(Text only for Ch. 1,2,3 Audio available for most Matthew sermons from Chapter 4-28)
Title: The Birth of Christ
As we continue our study in the Gospel of Matthew this morning I’m reminded that some of this material is extremely familiar to us all. Today, we are looking at the birth of Jesus Christ, which is a story that we’ve heard every Christmas for most of our lives. Well, as much as my daughter would hate to admit it, Christmas is still about seven months away, so I want to try to consider this passage not in the context of the Christian holiday, but rather within the narrative structure that Matthew has laid out. Stick with me and you’ll see what I mean.
I want to break down this passage with a series of exegetical observations that will lead us to a better understanding of why God ordained the birth of Jesus in the manner that he did.
(read passage)
- She was found with child of the Holy Spirit (vv.18-19)
- Joseph was already engaged (betrothed) to wed Mary
- They had not “come together” (been intimate)
- Mary became pregnant by a miracle*
Theological Pause: Why couldn’t Christ have entered the world though “regular” pregnancy between Joseph and Mary?
- Christ would then be the biological son of Joseph
- Christ would then inherit the curse of sin
- Fulfillment of O.T. prophecy of the Messiah being born to a virgin would be broken
- Joseph was an honorable man (vv. 20-21)
- Joseph was “a just man” who didn’t want to make Mary a “public example”
- He had every right, according to Jewish Law, to publicly divorce her, expose her pregnancy, and have her to live our her days in shame. But even before the Holy Spirit had intervened, he decided to “put her away secretly” while he decided what to do with her. (God chose a pretty good surrogate father.)
- We never see any reaction from Joseph when the Angel of the Lord visits him, except obedience. This is a mind-blowing thing that Joseph is told: Mary is a virgin, don’t dishonor her. She is carry the child of God’s spirit. You will name him Jesus, and, by the way he will save the people from their sin. How blown do you think Joseph’s mind was?
- The name “Jesus”
I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time on this, because I think you are all pretty familiar with this, but Jewish names have very deep and spiritual meanings. “Jesus” is the greek equivalent of “Joshua” which can mean to things:
Jesus:
- “Yahweh saves”
- “Yahweh is salvation”
Do you, like myself, find it interesting that Jesus is given the Greek form of Joshua instead of just “Joshua.” I don’t want to read into that too much but I think we might be able to consider two things based on this:
- Jesus was born into a predominantly Greek culture, and was given a name that would be familiar to all.
- God knew that the name of Jesus would eventually be offering salvation to all peoples, not just Jews, and his name foreshadows that fact.
- The first reference
Here we see Matthew’s first use of the O.T. to explain the events of Jesus’ life. Matthew will go on to explain the events of Jesus’ life using O.T. prophecy over 50 times in his gospel, and this is the first instance, him quoting from Isaiah 7:14.
We go on to read the Joseph was obedient to the Lord, he abstained from marital relations with Mary until Jesus had been born, and he was obedient to name the son Jesus.
Point/Application:
- Starting with the genealogy and continuing with the account of Jesus’ birth, it is obvious that Matthew want his own people, the Jews, to see that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah.
- For us, to even begin to believe that Jesus himself was God, we must accept that his very birth was a miracle.
- It was absolutely necessary that Jesus experience life as a human, at every moment, just like we did, in order to be a proper savior. And think of this: did Jesus just “appear” as a newborn? Now, like us, he was first conceived. When do you think he was Jesus? At birth, or at conception. And where does life begin? Conception.