Sunday 23 December 2007

Background

This section from the opening chapter of Matthew's Gospel marksthe 'run in' to the climax that is Jesus' birth. It follows theopening 'Genealogy of Jesus The Messiah', which serves to establishJesus' credentials as part of the line of King David. David wasunderstood as God's anointed one within the Jewish or HebrewScriptures.

Having established Jesus' relationship with David this passagecontinues to outline the events leading up to Jesus' birth. Thisstory of Jesus' conception, from the engagement of Mary and Josephthrough to his birth (v.25) is covered in only seven verses.

This highly compressed version of the story (there are noequivalents in either Mark or John's Gospels) does not seek tooffer an authoritative historical record of the events of Jesus'birth. Rather, the author's aim is to interpret the meaning of thisevent in the salvation history of Israel and ultimately, the wholeworld.

Across the many centuries as people have reflected on this passage,some have taken the 'Virgin Birth' to mean some form of repulsionat or rejection of the legitimacy of sexual activity. Many scholarshave argued that the nature of Jesus' conception and birth shouldnot be taken as a rejection of human sexual activity. Rather, itshould be seen as a means of showing divine involvement in theemergence of God becoming human and entering into humanhistory.

The key line for many people is verse 21,

"She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he willsave his people from their sins".

Jesus, the saviour of the world - God's special blessed one who isa blessing on the world - enters into our world in order totransform all that has gone before and all that will ever be! Jesusbecomes God's supreme agent of hope for the world! The old rulesare no more! A new day has dawned!

To Ponder

Jesus is a blessing to the whole of humanity. Inwhat ways are you a blessing to others?

In what ways will Jesus' presence in the world(perhaps in your life) inspire you to break with the old rules andfind a new way of being you?