Over in the book of Matthew, we see folks getting ready for Christmas (Mt 1:1-25). Getting ready for the FIRST Christmas. As a matter of fact, God is the One making all the preps. Unlike me, He didn’t wait until the last minute. God has been getting things ready for a few thousand years. I need to remember that the first Christmas wasn’t just this cute, quaint one time event. It was thousands (if not millions) of years in the making! And God was behind it all.
Before we read of His birth, we get a meticulous telling of Jesus’ family tree through His adoptive dad Joe. It’s VERY interesting and important for a couple of reasons. First, this establishes the Child as coming through the line of Abraham and David on Joe’s side. God had made super specific promises to Abe and Dave about one of their descendants (more on that later). Take a moment and check out some of the names of Jesus’ ancestors. Holy moly! There are double dealers, cheats, backstabbers, oppressive dictators and a wide variety of knuckleheads. Not exactly a series of hall of famers. That’s because this story isn’t about them. It’s about the one and only Hero of the story. Christ Jesus.
Second, Matt never refers to Joe as Jesus’ dad. He makes it very clear here in chapter one that he’s “the husband of Mary” (v16) and “her husband Joseph” (v19). On the other hand, Matt clearly wants us to be sure Who the real Dad is, the “Holy Spirit” (v18, 20). Wait, what?!? Yup, that’s right. Not the heavenly Father. But the Third Person of the Big Three. Joe is a blue collar laborer from the backwater boondocks of Nazareth. He might be a descendant of the great King David, but he swings a hammer for a living. His kids will grow up with a strong work ethic.
Third, we read that despite the supernatural influence from His Dad’s side, this Baby has a human mom. Matty lets us know that after that spectacular conception, Mary experienced a pretty normal pregnancy. It became clear that “she was found to be with child” (v18). She would go into labor and give “birth to a Son” (v25). Mary was the one chosen by God to carry and nurture the Christ. She was the one “of whom Jesus was born” (v16). Mary is almost certainly a teenager, maybe as young as 13 or 14. Joe the carpenter has popped the question and they plan to marry. But plans change when God gets involved.
This amazing combination of divine paternity and human motherhood comes together in a way no one expected. He’s not some 50/50 combo of God and mortal. Nope. He’s 100% God. He’s 100% Man. How does that all work? Don’t have a clue. It’s all part of the miracle of the Dude we’ve come to call the God-Man. The funny thing is that one of my pet peeves is when an athlete says they’ve given 150% effort. It’s not possible. The most anyone can give is 100%. Well, anyone except Jesus. He can give 200%. 100% God. 100% Man. And it took every bit of that to save my sorry self.
Fourth, there’s the Child. An angel gives Joe instructions on naming this Baby. “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save people from their sins” (v21). This is the Greek form of the ancient Hebrew name Joshua which literally means “Yahweh saves.” When look closely at verse 21, you see that this Child isn’t just some sort of undercover operative sent by God. He’s the One who’s coming to do the saving. He’s flesh-wrapped incarnation of Yahweh. He’s coming on the greatest rescue mission the universe has ever seen. This One who’s coming to save will have a name to match.
Matt tips us off to a second title for Joe and Mary’s Boy: “Christ” (v1, 16). This is the Greek version of the OT title Messiah. In other words, Jesus is the One everybody’s been waiting thousands of years for. God first promised our first parents of this Hero back in the garden (Gen 3:15). He pledged to Abraham that One of his descendants would be a blessing to the entire planet (Gen 12:2-3). Yahweh assured King David that a Member of his family line would sit on the royal throne for eternity (2Sam 7:13-14). These are just three of the hundreds of predictions of this God-sent Hero who would come to not just save the day but our very souls. This Child is the long-promised, long-awaited Messiah. He’s the Christ. This term means “Anointed One.” He’s anointed by God the Father for this incredible search and rescue mission. He’s anointed with God the Spirit in order to have the supernatural power to accomplish it.
The angel tells Jesus’ adoptive dad Joe about one of the many predictions about this Boy. He’ll be called “Immanuel, which means, God with us” (v23). God first shouted this promise through the prophet Isaiah a few hundred years before. Matt pulls back the curtain and sheds a little more light on the name. It “means, God with us.” He doesn’t want Joe to miss the point. He doesn’t want us to miss the point. This is not going to be just another Jewish baby. When Jesus makes the scene in that smelly barn, God will have come down in a way the universe has never seen. He is God with us. He is Immanuel. And what I need to always remember that He wasn’t just with us for a short 33 years. God is STILL with us! God is STILL with me! Just before His breathtaking liftoff back to His Dad, Jesus promised that He wouldn’t ever truly leave us alone again. God is STILL with us. God is STILL with me.
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