St. Matthew

The Birth of Jesus

The Birth narrative begins in the 1:18 and extends though 2:23. There are several very distinct characteristics in Matthew’s telling of the story.

The story is told from Joseph’s perspective. He is confronted by the pregnancy of his betrothed by some other source than himself. It takes divine intervention through an angel who comes to him in a dream to say that the child’s origin is from the Holy Spirit. He declare Mary innocent of any wrong doing, but connects her virginity to the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, a prophecy that indicates that his child will be called Jesus (in Hebrew, Joshua = savior) but that the child will also be Immanuel = God with us. Immanuel is not a not a name but a description of God’s phenomenon.
The child’s birth brings forth cosmic validation – a star appears that draws astrologer from the each (these are gentile) who come and bring gifts of acknowledgement to the greatness of the place of this child in the world
The child’s birth in this narrative is reflective of Moses’ birth. Herod is jealous and seeks to destroy the child through the destruction of all infant boys 2 years or younger; just as pharaoh had done at the time of Moses’ birth. The implication is to relate to the Jewish sensitivity to Moses the law giver who is one of the central figures in the Jewish story.
The birth place, Bethlehem is reflected in the prophecy of Micah 5:2. Once again, this lends credence to the Old Testament prophetic expectation of the Messiah coming from Bethlehem. Bethlehem is significant in that it is birth place of David. If Jesus is be link to the role of Messiah, he has to be linked through David.
The angel returns to Joseph to give him instructions to take the child to Egypt for protection. There return on Herod’s death signals another Old Testament gestation from Ex 4:22 signaling the reality of journey from Egypt to the promised land of the people of Israel.
The death of the children signals another Old Testament validation from Jeremiah 31:15 about Rachel weeping for her children.
Upon their return from Egypt they settled in Nazareth in Galilee among the gentiles. Again this is presented as a validation from Isaiah 11:1

Matthew repeatedly traces the life of Jesus to its roots in Old Testament prophecy. In this short narrative, Jesus has been connected to the story of Moses, the Exodus, and Davidic dynasty – all signs of the true Messiah who was coming to have God’s people.

The Rev. Dr. Kipp W. Zimmermann

Thursday, January 12, 2006