Matthew 1:1-25
During the week, I saw an advert that surprised me. Let me read it to you
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You may ask, what’s surprising about this? Well, I am surprised that a school is offering a discount on fees because of Christmas. I thought this is done only by shops and other service providers like the hospitality industry. The fact is that Christmas, the season we have become highly commercialised. Everyone is cashing in. Of course, this is a season of festivities. We are buying food, drinks, pastries, cakes and what have you. It is a season of giving as the school advert claims. Therefore we are also sharing gifts.
If you are abreast with the news, there is this annual refrain or chorus from those who sell at the business city of Accra “This year the market is not good, people are not buying.” A trader who was interviewed during the week on one of our local media houses went as far as saying the government should postpone this year Christmas. The market is not good at all. Apart from the commercialisation that has become associated with Christmas, this is also going to be a season of parties, musical concerts, comedy shows etc.
Now for those who are not Christians, and even among some Christians, this season is just a holiday. It is very likely that in the midst of the commercialisation many and even we Christians may lose the reason for the season as they. Of course, again, I acknowledge that not all Christians celebrate Christmas. That matter can be addressed later.
But for the majority who do celebrate Christmas, this season is about one person: Jesus Christ.
It would be easy to be critical. Yet, in a day of small things, the festive season, so called, has one advantage: it reminds the public of at least the name and the fact of Jesus Christ. The pity is that men seldom go beyond that and that the church itself appears content to leave the supreme mystery of its faith only vaguely hinted at in the glitter and gaiety of what it calls its greatest festival. Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the CHurch to speak and she blushes, smiles and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already perfectly familair from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes. (Donald Macleod, From Glory To Golgotha)
The quote is an indictment on the church sort of. We don’t take the opportunity Christmas offers to press in the Christian message. Now in the midst of everything Christmas is not, I want us to look at what Christmas is about today. Our topic for this morning therefore will be simply The Birth Of Christ. The title is taken from the first lines of verse 18: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way”.
I will want us to consider our title from three perspectives. The Manner of Christ Birth, that is how he was born. Then The Mission For His Birth, that is why was Christ born or the purpose for which Christ was born. And the Meaning of His Birth.
The Manner of Christ’s Birth
You will notice clearly that Matthew after he has spoken about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which we looked at last week goes ahead to describe to us how Jesus was born: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…” (v.18a). The phrase in this way clearly tells us Matthew is describing how Christ was born—the manner of his birth.
Matthew introduces us to two people (Mary and Joseph) who are legally pledged to be married. The word betrothed means “legally pledged to be married.” This according to commentators is the first stage of Jewish marriage and it is legally binding. These two people find themselves in an awkward situation. The bride is pregnant when they had not even settled or consummated their marriage: “before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (v.1).
We know the natural process by which a human being is born and by these words Matthew clearly points out to us Jesus’ birth was not natural but supernatural. The text is clear: This child is not Joseph’s. The child is from the Holy Spirit. This baby is not of the natural process of conception through which human beings enter the world. This child is a special child.
This is astonishing! This has never happened in history! And more, Mary was a virgin (v.23). She herself was astonished when the angel broke the news of her conception to her (Luke 1:34)
This child is the second person of the Triune God who has humbled himself to take residency in the womb. God, who transcends all of his creation and cannot be contained in any of his creations, is here going to be contained in the womb. He is going to go through a full gestational period of nine months.
Christ grew from zygote to foetus to infant to child to adolescent man. It had the same nutritional and environmental needs (Donald Macleod, From Glory to Golgotha)
Now at this moment, you and I know in the narrative that the child is from the Holy Spirit. However, Joseph doesn’t. The Scripture doesn’t tell us how Mary explained the matter. But Mary would have definitely explained the matter. She would have definitely recounted the whole encounter with the angel and ended with “the child in me is from the Holy Spirit”. And you don’t expect Joseph to believe that, do you? Joseph suspects unfaithfulness.
He is contemplating divorce. But he is a just man the Scripture tells us (v.19). Joseph doesn’t get much mention in the Christmas narrative, does he? Our attention is on the mother. I think that’s how the natural world works. Mothers get all the attention and fathers, nothing. Joseph was a just man. At least we can look at the narrative and come to terms with a certain understanding of being a just man.
He sought to obey God by putting away Mary who is pregnant with a baby not his (Deuteronomy 24:1). However, in obeying God, Joseph is not being vindictive. He seeks to avoid Mary shame. This is someone he loves. Mary hasn’t suddenly become an enemy. The man is disappointed. Broken-hearted I am sure. But he is going to do this thing, not with the intent of shaming Mary. This is love. This is a man showing love and respect even when hurt and disappointed. Just men are considerate maybe I should say. And this should teach us something about failed relationships. We need not become acrimonious
Now the fact that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus but an adopted one may teach us some spiritual truth. I think we can say Jesus was adopted into the family of Joseph, so we will be adopted into God’s family.
Jesus’ birth was a supernatural birth. It is was unlike anything that has ever happened before in humanity and will ever happen. He wasn’t the only one born on that day. But his birth was special from all other births.
The Mission For Christ’s Birth
Why was Christ born? What’s the purpose of his birth? Why did he, who is God, condescend to live among humans? Verse 21 gives us the answer: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” This here is why Jesus was born. For the salvation of sinners. Every entrant into this world is a sinner. We inherited Adams sin from birth making us enemies of God. Not only that. All of us are people who have committed our own sins. And these sins, as Scripture teaches, have separated us from God.
We are guilty before God and deserve to be punished. Nothing we do is sufficient enough to appease a Holy God. God, therefore, sent Jesus into the world to save sinners and reconcile us to himself. His birth, therefore, was for the mission of paying for our sins.
When I was growing up, there was this chorus we sung
He paid the debt he did not own, I own the debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away
And now I sing a brand new song, “Amazing grace”
Christ Jesus paid the debt I could never pay
This summarises what the purpose of Jesus was about. To pay the debt of sins he didn’t own. Which we owed but cannot pay. There are other details in the verse we must pay attention to. “She will bear a son…”
The details are amazing. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the lamb required for sacrifice for the sins of the people was specifically to be a male. The Passover lamb in Exodus was to be a male; without blemish: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old” (Exodus 12:5). In Leviticus 23:19, this is again emphasised: “And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering…” (Leviticus 23:19).
These are no haphazard events. These are meticulous fulfilment of prophecies. This is God keeping every detail of his word. Every detail of God’s word will be fulfilled. Every detail of God’s promises shall come to pass. The birth of Christ is a fulfilment of prophecy as we saw last week (v.22). Again, the verse speaks about Christ saving “his people.” Throughout Scriptures, there is an indication that God has a people. Does this mean all people are not God’s people?
Yes. Scripture presents to us a people who are called God’s elect. We will come to the doctrine of election one day. But election simply states that Before the foundation of the earth, God predestined some people to salvation ( Ephesians 1:3-12).
There are indeed people in Scripture called God’s elect (Matthew 24:22; Romans 8:33) God has promised to save his people. And this promise is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ whom we celebrate today.
The Meaning of Jesus’ Birth
Look at the last part of verse 23: “which means God with us”. This is the meaning of the birth of Jesus. In Jesus birth, God condescended to live among his people bodily. Throughout the Old Testament, God has lived among his people in various symbols and manifested himself in different ways. We can speak about the Ark in the Tabernacle for example. We can speak of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
But never in the history of humanity has God come to dwell among his people physically or bodily but in the birth of Christ. This is the greatest event in human history that God will take upon himself human flesh. This is what is called in theology the incarnation. God becoming flesh. In various places in the New Testament, we see this glorious truth spoken of clearly.
In the most famous prologue of John, we read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Paul says in Colossians 2:9 that “For in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” One of the ways of testing whether someone has the Spirit of God, according to John is that they acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh (1John 4:2).
In the birth of Christ, God came to live amongst his people. He humbled himself even to the point of death. He left his glorious throne to live among his creation (1 Timothy 3:16; Philippians 2:5-9)
God has fulfilled his promise of salvation to reconcile his people unto himself, forgive our sins and save us from eternal destruction. We can be confident that those of us who have come to faith in Christ have joined the family of God. We have been gloriously reconciled to God through faith. And have a hope of eternal life.
Amen
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