How the birth of Jesus the Messiah comes about

Matthew 1: 18-25 (TNIV)

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about ^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, ^[b] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” ^[c] (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

—

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about” starts today’s passage from Matthew 1. Matthew writes this gospel to a Jewish audience to show that all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said” through the prophets in the Old Testament. He proclaims that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.

The long-awaited Messiah is coming, though in the form of a baby. This dependent, small child is the way that God chooses to enter the world.

This is not the way that I think Joseph, a righteous man, would picture God entering into the world. The Messiah that was foretold for centuries was coming in the form of a baby. Then, God chose Mary, the girl that Joseph was engaged to, to carry Jesus into the world.

Joseph wanted to do what was right for his soon-to-be bride and not expose her to public disgrace. Then, he had this life-altering dream. Through the dream, he learns a different plan: 1) To not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife, 2) That Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit, 3) Joseph’s responsibility is to give the baby the name of Jesus, meaning “He who saves,” because He will save His people from their sins.

Joseph enters into a larger story, God’s story of salvation. Joseph thought he knew what was right and then God told him of this God-sized plan that Joseph needed to be a part of. How is your life story entering into God’s story? This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah comes about.

— Rev. Nicole Conard

O God, who shows us how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about, tell us the story of how we may fit into your dreams so that we may be a part of your God-size plan. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.