Matthew. Bible Study 2: The Birth of Jesus. by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 1

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1 by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 1 MATTHEW 1:18-25 Connect: Share some stories of surprising births and adoptions unexpected babies, babies arriving at unexpected times and places, and unwanted pregnancies that turned out to be wonderful. Context: Salvation History Matthew gives us the Scriptural context of Jesus birth and describes its nature before referring to any of the historical and geographical details (which follow afterwards in chapter 2). This is because Matthew wants us to interpret the significance of Jesus birth through the lens of the salvation history shown in the genealogy (1:1 17) and in the Isaiah 7 text and its context (7:1 17), since it is cited in Mt 1:23. For Matthew, Mary s pregnancy is a sign of new hope for God s people despite the presence of foreign invaders, just as the prophecy in Isaiah 7 encouraged Judah in the time of Ahaz as foreign armies threatened (see the next study for more on the politics of Jesus day). Simplicity Matthew s Christmas story is told so simply and briefly that it is tempting to elaborate and romanticise it but we should never forget that humanly speaking, this is not a promising beginning for anyone, let alone Jesus the Messiah. Yet by reinterpreting the Jewish Scriptures, Matthew is able to show us that what is happening here is nothing short of God s plan to save his people (1:21) and ultimately the whole world (Mt 28:19 20). Mary and Joseph s relationship would have been an arranged betrothal (and so rather more binding than an engagement is today), between Joseph (a tekton, or builder- brikkie -carpenter, Mt 13:55) and a young teenage girl called Mary, and involving arrangements and exchanges between their extended families. With a shorter average life expectancy then (somewhere in the forties), typical ages at marriage would have been late teens for men and early teens for women. Young women who fell pregnant before marriage (then, as also now, in the hills of Galilee and Judea) faced impossible burdens of shame and guilt for dishonouring their father s household. Matthew shows that he is aware of this (v. 19) from a cultural perspective, but he offers here a Divine viewpoint on what is a scandalous story (humanly speaking), and transforms human shame into God s presence and glory.

2 by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 2 Content: Read out aloud, and interactively, by assigning these parts: [N] = Narrator; [A] = Angel; [P] = Prophet MATTHEW 1:18-25 [N] 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus: after his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, yet before they came together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her man, being just and not wishing to shame her publicly, wanted to divorce her secretly. 20 After thinking about these things, look! an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, [A] Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to accept Mary your woman, for that which has been fathered within her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. [N] 22 All of this has happened in order to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: [P] 23 Look, the virgin will become pregnant and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, [N] which is translated, God with us. 24 After being raised up from sleep, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and accepted his woman, 25 and did not know her sexually until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus. Words & Phrases v. 18: Literally: The genesis of Jesus Christ was thus... ; and... she was found to be pregnant from (out of) the Holy Spirit no speculations about miraculous IVF procedures are needed here; she is pregnant and the text says simply that this is of (from) the Holy Spirit. v. 19: Joseph her man (literally; husband is not used explicitly here) is a just/righteous man, yet still assumes he should do the culturally appropriate thing and break off the betrothal but quietly/secretly so as not to make a show of Mary and her family s shame (though a public shaming might have been expected in the culture of that day). v. 20: Mary (and/or her family) must have already told Joseph about her circumstances, but now Joseph has the added confirmation of an angel/messenger of the Lord in a dream, telling him not to be afraid to take/accept/receive Mary... for that which has been fathered/begotten in her... (this is the same word as the one used repeatedly in the genealogy)... is of the Holy Spirit.

3 by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 3 Words & Phrases v. 21: You are to name him Jesus/Yeshua... in other words, adopt him as your son, and give him the name Joshua (= YHWH saves), which is further changed by the Greek transliteration of Yeshua into Iesous, and comes to us in English as Jesus. Neither Hebrew nor Greek has the letter J in their alphabets, but we add it in English for good measure, it seems. v. 22: This is the first of Matthew s ten or so explicit fulfillment citations in his Gospel: The whole of this has happened in order to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet... It is very important for Matthew that the story of Jesus is told in explicit connection with, and fulfillment of, Jewish Scripture. See Mt 2:14 15, 17 18, 23; 4:12 16; 8:16 17; 12:12 21; 13:34 35; 21:2 5; 26:55 56; 27:5 10 (also 3:14 17; 5:17; 13:14 15; 26:52 54). Many of these texts are found only in Matthew. v. 23: The text in Isaiah 7:14 reads: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (NRSV, from the Hebrew); or Because of this, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the virgin is pregnant and shall bear a son and you shall call him Immanuel (from the Septuagint, or Greek OT). Matthew shows us here and elsewhere that he is thoroughly familiar with Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Judaism. Immanuel means El/God is with us (compared with Jesus = YHWH saves), thus combining the two main names of God in the OT (El and YHWH). v. 24: Joseph rises up from his sleep and gets on with it, just as he was told, and accepts/ takes his woman. v. 25: They did not have sexual relations until after the birth, yet Joseph names his son Jesus. In so doing he publicly affirms Jesus as his own son ( naming was a very important occasion in the Ancient World; see also Luke 1:59 66; 2:21). Consider: Patriarchy? 1. Matthew s Christmas story is told from a sympathetic patriarchal perspective the angel appears in a dream to Joseph (but to Mary in Luke), and we hear of Joseph s deliberations rather than Mary s (as in Luke) yet Mary is still included in the story in a sympathetic and respectful way. In other places, Matthew records Jesus challenge to patriarchy in much more forceful ways (see 23:9, for example). How does understanding something of the culture of the day help us to appreciate this story in new ways?

4 by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 4 Consider: On the Margins 2. In Matthew s story, Joseph, Mary and Jesus end up in Nazareth (Mt 2:23) as in the other Gospels but we re not told of the journey to Bethlehem (as Luke has it) and indeed, Bethlehem isn t even mentioned until Matthew 2:1. The focus for Matthew, so far, is on the OT framework for interpreting this story, and on Joseph and Mary and Jesus. So pause for a moment and enter the story: you are Mary, a very young, new mother, with this man Joseph who is sticking by you.. you are Joseph, staring down the sniggers and scorn of some in the village, cradling and naming your son Yeshua... Yahweh saves... Happy Christmas! Together Pictures from the movie Nativity Story 3. He will save his people from their sins or from having fallen short, or from having missed the mark (Mt 2:21). The saving from sin and forgiveness of sin is a distinctive theme in Matthew (see especially the Last Supper: poured out for many for the forgiveness/release of sins ; Mt 26:28), but note the strongly corporate nature of this salvation ( his people and many ). We think automatically of personal sin and private morality which is good as far as it goes but what about our falling short as a people, as a nation, as a church? Can this Jesus deal with that sin too? Kingly Powerlessness 4. Matthew refers again here to Joseph, son of David (Mt 1:20, as also in the genealogy), and develops the connection between Jesus and David further than any other NT writer (see Mt 9:27; 12:3,23: 15:22; 20:30; 21:9,15; 22:42 45; some 17 references to David in total). Matthew wants to affirm Jesus as the Davidic Messiah but also to reinterpret what that means, and to re-define the expectations about such a person to include mercy, love and death on a cross. In the context of a foreign military occupation, how would such an understanding of a King like David be received?

5 by Dr Keith Dyer, New Testament Professor page 5 Consequence: The Prophetic 1. What do you make of Matthew s repeated references to the prophets? The Isaiah 7:14 text seems to have been fulfilled already in the days of Ahaz in a rather less miraculous way, so how can it be used again like this? Matthew doesn t seem to have in mind a simple prediction-fulfillment scheme when it comes to prophecy, but something much more selective and creative: true prophecy from the past can be re-used and reinterpreted in profound new ways! The important question seems to be What does it mean? when Matthew does this, rather than Did the prophet intend this to be interpreted this way? or Is this even a Messianic prophecy? These are questions we keep returning to as we read Matthew, because he uses the prophets like this many more times. Hope 2. How might the Christmas story bring hope today for communities caught up in violent societies or persecuted by violent regimes for the Karen and Chin communities in Burma/Myanmar, and the Dinka and Nuer in the Sudan? What about the Khmer and Vietnamese communities who have fled violence in the past? Does the promise of salvation from sin apply at the personal and spiritual level only, or is there some hope for salvation from the sins of others for these communities? Can the promise of release from or forgiveness of sins bring us hope as a people and not just as individuals? Wonder 3. How important is the miraculous side of this story? Is the miracle to be found in the mechanics of the Virgin Birth or in the reality of the incarnation? Even just asking such questions can lead to heated debates amongst some, but we ought to remember that Mark, Paul and John can all affirm the incarnation without ever mentioning the Virgin Birth as such. Of course, Matthew and Luke do tell us that story very clearly, but they do so without speculating on exactly what it means to say that which has been fathered within her is of the Holy Spirit (1:20). We should be careful that our desire to assert and prove the miracle doesn t destroy the wonder of the story. With us 4. Immanuel (= God (is) with us) is a theme that encircles the whole Gospel of Matthew it appears here in the opening credits, and again in the closing credits (Mt 28:20; look!, I am with you every day until the end of the age/aeon ). How is God with us through Jesus every day? In what ways can we experience this as truth?