Readings: Isaiah 7:10-17 | Romans 1:1-7 | Matthew 1:18-25
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
The generation of Jesus Christ. What’s in the word generation? It depends upon those who came before it. No matter who our parents are or if they were the ones who raised us, they handed down various things to us—hereditary traits, perhaps even some disease. But what is also true of us is that our fathers all handed down a spiritual condition: sin. You can see that in the fact that every generation before us has died. We will die too, one day.
But what is this? The generation of Jesus Christ is different! Listen up, because this birth has the power to save! At first, Joseph thought his marriage was lost before it ever got started, because there’s only one way that children are created. More sin! More death! Yet, before Joseph could take action, “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’”
It was a good thing that they had not come together yet as husband and wife, because nothing would have changed. Yes, the joy of the wedding, the delight at the birth of a child, the excitement of that baby taking his first steps, the pride as their child learns the commandments of God and confesses them for himself. Maybe some day he would get married himself, and then Joseph and Mary would be grandparents. But the dark cover over all of it is death.
“4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4–9)
That’s true, until God brought this holy family together for His holy purpose:
“21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:21–23)
Look at the way God answers the needs of the passing generations! Some hoped for a time when heaven would be ripped open, and the Lord would come to end all the toil immediately. Some struggled in vain to reform humanity into what they were meant to be. But this is the way that God truly intended to save us from our sins: the Christ would be born.
Bearing a son doesn’t seem like a great feat. Every mother here knows this firsthand. Some mothers in our congregation are even expecting now. But this is the way that God chose to bring us salvation. God with us. Not God apart from us, God forsaking us, God judging us. “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
This Son, born to Mary, is given the name Jesus—”The Lord saves.” The generations before had been given names of significance. Noah was supposed to bring relief from the curse (Gen. 5:29). Abram, exalted father, God named Abraham, father of a multitude on account of his offspring (Gen. 17:5). And the Lord had given another name which was to come: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) All the names that came before, had been future hopes, but in this one, God was accomplishing what generations had been waiting for: A true relief from the curse of sin, for God’s blessing of sonship for every family of the earth, and for God to rend the heavens and come down to save us from our sins [Isaiah 64:1-5]
God was named by human lips: He will save His people from their sins. If we truly see God as He reveals Himself, we will confess that He is able to do all that He wishes—even being born in weakness. This is His saving work, which redeems us from the whole of our sin-plagued lives: that of our parents, and—God grant it—the lives of our own children.
This holy Child, whose birth we celebrate, did grow up. He took His first steps. He learned to speak and write. He most likely apprenticed with Joseph as a carpenter. Besides being the only child who was without sin (which parent wouldn’t dream of this!), Jesus gave His mother and adoptive father a shock when He stayed behind at the Temple and was about His true Father’s business.
When He was grown up (Luke tells us about thirty years old, Luke 3:23), Jesus went into His true Father’s business, and His Name began to be fulfilled: “He will save His people from their sins.” From the banks of the Jordan, God the Father’s voice declared: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) In the years of His ministry, He taught, healed and cleansed, forgave people their sins, and even raised a few dead people. But even that wasn’t His full purpose, for those were only signs of His coming [cf. Matthew 11:4-6].
He saved His people from their sins as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29]. He saved His people from their sins in what appeared as utter weakness and failure to people’s eyes. But just as His birth had been unique among so many others, His death was propitiatory, which means that it answered for the sins of all mankind. On the Third Day, His own resurrection meant restoration for all who have faith in Him.
Christmas is not just a nice myth for our community to pass down; it is the real God who came into real history in order to deliver a real salvation with real hope. It was not just a dream. It is the reality by which we are saved:
“24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
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