Vicar’s sermon. 21.12.25 Matthew 1.18-25

The word Messiah, which means ‘the Christ’ or ‘the anointed One’ appears in the very first verse of our gospel reading this morning. ‘Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.’ We’re in Matthew chapter 1 but by this point the word Messiah has already appeared three times in the space of just 17 verses (we pick up at vs 18). I don’t think we have ever read Matthew’s first verses in public worship here in church. John’s gospel will give us our Christmas Eve reading: ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ Mark charges in with ‘The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ and then launches into the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke carefully sets out how he has investigated the stories about Jesus and will try to give Theophilus (his reader) an orderly account of the Jesus story. But Matthew? He gives us a list of begats: a genealogy that traces Jesus’ lineage back to King David and then further back to Abraham.
We would start his gospel with verse 18: ‘The birth of Jesus took place in this way’. He however begins, ‘An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.’ And so, there it is (in chapter 1 verse 1) Matthew’s first use of the title ‘Messiah’.
The list of names in Matthew’s genealogy is predominantly male. (Luke’s gospel has a genealogy that differs – it’s in chapter 3: as with any family tree it rather depends on which branch you follow back as to what names you might find). A ‘predominantly’ male genealogy but not exclusively so. Some women get a mention: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth. We also get an allusion to Bathsheba though her name is not mentioned – instead she is referred to as ‘the wife of Uriah’ (you may remember that David had Uriah killed in order to cover up his (David’s) adultery and abuse of Bathsheba. What the women have in common is that they all have stigma attached to their name. Tamar and Bathsheba were abused sexually. The name Rahab is associated with Rahab the harlot in the book of Joshua who welcomes the Israelite spies into Jericho. Ruth is different: her stigma is that she is a foreigner who married in to the people of Israel.
In our lead up to the beginning of today’s gospel reading Matthew’s genealogy is divided neatly into three. He tells us that there are 14 generations from Abraham to King David. A further 14 from David to the exile of the people to Babylon. Jesus’ birth takes place after a further 14 generations have passed. With 7 as the perfect number in Hebrew numerology, twice seven is double perfection and it is at the end of this third list of names that we get our next two mentions of the Messiah. ‘…Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.’ And then (as I have mentioned) Matthew points out his 14 generation pattern ending ‘and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.’
Only now do we arrive at Matthew’s Christmas story, only after this careful preparation that has set Jesus’ story firmly within that of the people of Israel (his descent from Abraham) and the royal story of King David. But Matthew has also prepared us for the irregularities associated with Jesus’ parentage. For Mary’s name has appeared in the genealogy. And all those ‘begats’ or ‘X the father of Y’ stumbled somewhat in verse 16 where the pattern was broken: ‘the father of…the father of…the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born’. Note the difference! Joseph is not named as ‘the father of Jesus’.
No. Instead we get the gospel for today. Joseph is referred to as ‘son of David’ by the angel. The royal connection has been established in the genealogy. But the child conceived in Mary ‘is from the Holy Spirit.’
Joseph’s role is that of protector. He protects Mary. We cannot begin to imagine the shame of this pregnancy. We don’t know whether Joseph was an older man (a widower perhaps) or a young man. But any engagement would have been arranged through Mary’s parents (certainly not by her) and the contact between the couple would have been constrained by social and cultural restrictions on a woman’s freedom. But even if this were a modern engagement between a couple who were wildly in love, just imagine the bombshell of learning that your bride to be is pregnant, not by you: that would be a discovery that would surely cancel most wedding plans. It would constitute a huge betrayal of trust. A betrayal from which it would be very difficult to recover.
To me, Joseph’s decision to try to protect Mary (‘to dismiss her quietly’) reads more as the act of an older man who had been seeking to remarry than a younger man whose pride would incite him to anger. But Joseph is addressed by God in a dream. An angel tells him to do two things. ‘He is to take Mary as his wife, and he is to give the baby the name Jesus.’ By verse 24 we read ‘When Joseph awoke from sleep he did as the Lord commanded him: he took her as his wife…and he named her son…Jesus’. He obeys. By naming the child, Joseph claims him as his own. Joseph legally assumes paternity, protecting Mary and Jesus in the process, by becoming (as we the readers know) Jesus’ adoptive father.
One final bit of detail to open up this bible passage. We should all be well aware that no-one would have been interested in Jesus were it not for the Easter claim that He had been raised from the dead. That claim caused his followers to want to look backwards and to gather together all that they knew of his life and teaching. The gospels as we have them are written backwards from the resurrection. There is a strong emphasis on the passion narrative- Jesus’ last days and the events of Holy Week- but, as time passed the gospel writers reached further back to answer questions about His birth. He was the Son of David, yes, but in what way was He God’s Son?
Jesus’ divine origin had been preached from the first. In an important passage at the beginning of the letter to the Romans Paul describes Him as God’s Son, ‘who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead’. In this passage at the resurrection, Paul sees Jesus’ divine Sonship associated with the work of the Spirit.
Others saw Jesus’ sonship being recognised earlier in His life. Do you remember that at Jesus’ baptism the voice from heaven announces, ‘You are my Son’ and then ‘the spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove’. Sonship and the Spirit again seen together. In our gospel reading then we have the same connections being made. Divine sonship, royal imagery (Messiahship connected to descent from David) and the action of the Holy Spirit.
Where does all of this land? It sets the birth of Jesus within the purposes of God – all those names and the 14 generations. This birth has been foretold, promised, longed for. The scripture quoted in our passage dates from hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. God is at work. God had promised that a descendant of David would rule for ever – here, that promise is finally being fulfilled in the birth of the Messiah. God is faithful.
Matthew’s genealogy shows us that human sin and abuse can be worked into the providence of God. It takes time, but God works for the good for those who love Him: He does not give up on us and wants the best for us. He can always do a new thing. We are not bound by our heritage or our genes, we are not programmed to make the mistakes of our forebears. A new start is always a possibility, and our past can be redeemed.
And then Joseph’s righteousness is impressive. Joseph is often overlooked. Our Christmas cards show him dozing off in a corner of the stable, hardly able to function. But he was a good man, a brave man, an honourable man. He was prepared to carry for the rest of his life the shame of this unexpected birth and, by taking the child as his own, to declare himself for Jesus. ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things’. Love for God. Love for Mary. Love for the child. Joseph carries the weight of faith. He offers us an example of discipleship. He reminds us that living and acting in a Christian way is costly.
In just a few days we will celebrate Christmas. The child will be born, the one named Jesus ‘for he will save his people from their sins’. He is the Messiah, yes. He is God’s Son: yes. He is Emmanuel: yes. He is saviour – and we long for His coming for we need the salvation he brings.