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Lectionary Reflection
Year A, Advent 4
Standard (Episcopal) Lectionary Revised
Common Lectionary
Gospel
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Matthew 1:18-25 (Standard
Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary)
| Now the birth
of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother
Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together,
she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her
husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose
her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.
But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph,
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,
for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for
he will save his people from their sins." All this
took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through
the prophet:
"Look, the virgin shall conceive
and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us."
When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the
Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no
marital relations with her until she had borne a son;
and he named him Jesus.
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Reflection
on Matthew 1:18-25
by John G. Gibbs, PhD
The focus of all four texts in
the Revised Common Lectionary is the good news ("gospel")
for a whole community that they are collectively to be restored
to wholeness of life ("salvation").
Though Matthew 1:23 quotes from
the Septuagint rather than from the original Hebrew, and thus
has "virgin" rather than "young woman,"
even so Mary's virginity may not extend beyond Jesus' birth
(1:25). In any case, the whole point of recounting the birth
of Jesus as Messiah is to announce the reality "Immanuel,"
"God with us." For Matthew the genealogy of Jesus
is both human (1:1-17) and divine (1:18-25). The import of God
being with us is clear to Matthew's readers, who could see that
the name "Jesus" is formed out of a Hebrew root meaning
"to save."
Accordingly, salvation is the meaning of Jesus' lifework. It
remains for Matthew to spell out what salvation means: for "the
crowds" and "the mountain" (5:1) where an extended
sermon is located, for "wilderness" and the "voice"
that cries out there (3:3), for "unclean spirits"
confronting "twelve disciples" (10:1), for the creation
within which Jesus walked, told parables, ate, slept, was crucified,
buried, and resurrected, and for the last mountain in Matthew's
gospel, the place from which Jesus sent out eleven disciples
who were commissioned by "all authority in heaven and on
earth" (28:16-20).
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To Reflections on other Readings for Year A, Advent
4:
| Reflections available at the
active links |
Standard (Episcopal)
Lectionary
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Revised Common
Lectionary
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| Old Testament (Hebrew Scripture) Reading: |
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| Psalm |
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| New Testament Lesson |
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| Gospel |
Matthew 1:18-25
(this page)
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Matthew 1:18-25
(this page)
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John G. Gibbs,
PhD, a retired theologian, resided in Park Rapids, MN, when
he originally wrote this reflection in 2007. John and we welcome
your comments. Please address your comments or additional reflections
to John
G. Gibbs or any MEESC
member, or mail them to:
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MEESC
c/o C. Morello
4451 Lakeside Drive
Eveleth, MN 55743-4400 USA |
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The MEESC assumes
that all correspondence received is for publication on this
web site. If your comments are not for publication, please
so note on your correspondence. The MEESC reserves the right
to decide which items are included on the website.
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This page last updated
2010-12-09.
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