Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. 20 Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. 21 She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
Matthew begins the account of Jesus’ birth with a situation that Joseph cannot understand. Mary is betrothed to him but is found to be with child before they live together. Betrothal in the Judaism of that time was more than a modern engagement. It was the first stage of marriage, and the couple was already regarded as husband and wife. This explains both why Matthew calls Joseph Mary’s husband and why ending their relationship would have required divorce.
Matthew describes Joseph as “a righteous man” (v. 19). His righteousness includes both fidelity to God’s law and concern for Mary. Faced with circumstances he cannot explain, he intends to divorce her quietly rather than expose her publicly to shame. Christian tradition has offered several explanations for what Joseph believed had happened, but Matthew does not tell us what was in Joseph’s mind. What the Gospel makes clear is that Joseph acts without cruelty and that God intervenes to reveal what Joseph could not have known by himself.
The angel tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home” (v. 20). The title “son of David” is important. Joseph belongs to the royal line of David, and God gives him a particular role in His saving plan. The child is not conceived through a human father but “through the holy Spirit.” Yet Joseph is commanded to receive Mary and the child and to name the child. In accepting this responsibility, Joseph becomes Jesus’ legal father, bringing Him into the house of David and fulfilling the promises associated with David’s royal line.
The angel then reveals both the child’s name and His mission: “you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (v. 21). The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew name Joshua and carries the meaning “the Lord saves” or “the Lord is salvation.” But Matthew immediately tells us what kind of salvation Jesus brings. He has not come principally to free His people from political enemies or earthly oppression. He has come to save them from their sins. Sin separates humanity from God, and Jesus comes to heal that separation. God had prepared Israel to understand this saving work through the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, in which atonement for sin was associated with sacrificial blood (Leviticus 16; 17:11). These sacrifices pointed beyond themselves to the saving sacrifice that Jesus would offer once for all (Hebrews 10:10). Matthew will later show this saving mission reaching its fulfillment when Jesus gives His life and sheds His blood “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
Matthew then tells us that these events fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel” (v. 23; Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah’s prophecy originally came during a time of danger for the house of David and assured God’s people that He had not abandoned them. Matthew sees its fuller fulfillment in the virginal conception and birth of Jesus. What had been promised as a sign of God’s presence with His people is now realized in a way that surpasses what earlier generations could have foreseen.
Emmanuel means “God is with us.” This does not simply mean that God helps His people from afar. In Jesus Christ, God Himself has entered human history. The child conceived by the Holy Spirit is the eternal Son of God who has come among us. The One named Jesus because He saves His people from their sins is also Emmanuel because, in Him, God is truly present with His people.
This theme reaches from the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel to its final words. Here Jesus is announced as “God is with us.” At the end of the Gospel, the risen Jesus tells His disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The promise announced at His conception continues after His Resurrection. Jesus does not merely bring a message from God. In Him, God has come down to save us, remains with His people, and calls us back into communion with Himself.
Lord Jesus, You are Emmanuel, God with us. Strengthen us to trust Your presence, and help us to receive You with the faith and righteousness shown by Joseph. Remain with us and draw us ever closer to You. Amen.
________________________
Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Notes on Matthew 1:18–23.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. 8.
- Casciaro, Jose Maria, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. 49–50.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. 635, para. 11.
- Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010. 42–47.
- Aguilar Chiu, Jose Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. 912.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, OP, and Donald Senior, CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully rev. ed. London: T&T Clark, 2022. 1175–76.
Comments