back in biblical times, it would have been quite a different story for a woman who found herself in Mary’s shoes.
Because Mary had never been with Joseph... her pregnancy must have certainly been the result of her being unfaithful… at least that is what Joseph, as well as their respective families and basically the entire community would have thought.
And, according to the customs of that time... Joseph would have been well within his rights to divorce Mary... which was the only way to end a betrothal in those days… well, other than death that is… and as horrible as that sounds, that could have actually been the punishment for such an offense under Jewish law.
But Joseph was a good man, and he did not want to hold Mary up to public ridicule... so the scriptures tell us that he planned to simply divorce her quietly.
That is until the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him the real story… that Mary was indeed with child, but it was not because she had been unfaithful.
It was because God had chosen Mary to become the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NKJV).
Mary was going to give birth to a son and the angel of the Lord told Joseph that he was the one who was to give the child the name, “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
And when Joseph awoke from this dream... he did what the angel of the Lord had instructed him to do… he took Mary home as his wife and when the child was born, he gave him the name, Jesus... proof positive that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Now in the next chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we find the familiar story about the Magi (or the three wise men) who went in search of the one who had been born king of the Jews (Matthew 2:1)… and how Herod tried to find out where the Christ child had been born… by falsely claiming he wanted to go worship him as well.
However, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in yet another dream and told him that Herod was on a mission to kill the child... so, Joseph needed to take his family and escape to Egypt… which is what Joseph did… once again following the direction of the Lord.
And according to the scriptures, Joseph and his family remained in Egypt until the angel of the Lord came to him again in still another dream… this time sending Joseph and his young family to the land of Israel and ultimately to the region of Galilee and a city called Nazareth… again in fulfillment of prophecy that declared the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.
Now, one of the key points for us to take notice of in this story of Joseph and Mary and the baby, Jesus, is that at no point in time, do we read anything about Joseph hesitating to do as the angel of the Lord instructed him to do.
He took Mary as his wife. He gave the child the name, Jesus. He took the family and fled to Egypt. He left Egypt and ultimately went to Nazareth… all with seemingly no thought to how this would impact him... Why? Because LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Joseph’s actions really were selfless and self-sacrificing… he would have been subject to ridicule for taking Mary as his wife when she was already pregnant with a child that was not his… and yet, he married her anyhow.
He left his home and fled to a foreign country for the safety and security of that child which was not his own… and then he left that country, again for the sake of a child that was not his own.
Talk about demonstrating unconditional love... and what it means to say that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
And here we are… roughly two thousand years later… the direct beneficiaries of that love.
And sadly, there are some who are resistant... some who are unwilling to accept the fact that we have all been called to live and love like Jesus... that we have been commanded to love God with all of who we are and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:36 – 40).
But in this season of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus… we are reminded that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY... and that is the love that we are called to share with one another.
And on the off chance that we find ourselves trying to be selective in where and how we share that love and to whom we share it… I want to leave us with this reminder that I came across on Facebook a while ago:
It is an unwed mother who carries God.
It is the pagans from the East who recognize God.
It is the workers in the field who hear from God.
It is the marginalized neighborhood that welcomes God.
It is God who chooses the lowly and the broken to rise…
God uses the least likely suspects to serve as reminders that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY and that love came down to earth for all of us… without exception… going all the way to a cross at Calvary.
As we read in Romans 5 (8) Jesus was willing to give His life in exchange for ours in spite of the fact that we were and still are sinners… He did it without regard for the mess we have made and continue to make of things… He willingly and lovingly took on the punishment that was ours… because LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Now, the fact of the matter is that the love that Christ has for us and calls us to have for one another really is a LOVE THAT GOES ALL THE WAY... it is a love that looks beyond self and freely gives for the sake of someone else… and to be clear... it is not reserved just for those we like or for those who make it easy to love them.
Real love... that agape unconditional love that Christ has for us has no regard for past mistakes, present mishaps, or even future missteps... it is not concerned about convenience… in fact it is best displayed when things seem most inconvenient... and perhaps what is most important to note is that it neither demands nor expects anything in return.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The Word of God makes it clear that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY because that is what love does... and our response is to love as we have been loved. And it is with that thought in mind that I want to invite us now to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: More Love to Thee, O Christ (v. 1, 2, 4) #527
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As we read in Romans 5 (8) Jesus was willing to give His life in exchange for ours in spite of the fact that we were and still are sinners… He did it without regard for the mess we have made and continue to make of things… He willingly and lovingly took on the punishment that was ours… because LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY.
Now, the fact of the matter is that the love that Christ has for us and calls us to have for one another really is a LOVE THAT GOES ALL THE WAY... it is a love that looks beyond self and freely gives for the sake of someone else… and to be clear... it is not reserved just for those we like or for those who make it easy to love them.
Real love... that agape unconditional love that Christ has for us has no regard for past mistakes, present mishaps, or even future missteps... it is not concerned about convenience… in fact it is best displayed when things seem most inconvenient... and perhaps what is most important to note is that it neither demands nor expects anything in return.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The Word of God makes it clear that LOVE GOES ALL THE WAY because that is what love does... and our response is to love as we have been loved. And it is with that thought in mind that I want to invite us now to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: More Love to Thee, O Christ (v. 1, 2, 4) #527
