This being Advent, let’s take a break and look at the birth of Jesus. Starting with Matthew’s version of the story.
Read more…Here’s the origin of Jesus the Messiah. His mother Mary, who’d been promised to Joseph, was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit before they’d married. Her fiancé Joseph, a right-thinking man, didn’t want her to be disgraced, and thought to privately release her.
While he was thinking this, look: The Lord’s angel appeared to him through a dream, saying, “Joseph ben David, don’t be afraid to accept Mary your fiancée. For the one in her was fathered by the Holy Spirit. She’ll give birth to a son. You’ll name him Jesus [God saves], for he’ll save his people from their sins.”
This whole thing took place so what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled. He said, “Look, the virgin will be pregnant, and will give birth to a son, and they’ll name him Immánuël” —which is translated “with us, God is.”
Waking from sleep, Joseph did as the Lord’s angel commanded, and accepted his fiancée. He didn’t have sex with her till she gave birth to a son. He named him Jesus.
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