In this passage Matthew may work from an assumption that some people, both in his day and in ours, would challenge: the ability to obey God does not depend on age. Jewish men in Joseph’s day generally married around the age of eighteen or twenty, after working to save some money. Jewish women could marry as young as twelve or fourteen, upon reaching puberty, though, like Greek and Roman women, they could be married much older. Yet aside from his background assumptions, Matthew also provides clearer lessons in this narrative. First, he affirms, against any possible misinterpretations of the virgin birth, that Joseph controlled himself, practicing sexual restraint. By calling Joseph righteous (1:19) Matthew invites us to learn from Joseph’s character about fidelity, discipline and preferring God’s honor above our own. This paragraph assumes the principles of sexual fidelity and discipline that both Jesus and his Jewish contemporaries demanded. Like most first-century Jewish people, Joseph was faithful to his future spouse in advance, awaiting marriage, and he expected the same in return. So clearly does Matthew want his audience to understand that this was part of Joseph’s character that he points out that even once he and Mary were married, they refrained from marital relations until Jesus’ birth (1:25). Second, Matthew implicitly teaches about the nature of commitment in marriage: infidelity is always unjust, whereas divorce is just under some circumstances. Because Matthew wrote his Gospel as a whole, his narratives often illustrate principles that he teaches more explicitly in other contexts, and this is one such case (see 5:32). Some modern readers of the Gospels have treated divorce as sinful regardless of the reason, including cases of adultery, abandonment or abuse. This text challenges that prejudice, inviting readers of Matthew’s divorce teaching in 5:32 and 19:9 to remember Joseph’s righteousness and the exception that Matthew’s Jewish audience would have understood permitted Joseph divorce and remarriage.
Matthew also emphasizes that Jesus is the Savior (1:20-21). At times when I have preached principles of sexual fidelity and betrayal from this passage, many hearers have been moved to repentance. At that point I am happy to turn to the other main character in the passage. Not only does Matthew teach us about the authority of Scripture through Isaiah and about fidelity, commitment and obedience through Joseph, he also provides teaching about salvation from sin through Christ. Even while Jesus is in Mary’s womb, the angel declares that his name will be Yeshua (here in its Greek form Iesous, translated “Joshua” in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New), which means “salvation.” Jesus would bear this name because he would save his people from their sins (1:21). Jesus’ other acts of “salvation” (8:25; 9:22; 10:22; the Greek term is broad in meaning) point to his ultimate redemption of his people. One who expounds this paragraph in public thus may want to echo Matthew’s call to accept Christ’s salvation.
But Matthew speaks of more than personal repentance; he evokes the Old Testament hope of the salvation of God’s people, including the justice and peace of God’s kingdom. For Matthew, and for us, salvation from sin cannot end with a prayer. Matthew promises salvation not only from sin’s penalty but also from its power. Christ’s followers are not merely heirs of his coming kingdom but servants of the King, committed to exemplifying the values of that future world in the midst of this present evil age.
More than anything, Matthew’s narrative of the virgin birth, like every other event in Matthew, explains and exalts the character of his Lord. Many Bible readers today want to hear the Bible made “relevant” and “practical” to issues like those Matthew teaches through the example of Joseph, but nothing Matthew tells us is more practical than the way he reveals the heart and character of our Lord. As we get to know Jesus better through the Scriptures, we get to know Scripture’s author and our character becomes more like his (see 2 Cor 3:14-18). In view of Matthew 18:20 and 28:20, Matthew clearly understands God with us in Isaiah 7:14 to mean that Jesus is truly God (Mt 1:23). But as God “with us,” Jesus is also the fully human one who save[s] his people by the cross. Matthew thus invites us to consider and worship the God who accepted the ultimate vulnerability, born as an infant to poor and humiliated parents into a world hostile to his presence. Oppressors must hate such a God, for his abandonment of power for love is contrary to everything they stand for. But the broken and oppressed find in him a Savior they can trust in a world where trust is generally dangerous. Of all the world’s faiths, only Christianity announces a God who embraced our pain with us.
Father Peter Karam