The Genealogy of Jesus Christ paves the way for the story for Mary and Joseph. Mary was the fifth and last woman mentioned in the Genealogy whereas Joseph was the forty second man whose identity remains as the husband of Mary. This is the story that we see enacted year after year on Christmas. However, the story of Advent may not be such a joyful event in the lives of these two Israelites. Before proceeding further, I would like to clarify that Matthew or any of the Gospel does not tell us that Jesus was born on a cold winter night few days after the winter solstice. In other words, we know for sure that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December to replace the festival of Saturnalia and not for any other God ordained reasons. Saturnalia was a Jewish festival of debauchery and lawlessness. What better day to celebrate the birth of the Saviour who freed us from debauchery and lawlessness than the beginning of the festival that celebrates it! Honestly, it is politics of the early church that I do not understand. The fact that Luke tells us about a census being taken in Bethlehem can ensure us that Jesus was not born in winter as it wasn't a time the rulers would choose for a census. Also, the shepherds were out in the field, which wasn't in winter. Astronomers try to explain the probable date based on the stars and as such vacillate between June and October. The fact that remains is that Jesus was born. However, the advent story is not only about Jesus. It is also about a virgin accepting to bear the child of God out of her sheer faith and surrender.
Conception and birth of Jesus (Matt 1: 18-25)
Sexual purity was a very important thing in those days and in the circumstance of her being with child Mary could not have expected her betrothed to be so accepting of the situation. Matthew tells us that it was the case and even though Joseph was unwilling to make a public spectacle of Mary because surely it would have led her to be stoned to death, he did contemplate on undoing the betrothal. The betrothal was legally binding and hence the annulment was a divorce. Yet we find that God, through his angel did stop that from happening. Joseph and Mary both were of the descendants of David as we see later that they both had to journey to Bethlehem, the town of David, for the census.
The angel informs Joseph that the name of the son born to Mary will be Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now, contrary to what we may think the name Jesus is not a singular name. In Greek the name is Iesous which is the same as the Hebrew Joshua. Nonetheless He is Joshua of Nazareth. We will focus on that later.
While Matthew narrates this famous advent story, he also continues his endeavour to prove that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He quotes the prophet Isaiah (Isa 7:14) to establish that this child, apart from being a miracle child is the promised Redeemer.
The Wise Men of the East (Matt 2: 1-15)
Matthew does not tell us about the trip to Bethlehem, the birth in a manger and the angels singing to the shepherds the good news of the birth of the King of the Jews. Luke does that in Luke 2: 1-21. Matthew does something better. He tells us about the wise men of the east. The Greek word used for them is magos which means a Magian, that is, Oriental scientist; by implication a magician: - sorcerer, wise man. We can assume that at least one of them is an astrologer who interpreted the stars as the King of the Jews has been born. Unfortunately for those who are not privy to the workings of the Great God the obvious place to look for the King is in a palace and they were led to Herod the Great who felt threatened at the information. This Herod is not to be confused with Herod Antipater who was the ruler in the time of Jesus' ministry.
The chief priests and scribes all consult the religious scriptures and discover that the King is to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Bethlehem is the town of David. With that information the magi head out in search of the new King. They were led by their stars to the place where the King remained. Thus, they do find the new King and give him gifts. The gifts again are quite symbolic.
So, the wise men travelled for what was close to a year to pay tribute to the new born King. What do you expect they brought to a royal baby? Do you think that they brought jewellery of gold and silver with precious gems, clothes of muslin and silk and what not? No. The magi brought three symbolic gifts- Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Let's look at the meaning of these gifts before moving forward with the story.
Among the gifts the most appropriate gift for the King of the Jews was Gold. The Queen of Sheba had once presented Solomon, the son of David with four thousand and eighty kilogram of gold(1 King 10: 10). However, when Isaiah prophesied about Jesus he had prophesied that the nation of Sheba would once again offer Gold and Frankincense for the 'glory of the Lord' (Isa 60:6).
Now why Frankincense. It comes directly from the Pentateuch. Frankincense is a fragrance heavily used in every worship service dedicated to God. No grain offering is complete if the flour is not flavoured with Frankincense. In fact, there are twenty one mentions of the particular incense of which there is seven separate mentions in the Book of Leviticus about it being a part of the grain offering of God. The burnt grain offering laced with frankincense was known to be a pleasing aroma to God. It was one of the components used in the anointing oil of the priests and the prophets. I believe you can already guess which was the oil that was used.
Myrrh was the second most common oil used alongside olive oil for the anointing of the priests and the prophets. It was obtained from the balsamon tree whose extract was used to make the oil which had a distinctive fragrance. Myrrh doesn't find mention in the Book of Leviticus, but it is nonetheless an essential part of the Israeli lifestyle.
Thus, the three gifts of the wise men specified royalty, sacrifice and anointing, three offices that Jesus would come to fulfil in his lifetime, Priest, Prophet and King.
These wise men were indeed wise because they did not listen to Herod but rather to God and did not inform the king about the whereabouts of the royal child. Soon, even Joseph and Mary would have to leave because Herod was not going to rest easy with another King looming on the horizon. So, they escaped into Egypt just as the earlier Joseph had. In doing so we find fulfilment of another prophecy, this time given by prophet Hosea in Hos 11:1. Hosea prophesied the coming out of the son from Egypt. For centuries this son was assumed to be Israel, the nation itself, whom Moses had led out. Again, Moses is also believed to be a type of Jesus. Typification is a concept in Bible study that sees one person as an example of another. In calling Moses a type of Jesus I am not reducing the significance of the cross. But just as Moses freed the people of Israel from the bondage and slavery of the Egyptian, so did Jesus free His believers from the bondage and slavery of sin. The hasty departure of Joseph and his family as instigated by the angel was justified Herod started a persecution and mass murder of all children under the age of two in Bethlehem.
Matthew mentions another fulfilment of a prophecy over here. Jeremiah in Jer 31:15 talks about the crying of Rachel who was the favoured wife of Jacob who in his later years was named Israel. The crying is symbolic. Here, I believe I need to mention a concept that I had a hard time grasping. It is typological prophecy. It refers to a pattern of events that are repeated over and over again so that the prophecy too may be fulfilled again. Jeremiah makes this prophecy regarding the exile of the Israelites but Matthew finds it an appropriate fulfilment as Rachel died in Ramah on her way to Bethlehem while giving birth to her younger son Benjamin.
Jesus the Nazarene (Matt 2: 19-23)
When they returned, after the death of Herod the great, the family settled in Nazareth. They thought about returning to Bethlehem but Herod's son being an equally cruel King did not give them the courage to return to Judea and an angel told them to settle in Galilee.
Now the name Nazareth is itself interesting. Isaiah in Isa 11:1 talks about the shoot coming from the stump of Jesse. The Hebrew word for an olive shoot is netser. The word Nazareth shares its root with this word. When a person introduces himself as the Nazarene, he is saying that he is the shoot that Isaiah predicted. So even though Matthew doesn't mention the prophet who had called Jesus as Nazarene we may very well assume it to be Isaiah. So, it is not surprising that Jesus did not grow up in Bethlehem. In fact, it was quite expected.
The word Nazarene also reminds us of the Nazirite vow. This vow when taken by an individual consecrated them to God. Jesus, the perfect one, is consecrated by the Holy Spirit to whom we will be introduced during His baptism. And Jesus grew up. Matthew doesn't tell us about the growing up years of Jesus. The next time we will be meeting Jesus it will be when he is thirty years old.
