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For the last three Sundays of Advent we’ve been looking at the many Old Testament prophecies that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. In today’s Gospel we finally get to what we would more readily recognize as “The Christmas Story.” Yet, in the Gospel of Matthew we get it in a very Jewish way. Matthew kind of puts the bow on the prophecy and fulfillment journey we’ve been on for the last several weeks.
In today’s reflection, I take a rather deep dive into some of the Jewish origin story of Jesus and of Christmas. This would have been very exciting to Matthew’s audience, but I think it can help us appreciate Christmas in a new way too. The name Jesus, the title Messiah, the dynasty of the line of King David… all these things are essential for understanding what people were expecting at the time of Jesus. But they also show us how God’s fulfillment of prophecy rather unexpected.
After we do the deep dive into all the Greek and Hebrew, and Old Testament prophecy, we then need to step back and see the whole picture with fresh eyes. We should try to see how this story applies to our life today. Where has God not lived up to your expectations? Mary and Joseph certainly had expectations for their lives that never could have included what we see come about at Christmas. What was true for them and what remains true for us is that, when God seems not to fulfill our expectations, we don’t get less, we get more than expected.