Christmas – Matthew 1:18-25
Please listen with me to a reading from the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the 18th verse.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
When my grandmother was born in 1908, her parents decided to name her Gladys Mae. That’s what they told the doctor who delivered her, and that’s what the doctor reported to the town clerk.
But then her parents changed their mind, and decided to name her Catherine Margaret instead. Catherine was her grandmother’s name, and Margaret was her aunt’s name, so that seemed to make better sense. This was the name that was written in the family Bible, and by which she lived for many years.
But then, in adulthood, she needed a copy of her birth certificate in order to get a Social Security number. The town clerk’s office was contacted. But no birth for Catherine Margaret was recorded. Only a birth for Gladys Mae.
It was eventually straightened out, through my grandmother’s father signing an affidavit, testifying to what her name was really supposed to be. But before it was straightened out, she had two names: the one registered with the town clerk, which was her legal name, and the one written in the family Bible, which was the name she went by.
In today’s text, is St. Matthew telling us a similar story regarding the name or names of the Messiah? Did God the Father at first choose a certain name for his Son, and arrange for that name to be written down in Old Testament Scripture? But did he then change his mind, give his Son a different name, and reveal that alternate name to Joseph?
St. Matthew quotes from the Prophet Isaiah when he writes:
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.’”
But St. Matthew also reports that the angel who had been sent by God to Joseph told him, with respect to Mary’s pregnancy:
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.”
So, was Jesus originally named Immanuel, according to Biblical prophecy? But was he then given a new and different name soon before he was born?
Well, not exactly. What happened with respect to my grandmother, with her indecisive parents, is not what happened with respect to our Lord. God the Father was not being indecisive here, but he was making two important points.
According to the Biblical concept of a “name,” God’s “name” is not only the specific term or terms by which he is known. His “name” also includes everything that reveals something about his character or his will.
In today’s text, Matthew points out that, in Hebrew, the word “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Immanuel is therefore a “name” for Jesus – even though Jesus did not actually go by that name – since the meaning of the word “Immanuel” conveys an important message about Jesus, and about who he is.
Jesus was not a mere man who later, in the imagination of his followers, was lifted up to be a kind of god. Rather, he was the one true God from all eternity, who in the fullness of time lowered himself to become a man.
In the mystery and miracle of the incarnation, God’s eternal Son – the Second Person of the Holy Trinity – became a part of human history. The creator became a part of his creation.
The eternal divine Word took to himself a human nature from his mother Mary, and became our brother according to the flesh. And this union of the divine and human in the person of Christ is a permanent union.
The humanity of Jesus was exalted in his resurrection and ascension, but it still exists as an exalted humanity. Jesus not only was God with us, but he is God with us, and will always be God with us.
This is most vividly experienced by us in the Lord’s Supper, where we do not received a mere symbol; and where the real presence of Christ is not limited to his divine nature or his divine Spirit, either. Jesus comes to us in his body and blood – his human body and blood – and touches our humanity at the point of his own humanity.
Jesus is “God with us” in a very special way in this sacrament, but he is God with us in all times and places, in heaven and on earth, now and forever.
He is God with us everywhere and always, because that’s what Immanuel means. And that’s why Jesus is “named” Immanuel. It is an enduring testimony to who he is as God in human flesh.
But the thought of God being with us, all by itself, is not necessarily a comforting or happy thought. Why is God with us? What is he going to do to us?
Jesus being Immanuel could mean that God is with us, so that he can condemn and destroy us, on account of our sins. Indeed, on the Last Day, the divine-human Immanuel will be visibly present with the entire human race, precisely to be the judge of the living and the dead.
And we must honestly admit – as we do admit in the Small Catechism – that “we daily sin much, and deserve nothing but punishment.”
This is why that second name of God’s Son, and the meaning of that second name, are also very important. “Jesus” in English comes from the Greek way of writing the Hebrew name Joshua or Yeshua. And what Yeshua means in Hebrew is “Yahweh saves” or “the Lord saves.”
So, in Christ, and in the gospel of Christ, God is with us: not to pour out his wrath upon us, but to save us. God comes to us and lives among us in the Babe of Bethlehem: not to give the human race the punishment that it deserves; but to give the human race a second chance, and a way back to fellowship with God through repentance and faith.
In St. John’s Gospel we are told:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
And the Book of Acts quotes St. Peter: “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.”
That’s what “Jesus” the word means. And that’s what Jesus the person does. As the angel told Joseph, the child to be born was to be named Jesus, because “He will save His people from their sins.”
Jesus is able to save his people from their sins because Jesus is Immanuel – God with us. Only God, who is the creator of heaven and earth, can make us to be new creatures. And we are made to be new creatures in Christ.
Only God can forgive sins. And God does forgive sins in Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
We are so thankful on this Christmas Day, and on every day of our lives, that we are able to know Immanuel before Judgment Day comes, not only as Immanuel, but also as Jesus.
He is the Lord who saves us, by his perfect life, by his innocent death, and by his glorious resurrection. He is the Lord who saves us from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and – ultimately – from the consequences of sin: as he promises us a resurrection to eternal life.
The birth of Jesus marked the beginning of his life among us. It is indeed a key component of the story of our salvation.
And the names of Jesus that today’s text from St. Matthew tells us about – the earlier name that God had revealed through Isaiah, and the later name that God wanted Joseph to give to the baby – are also key components of the story of our salvation.
If Jesus did not have both of those names, and if the meaning of those two names did not define who he was and what he came to do, there would be no story of salvation for us to tell and to believe.
But our Lord does have those names. And we do have that story, to which we can cling forever.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Amen.