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THE CHRISTMAS VIGIL MASS (Cycles ABC)

Readings:
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Matthew 1:1-25

Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation).  CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).

The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy.  The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095). 

The Theme of the Readings: The Word Made Flesh
The Prologue to the Gospel of St. John tells us that Jesus is the Word who "became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (Jn 1:14).  The revelation of the Word made flesh is the focus of the readings for the celebration of the Christmas Vigil Mass.

In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah uses marriage imagery to express the intimacy of God's relationship with His covenant people. After the covenant people violated their covenant with Yahweh and experienced God's divine judgment, the prophets longed for the day when God would symbolically take back the covenant people as the Bride of their Divine Spouse.  It would be a day when God's redeemed people would experience their final salvation.  The symbolic image of marriage is the same imagery found in the New Testament where Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride.  Jesus will fulfill Isaiah's hoped-for restoration of the covenant people in the Divine Bridegroom rejoicing in His Bride in the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride at the climax of salvation history.

The Responsorial Psalm recalls God's eternal covenant with King David that his throne would endure forever.  Jesus son of David, Son of God fulfills the promise of the eternal Davidic covenant.  Jesus established His New Covenant Kingdom of the Church that is the eternal kingdom promised to the Davidic heir whose destiny was to bring salvation to God's people who will "forever sing the goodness of the Lord" in their liturgy of worship.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul gives a survey of the history of the covenant people from Israel's divine election in the Exodus experience to the mission of Israel's last Old Testament prophet, St. John the Baptist.  However, the focus of Paul's message is on presenting Jesus as the promised Davidic Messiah who God raised from the dead to bring salvation to His people. 

In the Gospel Reading, St. Matthew delivers a revelation to his readers by announcing that the long-awaited Messiah, the one promised by the prophets to restore the kingdom of David, is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.  He presents a detailed and deliberately organized genealogy from Abraham to Joseph to establish Jesus' legal line of descent from the father of the children of Israel and the great King David.  He concludes his proof of the line of descent by the claim that Jesus' birth was a divinely ordained event.  He is not only the promised Davidic heir but the promised son of a Davidic virgin destined to bear the title "God with us."

The First Reading Isaiah 62:1-5 ~ The Splendor of the Bride of God
For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will  not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.  Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory, you shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.  You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God.  No more shall people call you "Forsaken," or your land "Desolate," but you shall be called "My Delight," and your land "Espoused."  For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse.  As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.  

In this hymn of praise, the prophet Isaiah announces a new city of Jerusalem that will be the restored "Zion" (verse 1).  Isaiah introduced the symbolic imagery of God's relationship with the renewed Jerusalem/Zion as the Bride of God the Divine Bridegroom in Isaiah 61:10.  Marriage is one of the reoccurring symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets in describing the relationship between Yahweh and His covenant people. In this passage, Isaiah continues the covenant marriage imagery.  Yahweh will join Himself to Zion (a symbolic name for the redeemed of the Church) as His Bride forever. The Old Testament prophets longed for the day when God would take back His Bride (see Hos 2:16-19, 21-25).  They wrote that it would be a day when God's redeemed people would experience their final salvation. 

Isaiah uses three aspects to describe Zion's marriage to Yahweh:

  1. God's determination to bring it about.
  2. Zion's spiritual splendor.
  3. The glory of the wedding celebration.

The renewed Zion will be the place where the people offer Yahweh liturgical worship and commune in the intimacy of fellowship with their God.  For the sake of Jerusalem/Zion, God will not be silent until her righteousness and salvation shine forth (verse 1).  Other nations and their kings will see the beauty of God's Bride.  It is a beauty that is not external.  Her beauty is in her righteousness and the glory of God's grace that she radiates.  She will be given "a new name" and will be "a crown of splendor" in God's hand (verses 2-3).  Zion's judgment for her past sins had been so horrific that neighboring nations saw her as "forsaken" and "desolation" (verse 4).  However, when God rescues His people, Zion will receive a new name, signifying her new relationship with her Divine Spouse.  The "new name" the renewed Jerusalem/Zion will receive from her Divine Spouse will be "my delight is in her." In verse 4, "Hephzibah" means "my delight is in her" and "Beulah" means "married."

5 Like a young man marrying a virgin, your rebuilder [maker/Creator] will wed you [your sons shall marry you], and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you. 
Verse 5 can be translated either "your sons will marry you" or "your rebuilder/maker/Creator will marry you," depending on how one translates the Hebrew according to the placement of the vowels.  Hebrew was originally written only in consonants. Looking at this passage from our side of salvation history, the Fathers of the Church saw it as a prophecy of the wedding of the Lamb and His Bride, the renewed Zion of the New Covenant Church. They also saw the prophesied "new name" as "The Bride of Christ": Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband (Rev 21:1-2 NJB).

The "sons" who will wed/marry her are the New Covenant priests, those who are "sons of the Church" who take a vow to wed themselves to the Church in making a lifetime commitment to serving the Bride of Christ.  They are the ones Jesus spoke of when He said, "Some are incapable of marriage ... because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 19:12c).  These are the "priests" mentioned in Isaiah 61:6.  Since the sixth century AD, the Church has used this poem in the liturgy on Christmas Day.  A sermon from the Middle Ages beautifully expressed the concept of Christ's union with His Bride the Church: "Like the bridegroom who comes out of his chamber, the Lord came down from heaven to dwell on earth and to become one with the Church through his incarnation.  The Church was gathered together from among the Gentiles, to whom he gave his dowry and his blessings: his dowry, when God was made man; his blessings, when he was sacrificed for their salvation" (Fausto de Riez, Sermo 5 in Epiphania).

Responsorial Psalm 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29 ~ The Davidic Covenant
The response is: "Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord."

4 I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant; 5 forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.
Response:
16 Blessed the people who know the joyful shout; in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.  17 At your name they rejoice all the day, and through your justice they are exalted.
Response:
27 He shall say of me, "You are my father, my God, the rock, my savior." [...].  29 Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm.
Response:

Psalm 89 recalls the eternal covenant God made with King David (2 Sam 7:13-16; 23:5; 2 Chr 13:5; Ps 132; Sir 45:25). The Davidic covenant is enduring because God has sworn it (verse 4-5). In verses 16-17, the focus of the psalm moves to the blessings extended to God's people through the Davidic covenant. That they walk "in the light of your countenance" refers to the Davidic king and the people being guided by the hand of God and His commandments (verses 16-17). The "he" in verse 27 is the Davidic heir and inheritor of the Davidic covenant to whom God promised the position of sonship in his relationship with the Almighty (2 Sam 7:13/14; Ps 2).

In the Book of Revelation, St. John applies the words of verse 27 to the resurrection Jesus when he calls Jesus "the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Rev 1:5).  Christian tradition focuses particularly on verses 26-27.  St. Athanasius wrote: "We read here how he who was made incarnate through the power of the divine economy calls God himself his father: 'I go up to my Father and your Father, my God and your God' [Jn 20:17].  He is the one of whom the prophet speaks: he calls the child that is born 'Mighty God, Everlasting Father' [Is 9:6]" (St. Athanasius, Expositiones in Psalmos, 88).

This reading from Psalm 89 makes us aware that the Incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, son of David and Son of God, fulfills the covenant God made with His servant David.

The Second Reading Acts 13:16-17, 22-25 ~ St. Paul's Summary of History of Salvation
16 When Paul reached Antioch in Pisidia and entered the synagogue, he stood up, motioned with his hand, and said, 17 "Fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing, listen.  The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and exalted the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt.  With uplifted arm he led them out of it.  [...].  22 Then he removed Saul and raised up David as king; of him he testified, 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.'  23 From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.  24 John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; 25 and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am?  I am not he.  Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'"

The congregation in Antioch Pisidia is Jewish but also includes Gentile converts and Gentile God-fearers.  This discourse of St. Paul is the 6th kerygmatic address in Acts.  Notice the differences in style between Peter's five addresses (Acts 2:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43) and Paul's style in 13:16-41.  Paul begins his homily by calling on his fellow "Israelites," suggesting all the descendants of Jacob-Israel and not just the Jews of Judea (Paul repeats the word "Israel" three times in verses 17, 23 and 24). 

Paul begins with a survey of Israel's history from Israel's divine election in the Exodus experience to the mission of Israel's last Old Testament prophet, St. John the Baptist.  Notice how Paul, like Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin in Acts Chapter 7, pays close attention to historical details in the Torah and the historical books.  However, Paul's theme focuses on proving that Jesus is the promised Messiah who God raised from the dead to bring salvation to His people.  Paul skips over the history of the Patriarchs and Israel's rejection of God's prophets. 

Paul proclaims Jesus as the promised Davidic heir.  He uses the words "raised up," referring to David being chosen by God to be Israel's king as an allusion to Jesus' resurrection when God "raised up" Jesus from the dead to be Israel's Davidic king.  Jesus is the Savior of Israel; He is the one promised to secure David's throne forever in the unconditional, eternal covenant God made with David and his heirs (2 Sam 7:16; 23:5; 2 Kng 13:5; Ps 89 and 132; Sir 45:25).

In his discourse Paul, will quote or allude to seven Old Testament passages from the Greek Septuagint translation (LXX) just as Peter referred to Scripture in his first homily.  His first quote is in 13:22, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish, which is a combination of three Old Testament passages:

  1. I have found [chosen] David  (Ps 88:21 LXX/Ps 89:20 Hebrew)
  2. The LORD [YHWH] seeks a man after his own heart (1 Sam 13:14)
  3. ... he will carry out my every wish  (Is 44:28)

As he continues, Paul will also refer to these other Scripture passages from the LXX:

  1. You are my son; this day I have begotten you (Ps 2:7 in Acts 13:33)
  2. I shall give you the benefits assured to David (Is 55:3 in Acts 13:34)
  3. You will not suffer your holy one to see corruption (Ps 16:10 in Acts 13:35)
  4. Look on, you scoffers, be amazed and disappear.  For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will never believe even if someone tells you. (Hab 1:5 in Acts 13:41)

A week later he will speak to the same group and will quote from Isaiah 49:6, I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.

22 Then he removed him and raised up David as their king; of him he testified, 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.' From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought [raised up] to Israel a savior, Jesus (emphasis added)It is a serious error that the NAB failed to translate the verb "to raise up" in verse 23.  The verb is egerio, "to waken, to raise up from sleep or death, raise (again up), rear up, rise (again up)."

The first phrase of verse 23: From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, is to remind Paul's audience of God's covenant promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12  ~ I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm (and also in 23:1).  Connecting this promise to David and Paul's reference to God who "raised up David" in verse 22 and the same verb in the next part of the verse: From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought [raised up] to Israel a savior, Jesus, Paul is declaring that Jesus is the heir of David and the "raised up"/resurrected Savior of Israel.  Paul purposely uses the same verb to refer to Jesus' resurrection five times in 13:23, 30, 33, 34 and 37 in the Greek text.

24 John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel 25 and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am?  I am not he.  Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.' 
St. John was the prophet who announced Jesus' coming and prepared Israel to receive Him through a baptism of repentance.  Notice the focus is still on Israel as the intended recipient of the Messiah.  The quote ascribed to St. John appears to be a combination of St. John's testimony found in Luke 3:16-17 and in John 1:19 and 27.  Paul's words should remind us that we need to continue to prepare for the "coming" of the Christ, the sinless one who we must greet in a state of grace if we want to enter with Him into His Kingdom of Heaven.

The Gospel of Matthew 1:1-25 ~ The Genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.  3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab.  Amminadab became the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.  Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.  Obed became the father of Jesse, 6 Jesse the father of David the king.  David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph.  8 Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah.  9 Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.  10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah.  11 Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.  12 After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.  Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok.  Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar.  Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.  Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah [Christ].  17 The total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah [Christ], fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus
18 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."  24 When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife into his home.  25 He had no relations with her until [heos] she bore a son, and he named him

Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  With the opening two Greek words biblos geneseos, translated as "the book of the genealogy" in the NAB, St. Matthew takes the reader back to the very beginning of salvation history, since these first two words literally mean "book/scroll of origin/beginning" or "book/scroll of Genesis."  These words only appear together in two other passages in Scripture.  In the Greek Septuagint translation (translated from the Hebrew in c. 250 BC), these words appear in Genesis 2:4 in the passage describing the beginnings of heaven and earth and 5:1 in the Bible's first genealogy, the genealogy of Adam's descendants:

The second use of biblos geneseos begins the first genealogy recorded in Sacred Scripture—the genealogy of the family of Adam.  The genealogies (in Hebrew the toledoth) in Old Testament Scripture serve as the unbroken physical link to the New Covenant in Jesus of Nazareth.  They provide proof that the fulfillment of the promise of mankind's future salvation made in Genesis 3:15 through the "seed of the woman" is in Jesus the Christ.  The third use in Scripture of the two words biblos geneseos signifies to the Jewish reader that salvation history has now reached its climax in Jesus the Christ/Messiah in a new beginning for all humanity.

"Jesus" is the English translation of "Iesous," the Greek form of the Jewish 1st century AD name Yehoshua, "Joshua" (Yahshua in ancient Hebrew), a name which in Hebrew means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation."  St. Matthew will use Jesus' name 150 times and the title "Christ," Christos in the Greek, 17 times.  Christos means "one smeared with oil."  The Greeks did not have a word which corresponded to the Hebrew word mashiach, "messiah," meaning "the one anointed (by God)," so Christians gave a new meaning to the Greek word christos.  God anointed kings, priests, and prophets for divine service.  Jesus fulfilled all three holy offices (see CCC 453, 783).  The significance of St. Matthew's use of the title "Christ" for his Jewish audience is that it is a royal title signifying Jesus is the promised Davidic Messiah.

St. Matthew delivers a jolting revelation to his Jewish readers with this opening line by announcing that the long-awaited Messiah, who was promised by the prophets to restore the kingdom of David (late 11th century BC – 6th century AD), is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.  "Messiah/Christ," a title of the Davidic kings (see 2 Sam 22:51 and Ps 2:2) and "son of David" are the two most prominent titles Matthew uses for Jesus in his Gospel.  The use of these titles applied to Jesus raises the expectation of the Jews that God, in fulfillment of His oath, will re-establish the kingdom of David in a Davidic Messiah to reign forever over His people: For you said, "My love is established forever; my loyalty will stand as long as the heavens.  I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will make your dynasty stand forever and establish your throne through all ages," as we read in the Responsorial Psalm passage (Ps 89:3-5, also see Ps 89:27-38; 2 Sam 7:16; 23:5; Is 9:6-7; Jer 23:5-6; Ez 34:23-24; Hos 3:5).

In the next phrase in verse 1, St. Matthew makes the connection between Jesus, King David, and Abraham... the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Notice that St. Matthew introduces Jesus Christ as "son of David" before calling Him "son of Abraham," even though Abraham came before David and is the "father" of the Israelites. In this way, Matthew focuses attention not on the blood-line through Abraham but on King David and God's covenant promises that identify Jesus as the Messianic king foretold by the prophets as David's heir (i.e., Is 11:1-12; Jer 23:5-6; Ez 34:23-24).  For St. Matthew, the royal rank of the "Kingdom" through David is greater than the rank of birth through Abraham.  As St. Paul wrote, not every progeny of Abraham was numbered among the people of God (Rom 9:6-7; Gal 3:16); for example Ishmael and his descendants and Abraham's five sons by Keturah and their descendants (Gen 25:1-4).

Verse 2 begins the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth.  Only the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke provide Jesus' genealogy (see Lk 3:23-38).  The Church Fathers believed that Matthew's genealogy reflects Jesus' legal claim to the Davidic throne through Joseph (who the angel Gabriel called "Joseph son of David" in Matthew 1:20 and identified as of the "house of David in Lk 1:27).  St. Luke's list appears to be Jesus' bloodline through Mary, His mother (Lk 1:32).  The daughters of Israel who were heiresses were encouraged to marry within their tribal families to preserve inheritance rights over the land allotted to each tribe (Dt 36:1-9).  A tradition which dates to the 2nd century AD identifies Mary as the only child of a Jewish couple named Joachim and Anna who were descendants of David (Protoevangelium of James, 1-9).

Matthew mentions David's name five times in his genealogy.  In Scripture, five is the number signifying grace and power.  Also notice that Matthew's genealogy begins and ends with David's name.  It is significant that St. Matthew warns his Jewish readers that he is revealing Jesus' genealogy in a pattern format when he writes: The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ (Mt 1:17)He manipulates the list into 3 sets of 14 generations to create 42 names in the list of the descendants of Abraham to bring attention to the link between the names and the covenant promises God made to both Abraham and David.  The letter/number equivalent of David's name in Hebrew is the number 14. Among all the genealogies in the Old Testament and the two found in the New Testament in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mathew's genealogy is unique.  St. Matthew manipulates his list of the ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth to produce significant numbers associated with names and generations within his list.

It is unusual to name women in a genealogical list, and in naming women it is odd that Matthew did not name prominent women like Abraham's wife Sarah or Isaac's wife Rebekah, or Leah and Rebekah, the mothers of the children of Israel.  Matthew names a five women as Jesus' ancestresses:

  1. Tamar
  2. Rahab
  3. Ruth
  4. Uriah's wife (Bathsheba)
  5. Mary of Nazareth

Four of the women were in some way involved in a scandalous past:

  1. Tamar posed as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law to become pregnant
  2. Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute
  3. Ruth was a Moabitess (from a people who were the descendants of an incestuous act)
  4. Bathsheba (he doesn't even name her) was an adulterous wife. 

Perhaps naming these women, all connected to scandal, is a preemptive strike against the scandalous lies that some Jews were circulating about Mary of Nazareth.  If these women could become the mothers of the leaders of the people of Israel (like Bathsheba's son King Solomon) with important roles to play in God's divine plan, who were they to say that Mary's son was not destined by God to redeem His people?

The real surprise for the Jews is the list of the descendants of David from King Jechoniah/Jehoiachin to Joseph, a genealogical list that can be found nowhere else in Scripture.  When one compares the genealogy of Jesus in St. Matthew's Gospel with that of St. Luke, the two lists from King David to Joseph only have two names in common.  As already mentioned, St. Matthew's list appears to reflect Jesus' legal claim as an heir of David through His adopted father St. Joseph, while St. Luke's genealogy records his biological claim through Mary.

16 Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.  Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah.
For a second time, Matthew identifies Jesus as the Messiah.  St. Matthew does not list Jesus as the son of Joseph; instead, he lists Jesus as the son of Mary who was married to Joseph.  St. Matthew defines Jesus' birth only through Mary.  Joseph is His legal father not his biological father.  He also identifies Jesus by the royal title "Messiah/Christ."  Both lists in Matthew and Luke end with Joseph who was Jesus' legal father.  According to the traditions of the times, legal paternity through adoption, Levirate marriage (Dt 25:5-10), etc., was sufficient to confirm all heredity rights.  An ancient Christian teacher wrote: "Behold the strange and wonderful birth of Christ.  It came through a line that included sinners, adulterers, and Gentiles.  But such a birth does not soil the honor of Christ; rather, it commends his mercy" (Anonymous author, Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily I).

Matthew 1:18-25 ~ The Birth of Jesus
In verse 18, St. Matthew uses Jesus' royal title "Messiah/Christ" a fourth time (see 1:1, 16, 17, 18).  There can be no doubt for the reader that Matthew presents Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Davidic Messiah.

Joseph was betrothed to Mary when he discovered she was pregnant.  A betrothal was not like a modern engagement.  According to the customs of the times, a couple became "betrothed" when the bride price (paid by the groom) and the dowry (paid by the girl's family) were paid, and the marriage contract signed.  The couple did not live together until the groom made preparations to bring a wife into his home.  With the completion of all the preparations, the groom brought the bride to his house, and friends and family celebrated in a seven-day wedding feast (Gen 29:27; Judg 14:12), after which the couple began to live together.  However, in the interim period, they were legally and morally bound to each other under the specific laws enumerated in the Deuteronomic Code (see Dt 22:23-27).  These laws presupposed that a betrothed couple was already married in a legal sense.  Any sexual contact between a betrothed woman and another man was equivalent to the sin of adultery and punishable by death for both the betrothed woman and her partner in sin (Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18; Lev 18:20; 20:10; Dt 22:22). 

When Joseph discovered that Mary was with child, she was in a precarious position.  If Joseph repudiated her, no other "righteous" Jewish man would marry her and she would be ridiculed and shunned by the community.  It is unlikely that at this time in history she would have been executed under the Mosaic Law.  The Roman held the power over life and death in the territories under their control, and Mary's supposed offense would not be considered worthy of death.

19 Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
There are two theories as to why Joseph decided to divorce Mary.  One theory is that Joseph already knew the child she carried was the Messiah and did not feel he was worthy to receive the honor of fathering the Messiah-king.  The second theory is that he believed Mary had committed adultery but wanted to spare the ridicule of the community by setting her aside without publically charging her in the Jewish Law Court.  The key to understanding the passage is to answer the question: "How would a Jew define the term "righteous man"?  For every Jew, a "righteous man" was a man who lived in strict obedience to the Law.  As a "righteous man," Joseph could not marry someone who appeared to have so grossly violated the Law of Moses.  Only an act of repudiation could release Joseph from the obligation to take Mary as his wife. The answer to Joseph's dilemma came to him in a dream when the Angel of the Lord revealed God's plan to Joseph: 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."  Notice that the angel acknowledges Joseph as an heir of King David. 

The angel's announcement follows the same pattern as the announcement of other special births of sons in the Bible.  In the Old Testament, the pattern is present in the births of Ishmael (Gen 16:11-12), Isaac (Gen 17:19), Solomon (1 Chr 22:9-10), Josiah (1 Kng 13:3), and the Davidic virgin's son (Is 7:14-17).  In the New Testament, the pattern is present in the announcement of the birth of Jesus (Mt 1:20-21 and Lk 1:31-33) and John the Baptist (Lk 1:5-20).  Each of these birth announcements follows this pattern:

  1. A word of announcement begins the pattern (i.e., "behold").
  2. The announcement of the child's name.
  3. The revelation of the child's identity.

God's revelation to Joseph in a dream recalls the dreams of another hero of the Old Testament who had the same name, Joseph son of Jacob also received communication from God in dreams. See Gen 37:5-11:19.

Notice that the angel makes three significant statements to reassure Joseph that he should take Mary as his wife:

  1. Joseph must finalize his marriage with Mary by taking her into his home.
  2. Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
  3. Joseph is to name the child "Jesus."

21 She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
According to the customs of the times, if a man named a child born from his wife or a woman he had been intimate with, he was declaring the child legally his.  The angel's command leaves no doubt in Joseph's mind that he is to be the child's legal human father.  The Hebrew name he is commanded to give the child is Yehoshua in Aramaic (Joshua), which means "Yahweh saves"—the angel made a word-play on the name by stating "because he will save his people from their sins."  The name also subtly identifies Jesus with the Divine Name, Yahweh; it is a connection that will not become clear until later.  The angel defines the Messiah's mission as spiritual and not political.  Jesus will be born to save mankind from their sins, not from Roman oppression.

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." 
This Old Testament reference is the first of St. Matthew's ten "fulfillment" formula statements (ten is the number of divine order) which begin "this was to fulfill ..." and followed by a quote from an Old Testament passage or by an allusion to a combination of several passages in one quotation.

Fulfillment statements:

The purpose of the ten "fulfillment" statements in St. Matthew's Gospel is that they show everything God did in the Old Testament was part of His divine plan in preparation for the Advent of the Messiah.  The prophecy Matthew refers to is Isaiah 7:14, which Matthew declares is the prophecy of Jesus' virgin birth.  The Isaiah prophecy is the first of the approximately 65 times St. Matthew will quote the Old Testament.  Matthew says Mary and Jesus fulfill this prophecy.  Mary is the virgin, the specific woman prophesied by Isaiah, who will give birth to "God with us!"   She is also "the woman" promised by God to bear the son without the seed of a man who will defeat Satan and bring salvation to mankind in Genesis 3:15.  St. Irenaeus (martyred c. 198/200 AD) compared the Virgin Mary to the virgin Eve: "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race ... The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith ... Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary 'the Mother of the living' and frequently claim: 'Death through Eve, life through Mary'" (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3, 22, 4).

Both Isaiah and Matthew identify the son born of the virgin by the title "Emmanuel," in Hebrew "God with us."  Jesus will affirm that He is "God with us" at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel in Matthew 28:20.  After His Resurrection Jesus will promise His disciples: And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. 

24 When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife into his home.  25 He had no relations with her until [heos] she bore a son, and he named him Jesus. 
The angel's message confirmed for Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to the promised Messiah, and he demonstrated his obedience to God by immediately taking Mary into his home.
In verse 25, Matthew states that Joseph had no physical relations with Mary before the birth of Jesus; however, there has been some confusion over this verse concerning the perpetual virginity of Mary of Nazareth.  The Greek word heos, translated as the modern word "until" in this passage, does not mean that St. Joseph had sexual relations with Mary after Jesus' birth.  On the contrary, he did not have intimate relations with her before the birth of Jesus, and that condition continued after Jesus' birth. 

In the Hebrew and Greek translations of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word 'ad and the Greek word heos do not have the same sense of meaning as our use of the word "until."  We usually understand the word "until" to mean a certain act did not take place for a time and then after that time the act did take place.  This is not the use the word heos in the Bible.  Instead, the word can mean an act did not take place for a time and then continued to not take place; heos is a word used as an adverb of continuance (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, # 2193, page 268).  Here are some examples where the word heos appears in the Old Testament Septuagint (LXX Greek) translation and the New Testament as an adverb of continuance:

The so-called "brothers" of Jesus mentioned in Scripture are His kinsmen. It has always been a teaching of the Church that the "brothers and sisters" of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels are the children of Joseph by a previous marriage or cousins. In Hebrew, there was no designation for siblings, or half-brothers, or step-brothers.  The Greek word used to designate Jesus' "brothers," adelphos, is the same word used for Jewish kinsmen, for "brothers" like the Apostles St. James and John Zebedee, and all "brothers" in the faith (i.e., see Acts 1:14, 16; 2:29, 37).

It is a dogma (truth) of the Catholic Church that Jesus' birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it" (CCC 499).  See the document "Did Jesus Have Brothers and Sisters?"

The Church expresses the perpetual virginity of Mary of Nazareth in three parts: in her virginal conception of Jesus, in giving birth to Jesus, and in her continuing virginity after His birth:

The use of this triple formula to express the fullness of this mystery of faith became standard with St. Augustine [354-430AD], St. Peter Chrysologus [c. 400-450AD], and Pope St. Leo the Great [440-461AD].  CCC 499: "The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man.  In fact, Christ's birth 'did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it.'   And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the 'Ever-virgin.'" The Virgin Mary is both fruitful mother and ever-virgin, and, according to Revelation 12:17, she is the mother of all who "keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus."

Catechism References (* indicated Scripture is quoted in the citation):
Isaiah 62 (CCC 1611*), 62:4-5 (CCC 219*)
Psalm 89 (CCC 709)
Acts 13:24 (CCC 523*)
Matthew 1:16 (CCC 437), 1:18-25 (CCC 497*), 1:20 (CCC 333*, 437, 486*, 497), 1:21 (CCC 430, 437, 452, 1507*, 1846, 2666*, 2812), 1:23 (CCC 497, 744)

Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013; revised 2017