Sunday Devotional: The Birth Announcement (Matthew 1:18-21)

¹⁸ The birth of Jesus Christ happened in this way. When his mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, before they had come together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Now her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and not wishing to expose her, desired to put her away secretly. ²⁰ He was considering these things when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary as your wife; for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins.”

As Christmas approaches, I thought this week we would look at the most amazing birth announcement in history. Joseph and Mary were betrothed. Some translations have “engaged” here, which is acceptable, but I want to make a distinction between our concept of engagement and the first century Jewish idea of betrothal. In our society, engagements come and go. People propose, and months later break off the proposal. Its as if we see the engagement as a kind of statement of intention, rather than a solemn promise. For Joseph and Mary, their “engagement” was tantamount to actually being married. Indeed, Deuteronomy 22:25-26 treats a man who lies with an “engaged” girl as severely as if the girl was married.

That passage gives some insight into verses 18 and 19. Joseph and Mary are betrothed, but Mary is found to be pregnant. Matthew tells us ahead of time that her pregnancy was “by the Holy Spirit”–that is, there was no physical union that caused this. God the Holy Spirit supernaturally created life within Mary. How he did this, we are not told, but I think we can infer from the passage that it just miraculously happened, and apart from divine revelation telling her what had happened to her body, she couldn’t explain it. Joseph knew that they had not had sex, so for him there could only be one explanation: she had been unfaithful. Since Mary had not accused anyone of raping her, then the consequences for Mary looked bad:

If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife (or “woman“). [Deuteronomy 22:23-24, NASB]

So Mary could have been stoned to death. Clearly Joseph didn’t want that. He was “a righteous man.” We would normally think of a “righteous” man as someone who always sticks to the letter of the law. Yet Joseph is concerned that Mary not suffer the consequences of the law, and instead wants to hide her away. Perhaps Joseph’s righteousness was the kind that obeyed the spirit of the law, where grace and mercy is extended. We don’t know if there had been any interaction between Mary and Joseph (had she had her vision of the angel recorded in Luke 1:26-38 and tried to explain this to Joseph?), but whatever else might have happened, Joseph had compassion on his bride-to-be, and tried to protect her.

He was still considering the action he was to take when he had a dream in which an angel appeared to him and assured him that Mary was not guilty of a crime before the law. Her pregnancy was a gift from God, by means of the Holy Spirit. She had not been unfaithful to him, and in fact, it is God’s faithfulness that is the hallmark of this pregnancy. The angel gave Joseph God’s plan for the child growing in Mary’s womb: he will save his people from their sin.

Take a moment to consider these words. The reason for Jesus being born in a manger, growing up in a Jewish family, embarking on a three year ministry of teaching and healing, and finally being crucified was for the salvation of his people. It wasn’t to demonstrate a good life, or to be a wise teacher, or to stand up against injustice, or anything else. There was no social or political agenda. This was between God and man. Sinful men needed to be redeemed, and the only way to do this was for God the Son to come to earth, live the perfect life we couldn’t live, and die the perfect sacrificial death in our place. And, of course, to rise again three days later, that we too might rise with him.

And finally, notice that the saving of his people is not a possibility. Jesus didn’t come so that “he might save his people from their sin, if they want him to.” There is no indication of potential failure. He will save his people from their sin. Not the whole world, mind you, but his people. If you are in Christ, if you are one of his people, you can, therefore, have confidence that your salvation is secure. And this is why we should celebrate Christmas.