Matthew 1:18-25

I mentioned last week that I will be showing a video each week of the passage we will be covering in Matthew. Since we weren’t able to watch the video last week I’ll show it and tonight’s scripture. Just to remind you, this is a word-for-word rendition of the New International Version.

As we read the book of Matthew we need to remember who Matthew is writing to and why. Matthew is writing to fellow Jews and he’s writing to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah, the long awaited anointed king. Therefore, as Matthew tells the story of Jesus he is going to try to illustrate how we can know that Jesus is the Messiah.

I want you to think about this story if you were a first century Jew reading Matthew’s writing about Jesus. You’ve heard about Jesus and claims that he might be the Messiah, but you also heard about his scandalous death. Jesus was hung on a cross only after the highly respected religious officials turned him over for capital punishment because of his blasphemy. So who was this Jesus really? So you read with some mild interest and a lot of skepticism.

Matthew begins the story of Jesus at the beginning – with his birth. Matthew traces the descendants of Abraham down to David, to the Babylonian exile, and then to Jesus. This list of names doesn’t mean much to us, but it would have been very important to a first century Jew. As you saw in the movie, this list would have been rehearsed over and over so that the next generation would know these names and connections. You saw how Matthew paused at the name of Azor to see if the boy knew who his son was. How many of our children would know the name of Azor’s son. How many of us would know that Azor’s son was Zadok? By repeating this list Matthew is proving that Jesus has the credentials to be the Messiah because Jesus is a descendant of David.

Next, Matthew goes to the birth of Jesus. We’re told that Joseph was engaged to Mary. Every Jew would have understood this and it’s been explained to us. A Jewish engagement was much more than our engagement, but not quite as much as a marriage.

First, the marriage would have been arranged. We stiffen a little at that. What do you mean a marriage is arranged? Shouldn’t a couple all in love first? That’s certainly the way we think. But for most of history and even in some cultures today that’s not the way it works. Instead, a couple doesn’t have a say in who they are going to marry and may not even meet until the marriage. In those cases the assumption is they will come to love each other – and often they did.

Second, when everything was settled upon by the groom and the father of the bride the engagement began. The engagement would last up to a year. Though the couple wasn’t married, their engagement was legally binding and could only be broken by going to court. It could only be stopped by a divorce. Why did the engagement last so long? It gave the bride and groom time to prepare, but it also proved the bride wasn’t getting married because she was pregnant. But in this case the bride wound up being pregnant. Mary was with child and Joseph knew it wasn’t his.

Matthew then says that Joseph was a righteous man – he was faithful to the law. He would want to keep the law and do what the law required. Therefore, Joseph had a choice to make:

Joseph could ignore Mary’s pregnancy and marry her. He would then raise her child knowing full well that it wasn’t his. But that would have ruined his own reputation because everyone would know that Mary had become pregnant before the wedding.

He could make a spectacle of the pregnancy and denounce her publically, divorce her, and find another bride. The Old Testament Law stipulated that in such a situation the woman would be stoned, but by this time that rarely happened.

He could divorce her privately so as not to ruin Mary’s reputation and hopefully find another father willing to give Joseph his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Joseph opted for the latter . . . until an angel appeared to him in a dream. In the Jewish mind if an angel has anything to do with it, it must be true. The angel addresses Joseph by what we have already been told as a descendant of David. Then the angel reveals to Joseph the true nature of Mary’s conception. Mary had not been unfaithful; her pregnancy was the result of the Holy Spirit. God had made her pregnant so it would be alright to go ahead with the wedding. Not only that, but Mary would give birth to a son and Joseph was to name the child Jesus. Jesus is the New Testament form of the Old Testament name Joshua which means God saves. Mary’s son would be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins.

We talk about the virgin birth of Jesus, but what we really mean is the virgin conception of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Mary died a virgin, but that’s not what we see in the Bible. The New Testament teaches that Jesus had brothers and sisters.

If you’re wondering about whether or not Jesus might be the Messiah here’s another convincing proof – his miraculous birth. This could only be from God.

Over the years people have said that the unusual birth of Jesus doesn’t mean anything though. They will claim that there have been stories of unusual births before. They will point to other historic characters that had something uncommon about their birth. But how many of those births were foretold hundreds of years earlier? Through the prophet Isaiah God told his people of the unusual birth of his Son.

It’s important to understand the context of this prophecy. Even if first century Jews had been familiar with this prophecy they probably wouldn’t have connected it with the coming Messiah.

Turn to Isaiah 7. What we find is that Jerusalem has been attacked. Two kings, one of which was the king of the ten northern tribes of Israel, have come together to fight against the two southern tribes of Judah. They plan to remove the king, place someone else on the throne, and then they will take most of the land and divide it among themselves. You can understand that the people, including Ahaz, Judah’s king, were a little apprehensive at the thought of being attacked by these two armies. But God sends Isaiah to the king with a message.

3Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood – because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6”Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” 7Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: It will not take place, it will not happen.’ “ (Isaiah 7:3-7)

God calls these two kings nothing but smoldering stubs of firewood. God isn’t very impressed with their power or their armies. Isaiah is told to tell Ahaz not to worry about these two has-beens. Then, Isaiah tells the king to ask for a sign from God so he will know God will take care of the situation.

10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11”Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” (Isaiah 7:10-12)

That sounds like the right answer. When Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself down from the temple didn’t Jesus refuse by quoting from Deuteronomy 6 where God commands the people not to put him to the test? But in this instance this isn’t the right answer. It’s not the right answer because God is the one asking for the test and it’s not the right answer because it sounds like Ahaz declines because of a lack of faith. God isn’t very happy that the king has refused to ask for a sign.

13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:13-14)

That’s an interesting sign. How will Ahaz know he won’t be defeated by these two invading armies? He’ll know because a baby boy will be born whose name will be Immanuel which means God is with us. The baby boy Isaiah was referring to is not identified, but would have been known by the king. It was probably the birth of his own son by one of his wives. And the child’s name, Immanuel, would have been a constant reminder to the king of this prophecy and of God’s presence.

This prophecy may have been fulfilled that very day. The boy may have been born before the son went down. Ultimately though, this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, when God came physically to dwell among his people. In his gospel account John describes it this way:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Another aspect of this prophecy we should know concerns the woman to whom the child is born. In the book of Matthew she is described as a virgin – a young woman who has never had sexual relations with a man. However, in the Hebrew the word is less precise. In the Hebrew it could refer to a young woman who hasn’t had relations with a man or a young woman of marriageable age. The word isn’t specific. In the case of the original prophecy it was probably referring to a young woman recently married.

However, when it comes to the birth of Jesus the gospel writers make certain we understand that Mary was not only a young woman, but that she was a virgin. You’ll remember Mary’s comment in Luke 1 when the angel informed her that she would have a child.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)

In our passage tonight from Matthew, while Matthew doesn’t come out and call Mary a virgin, Matthew certainly hints at it. When Joseph learns that Mary is pregnant he decides to quietly divorce her. Why? Because he knows the child isn’t his. He knows he hasn’t had relations with Mary, but doesn’t want to embarrass her. It is then that God reveals to him the miraculous nature of Mary’s pregnancy.

Again, Matthew is showing that Jesus is the Messiah because of the fulfilment of prophecy and because of this unusual birth.

What did Joseph do with this new information? When he woke from the dream he did what the angel had told him to do. He and Mary were officially married but he did not have relations with her until after she’d given birth. And what did Joseph name the boy? Of course Joseph named him Jesus just as the angel had said.

Surely this would be enough to convince anyone that Jesus is the Messiah, but of course the book continues with many more proofs.

The problem in Matthew’s day was that many people had given up hope. They had stopped believing that the Messiah would ever come. They had been waiting for so long. Several times people had claimed that the Messiah had arrived. There were several impostors that had come along before anyone heard about Jesus who claimed they were the Messiah, but it didn’t take long to disprove their claim. Would Jesus just be another one of these imposters? Matthew assures his readers and he assures us that this is not the case. Jesus is unlike anyone else in history. Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed King, Immanuel, God with us.

Most Jews of that day took that last part figuratively. They didn’t believe God would physically come among them, but that God’s favor would be with them when the Messiah came. But Matthew insists that it means more. God actually came among us as we’ve already read in John – the word became flesh.

Which leaves us with a choice – do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, Christ, the Son of God, God with us, or do we think he was just a good guy, a good teacher, or something else? Who is Jesus?

Matthew concludes the birth story and his introduction with this powerful sentence about the faith Joseph.

And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:25b)

Naming the child was the right and the role of the father, but as we know Joseph wasn’t the father. So you have to think there is a lot more going on here than just Joseph writing the name on a birth certificate. Joseph believed and obeyed. He named the child Jesus just as he had been told.

He took the words of the angel to heart, believed them and put his faith in God. Joseph names the one who was not his son Jesus who would save him from his sin.

Jesus is still the one who saves us from our sins.