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.
Verse 18 of Saint Matthew's first chapter connects the genealogy of Jesus to the story of Mary's mysterious pregnancy. The Hebrew almah (in English maiden or young woman) of Isaiah's seventh chapter has become the Greek parthenos, meaning a virgin. She will marry the Bethlehemite Joseph so that her son will be born of David's line. With that lineage he can be both Jesus (to save his people from their sins) and a virgin's son Emmanuel, (God with us.)
Today's gospel announces something wonderful. The birth of Jesus by a virgin is more than unexpected, it is unprecedented. It is a marvelous deed akin to the parting of the Red Sea and the fall of Jericho. And yet it also fulfills the divine word which had been solemnly announced to King David, almost a thousand years before.
By now, the promise to David is an old story kept by poor families who claim the lineage of forgotten kings. If there are biblical scholars in Jerusalem who take the story seriously, we can suppose it was ignored by other families. But now it must be announced to the whole world. God is with us!
The psalmist had said, "In your eyes a thousand years are but a day!" but a thousand years is nonetheless a very long time by human reckoning. Where was the United States a thousand years ago? Can anyone name an ancestor of a thousand years past? But there were records of God's word, copies of copies of copies, which had been treasured for a millennium. Certain old men in dusty old libraries in Jerusalem studied them; perhaps they quarreled about what they might mean, having nothing better to do with their time.
And suddenly God's word to David was important even to people who'd never expected, anticipated, or heard of it. Wonderful things are afoot.
Two thousand years have passed since Joseph had his life-changing dream and the whole world knows about it. Now you'd think that God would convey his historic message in a more spectacular fashion. Shouldn't it be a sign seen by millions and accepted as gospel truth by those who hear their testimony? Can anyone doubt that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941? Or that an American walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969? If you are going to do something really historic, you make sure billions of people see it.
But the LORD spoke to Joseph in the quietest possible way -- a dream -- and the faithful man "did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Such is the power and importance of our faith. We too are entrusted with an important word. We must believe it, trust it, make all the sacrifices it demands, and share it with others.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.