Lectionary blogging: Matthew 1: 18-25

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Translation:  But the origin of Jesus Christ  was this:  When his mother Mary was asked in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child out of the Holy Spirit.  But Joseph, her husband, being just and not wanting to make her a public example, had decided to release her secretly.  But when he considered these things, behold!, and angel of the Lord was made manifest to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been brought forth in her is out of the Holy Spirit.  And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."  But all this had come to be so that what had been spoken of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, a virgin will be with child and will brihg forth a son and they will call his name Emmanuel," which, translated, is, "God with us."  And Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his wife, and he did not know her until of her was brought forth a son and he called his name Jesus.

 

Background and situation:  Matthew's opens his gospel with Jesus' "genealogy."  I put "genealogy" in quotes because this is not Jesus' real genealogy, but rather a theological statement in the form of one.  For example, Matthew lists 42 generations, which is six blocks of seven names.  The 7th "age"--the one of completion and wholeness--is about to begin.

Secondly, the list of names in Matthew's geneaology includes the names of five women.  Matthew likes to do things in "fives."  There are five sections of Matthew's gospel, for example, symbolic of the five books of Moses.  In Matthew's Christmas story, there are five Old Testament citations, five dreams, five scriptural fulfillments, and five uses of the word "Messiah."  Matthew likes "fives" because he is presenting Jesus as the "new Moses." 

Including women in a geneaology was unusual.  Yet, Matthew's list includes Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, "the wife of Uriah" (Bathsheba), and Mary.  It is a checkered lot.  Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes, Ruth a seductress, Bathsheba an adulteress.  Rahab and Ruth were also foreigners.  Mary herself would be accused of sexual impropriety.

The text has no parallels, and is, therefore, Special Matthew.

Text:

But the origin of Jesus Christ  was this:  When his mother Mary was asked in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child out of the Holy Spirit.  But Joseph, her husband, being just and not wanting to make her a public example, had decided to release her secretly.  But when he considered these things, behold!, and angel of the Lord was made manifest to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been brought forth in her is out of the Holy Spirit.  And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Literally, the first line reads:  "The genesis of Jesus Christ was this."  Matthew is drawing on the name of Moses' first book, drawing a link between the "genesis" of the creation, and the "genesis" of Christ, the new creation.

Engagement in those days was, you might say, "virtual marriage."  The couple would be considered to be married, but were not yet living together.  The length of this engagement would be influenced by the amount of dowry to be paid to the family for the wife, and also by the length of time it took the groom to make suitable living arrangements for he and his wife.

Mary turns up pregnant, which creates a crisis in their relationship.  Who is the father?  You wonder why Matthew chose to tell us that part.  Luke tells his entire Christmas story without mentioning the questionable paternity of Jesus.  Was Matthew dealing with an early rumor, one that asserted Mary was raped by a Roman soldier?  (The Roman writer, Celsus, later asserted this c. AD 150, and used Matthew's gospel a source.)

Roman soldiers had likely swept through Nazareth upon the death of Herod in 4 BC.  When Herod died, there were uprisings all through the land of Israel.  Rome had to bring three Legions from Syria to suppress all the revolts.  This would have involved about 20,000 soldiers.  (The soldiers were stationed in Syria to counter a major empire to the east, Parthia.)  One of the revolts was in Sepphoris, only a few miles from Nazareth.  The Roman Army destroyed the city. 

Matthew presents Joseph as a "just" (dikaios) man.  This is a tremendous accolade, coming from Matthew, for whom dikaios is a major category.  He did not want to expose Mary to public ridicule and "decided to release her (apolusai) secretly." 

One wonders about this.  Apolusai may mean divorce, but it seems unlikely that such a thing could be done "secretly" in a small town.  It could mean that Joseph was sending Mary away to have the baby.  Even that, however, wouldn't have really solved the problem.  In any case, the sense of the text seems to be that Joseph was trying to handle the situation with minimal damage to anyone's reputation--his, and Mary's as well.   

This represents a new idea of "just."  Joseph is not wanting Mary to be held up as a public example (deigmatisai).  Technically speaking, Mary could have been stoned to death, as could the father of the child, if known.  Strict adherence to the law was, in some peoples' minds, the very definition of "justice."  Strictly speaking, under the law, Mary dies.

But Joseph is portrayed as elevating compassion--concern about disgrace for Mary--above strict adherence to the law.  This pre-figures the "new justice"--compassion over "religion"--that will be taught by Jesus himself later in Matthew.  Jesus will quote Hosea twice in Matthew, both times the same citation:  "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (9:13, 12:7).  I desire compassion, in other words, and not the religious act.

In verse 19, the NRSV has:  "...just when he (Joseph) had resolved to do this..."  An alternate translation of the word enthumethentos would read this way:  "...as he was deliberating about this..."  In other words, his mind was not "resolved" at all.  He was pondering, reflecting, thinking, mulling over this difficult situation.

Joseph's pondering is in verse 19.  His deliberations are framed by two mentions of the Holy Spirit, one in verse 18, another in verse 20.  These mentions of the Spirit frame Joseph's muddled situation described in verse 19.  Might we say that, even in his doubts and ponderings, Joseph is held in the Spirit?

The angel intervenes by addressing Joseph as "Son of David."  This is the sixth mention of "David" in Matthew's gospel, and we've only gone 20 verses!  David was the "messiah" figure par excellance.  He was the great king who had defeated Israel's enemies, and ushered in a great "golden age."  For Matthew, not only is Jesus the "new Moses."  He is also the "new David." 

The angel encourages Joseph not to be afraid.  Mary "will bear (texatai) a son."  The root word is tipto, a word whose primary meaning is to bring forth fruit from a seed.  The idea of "bearing fruit" is of major importance throughout Matthew's gospel.  "Beware of false prophets," Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (7: 16).  How will you know if they are a false prophet?  "By their fruits"--by what they do, by what they bring forth.  Here, Mary brings forth the fruit of Jesus.

The angels tells Joseph that the child is to be named "Jesus"--"Yeshua" actually, which is "Joshua," which means "he will save."  The name recalls the great leader, Joshua, who had led the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land. 

This new Joshua will save "his people" from their sins.  A major theme of Matthew is the problem of unbelief in Israel, the main subject, in fact, of Matthew's third major section of his gospel.  Nevertheless, despite their sins, Jesus will save "his people."  Matthew follows with the first of five Old Testament citations:

But all this had come to be so that what had been spoken of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, a virgin will be with child and will brihg forth a son and they will call his name Emmanuel," which, translated, is, "God with us."

Matthew must have been using the Septuagint--the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures.  (The Septuagint version of Isaiah 7: 14 uses "virgin," but the original Hebrew does not.)  Isaiah was referring to a "young woman" who was already pregnant during the reign of King Ahaz, who was, at the time, dealing with a twin threat from Aram and Remaliah. 

"Behold, the young woman is with child," says Isaiah.  By the time this child is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, Isaiah continues, the land in front of the two enemies of Ahaz will be deserted.  Isaiah was not predicting the future, in other words, but speaking to the immediate situation facing King Ahaz in the 8th century BC. 

Here's a telling difference between the NRSV translation and that of the New International Version (NIV).  The NRSV supplies "is" which is not present in the Hebrew--"the young woman is with child"--while the more conservative NIV has "the young woman will be with child."  (Is it just me, or is the NIV always careful not to upset the sensibilities of the pious who want to see Isaiah as foretelling the future, even though he clearly wasn't?)

In verse 23, we are given another name the child--"Emmanuel" is added to "Joshua."  The latter will be the child's personal name, and the former might be thought of as his ruling title:  "God with us."  When the book of Matthew closes, Jesus will say, "I am with you always" (28:20). 

In fact, the phrase is ego meth hemone eimi.  Note that the "with you" (meth hemone) is placed between ego and eimi.  Ego eimi is the divine name (in Greek) and would normally be held together.  That Matthew breaks apart the divine name in order to insert "with you" in the middle is a way of saying that God's people are held intimately within the very life and identity of God.

And Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his wife, and he did not know her until of her was brought forth a son and he called his name Jesus.

As mentioned, this is the first of five dreams in Matthew's Christmas story.  In the case of Joseph, it also recalls that earlier dreamer, Joseph, son of Jacob, who interpreted dreams for Pharoah in Egypt.  Joseph, the "just" man, does as he was told, married Mary, and named the new baby Jesus.  In those days, it was the father's perogative to name the child.  In naming Jesus, Joseph is "owning" the child and accepting responsibility for him.

Comments

[JC]

Heifer International (HI) is an organization that claims to work against world hunger by donating animals to families in developing countries. Its catalog deceptively portrays beautiful children holding cute animals in seemingly humane circumstances. The marketing brochure for HI does not show the animals being transported, their living and slaughter conditions, or the erosion, pollution and water use caused by the introduction of these animals and their offspring.

By definition, animals raised for food are exploited in a variety of ways. The animals shipped to developing countries are often subject to; water and food shortages, cruel procedures without painkillers, lack of veterinary care resulting in extended suffering as a result of illness or injury.

A large percentage of the families receiving animals from HI are struggling to provide for themselves and cannot ensure adequate living conditions, nutrition, and medical care for animals they have been given. HI provides some initial veterinary training to individuals and the initial vaccines. But, long term care for these animals and their offspring is up to the individuals.

To make matters worse, animal agriculture causes much more harm to the environment than plant-based agriculture. The fragile land in many of the regions HI is sending the animals cannot support animal agriculture. Although they say they encourage cut and carry feeding of the animals to avoid erosion, the reality is often quite different.

The consumption of animal products has been shown in reputable studies to contribute significantly to life-threatening diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a variety of cancers. Regions that have adopted a diet with more animal products see an increase in these diseases. The remote communities supposedly served by HI have no way of dealing with the health consequences of joining the high-cholesterol world.

While it may seem humane and sustainable to provide just one or two dairy cows here or there, the long term consequences are an increased desire for animal products in local cultures leading to an increase in production. These communities may be able to absorb the additional water use of one or two cows, what happens when there are hundreds or thousands of dairy cows, each consuming 27 to 50 gallons of fresh water and producing tons of excrement? The heavy cost to animals, the environment and local economies is not figured into HI's business practices.

[Brother Bartimaeus]

Thanks as always for this, and congrats on making it through all three lectionary years!

I've always thought Joseph has gotten short changed as the stand in dad for Jesus. However I'm leading several people in our church through reading the entire bible this year (almost done!) and it occurs to me that we seriously downplay that Joseph is Mary's kinsman-redeemer in this story. That is the most cherished and important roles in the Old Testament.

In fact, it seems that all the women mentioned in Matthew's geneaology had kinsman-redeemers of sorts. Tamar and Ruth had traditional kinsman-redeemers, Rahab was redeemed by the spies (or is she really the redeemer?), and after Uzzaiah's death David cares for Bathsheba (of course not innocently). Not only does Jesus come from the line of David, but he comes from a long tradition of redemption in Israel.

I've also been wrestling with the virgin prophecy, but am at a place now that I think it is a red herring. The prophecy that is fulfilled isn't that Jesus would be born a virgin, but that God is with us. There are at least ten different times, all of them crucial points in Israel's history, that God says "I am with you."

Peace

[John Petty]

Hi Bro,

Thanks for that note about "God with us" in the OT. I may use that in my Christmas Eve sermon!

[Timberland Store]

So cute! I already like you on FB and also get your posts on Google Reader. :)