“Who is this Jesus?” - God with us - a Saviour from their/our sins.

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

What we perceive to be the truth is not always the truth. Sometimes, what we see and how we process what we see is impacted by our point of view.

An example of this be that even though a vehicle is moving forwards sometimes in a movie sequence, the wheels seems turn rotate backwards. We are told that the reason for this is that unless the number for film frames per second and the movement of the spokes is not just right, the position of the spoke in each successive might be slightly behind rather than ahead.

The camera operator has no intent to deceive. But if we take at face value, only one facet of what we see from a secondary perspective, we might wrongly conclude as true that which is not.

Sometimes word of mouth and a limited perspective and lead us and others to the wrong conclusion.

Mid 1980’s - Hope Fellowship Baptist Church in Niagara Falls - subset ministry of the church - Kalar Christian Nursery School - before full Jr Kindegarten and full day Sr Kindegarten - 35-50 - 3 to 5 year olds - met real need - Black framed glasses - initially a few then most of the children came think that I might be Superman.

If asked who I was many children would outwardly answer “Pastor Al” but behind the scenes, “Superman”.

Once the innocent misperception became ingrained it was hard to dislodge.

Every time we come to December we face some distorted perceptions that sometimes are not well connected to reality. It isn’t that the pieces aren’t there. Most of the older Christmas hymns remind us who this Jesus is. While the pieces are all there, they are not always well connected. And sometimes those connections overshadowed by holiday aspects of

Even as we sincerely and wisely ask:

“What is the true meaning of CHRISTmas?

“Who is this Jesus?”

The answers that some of us hear and remember well, come with background melodies.

“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head;

The stars in the (bright) sky looked down where He lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.”

“Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible said Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day

- Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day

Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day

Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible said Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day

Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day While shepherds watch their flocks by night They see a bright new shining star They hear a choir sing a song, the music seemed to come from afar

Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day

While shepherds watch their flocks by night They see a bright new shining star They hear a choir sing a song, the music seemed to come from afar

Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day”

Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day

At the beginning of another Christmas season, we do well to ask and answer accurately “Who is this Jesus?”. Matthew’s account of the Gospel directs us to the Bible’s answer. With our Lord’s help, this should enable us to better understand and personally process who Jesus is.

Biblical accounts of Jesus birth -Mary - ; , ; Joseph - . Today, we will focus on Matthew’s account of that focused on Joseph.

“Who is this Jesus?”

Born of Mary - supposed son of Joseph - ; ; Matt 1:16-19

His people included the famous and infamous, the “in crowd” and those from “the other side of the tracks” -

His people by faith -

His people - by faith saved from their sins - 1:21