Dec. 18-Is. 7, Rom.1 Mt. 1:18-25
When I was a boy in Catholic school the pictures of Joseph were of someone who looked like a great grandfather next to the young Mary. Later, of course, it became obvious: the pictures were designed to remove suspicion about the biology of Jesus. In the account of Matthew Joseph(may he increase) cannot accept Mary’s pregnancy, so he resolves to divorce her quietly instead of having her taken to a religious trial and possibly receive capital punishment.Joseph gets neglected. His namesake interpreted dreams.. Joseph receives one and acts on it.
We are in the middle of a fearful king looking for a sign to strengthen his resolve against attack.will God be with the people or not?(see Ps. 46) The child will choose the good at an early age, perhaps as a sign of being special in understanding as in Is. 11 from 2 weeks ago.Our Bible translates the Is passage properly, as a young woman. The Greek translation made a possibility into more of a certainty, a virgin of marriageable age. A little more than a century ago the Presbyterian church insisted on five fundamental Christian precepts, and virgin birth was one of them. A few generations ago, it was said that when ministers went through their trials of ordination, they would respond that they agreed with Paul on the virgin birth; Paul never mentioned it of course, as you can tell from our Romans reading.. The mistake we have made is that we act as if the virgin birth is the end of inquiry instead of its beginning. Karl Barth warned that we ignore the doctrine to our peril.It is the sign of the Incarnation. God works through human beings but also breaks out of the way things are if need be.Youth v. age in OT. we have births that are a surprise due to old age-this may be one due to youth.Kings were called the offspring of god, but this king is born to the poor.this king is related to god in an especially deep, ontic way.Is. 7 lin kings 16 and child sacrifice. In the ancient world, special people were thought to be part of divine human intercourse, but at times, they too spoke of the power of God operating on a different plane.
All smoke and mirrors ?not be believed and established taaminu- teamenu Now to 10-16 is ahaz right not to ask for a sign? A little kid will prove God is with us see Ps 46 mother names well ends in ambiguity-
Joseph had to come to grips with an astonishment..One of the reasons the word comes to Matthew in a dream is that what rational faculty could deal with the message? It is a vehicle for coming to grips with an astonishing claim. In Jesus divinity and humanity exist together the name Jesus, means god saves/helps/delivers. It is Joshua to us. The Joshua a priest, and of course the great leader into the Promised Land.
Matthew is concerned with the divine pedigree of Jesus, but also the divine purpose for the birth of Jesus. I want to spend more time on Emmanuel, God with us, than the mechanism of the conception of Jesus..Not against us, with us. Not separate from us, with us. Not away from us, with us.2 names Jesus and Emmanuel. -fascinated by tracing the Jesse tree, and traces a set of ancestors all the way back to the founding partriarch Abraham.some of the people are famous; most are not. Some are women, and most of them were foreign women, or had connection with outsiders. Emmanuel is one of us.
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