Matthew: chapter 1 (Response)

The Gospel of Matthew

Emmanuel, God with us: Mt 1,18-25

Joseph

The dreams of Joseph recall the Patriarch Joseph whose dreams are described in Genesis chapter 37. Whereas the Patriarch's dreams are self interpreting (as his brothers and father realise), Joseph in his dreams sees an angel (the word means "messenger") who twice gives him instructions (1,20; 2,19) which are followed by an explanation.

Matthew describes Joseph as just or righteous, the Greek word is dikaios. We will be seeing just how important this word is for the evangelist: I mentioned 5,20: "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees..." which is a key statement. Basically, righteous means being right with God, living according to God's ways as expressed in the Jewish Law or Torah. Much more on this as we go along, but at this point we can note the evangelist's comment shows his high regard for Joseph. As the righteous man, Joseph is faithful in doing the will of God.

The Conception and Birth of Jesus: 1.18-25

Betrothal would have had the status of marriage except that the bride had not made the move from the family home to that of her husband. Hence there is the possibility of divorce in verse 19.

We have got into the habit of speaking about the virgin birth of Jesus when we really mean his virginal conception. His birth would have been a normal human birth.
It is clear that both Matthew and Luke stress Jesus as conceived by the Holy Spirit. This must have been Christian tradition from the earliest times. By making the point twice (verses 18 and 20), Matthew is stressing its importance. In Matthew, holy spirit lacks the article "the" so in a special way Matthew is saying Jesus is conceived by God's life giving power. Jesus is the son of God with a human mother, Mary, and a human legal father, Joseph. By naming Jesus (1,25), Joseph is accepting responsibility for him.

Verse 25 leaves open the possibly of later marital relations between Joseph and Mary. Church tradition though is clear on the matter: Mary is ever-virgin because her womb became the Temple of the Lord.

The Old Testament Quotations

Matthew uses quotations from the Old Testament to underline important points. On the one hand he is pointing out how the Old Testament is fulfilled in the events taking place. At the same time, these quotations also provided a commentary and reflection upon these events.

The quotation from Isaiah is a good example: Is 7,14 in the Hebrew tells of a maiden being with child. It is likely that Isaiah was thinking of the birth of a child to the current king of Judah. Christians though read the Greek version of the Bible, known as the Septuagint, and this speaks of a virgin rather than a maiden. Not surprisingly therefore early Christians soon fixed upon this quotation from Isaiah as refering to the birth of Jesus. As such, this quotation is not only fulfilled in Jesus but also gives a neat reflection upon that event.

We have here a matter of some importance, especially when the Church is celebrating its liturgy. Much if not most early Christian reflection on the Bible would have been based on the Septuagint as Greek soon became the principle language of the Church. Today, our Bibles are usually translated from the Hebrew and so the New Testament references to the Old Testament are not always clear. We need to be alert to this and to be aware that there are such differences.

Jesus

We are following an unfolding story of Jesus and as the story unfolds so we are learning about Jesus. Few of us will have the experience of reading the Gospel for the first time or without our Christian background. It helps though to try and approach our reading with an open mind.

By the end of the first chapter, the evangelist has already told us a great deal about Jesus. In terms of the Gospel story which follows, we the reader have been given privledged information. This will not be available to the characters who appear in the story - the disciples for example. We are therefore observers of their reactions.

Thus we know that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ, the anointed one of God and by the end of this chapter we know too that he is also God's son, that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit of a human mother, Mary.
We also know all about the human ancestry of Jesus, that he is a son of Abraham and so one of the chosen race, a Jew. Jesus is also son of David, thus inheriting the promises made to David. Jesus will be called "Son of David" at other times in the story (e.g. 9,27).
We are also told that his name is Jesus. This is the Greek form of Joshua which means "God saves". And we are told Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. That will be an important theme in the Gospel