Matthew 1: 18 25 Announcement To Joseph

Target year level: Year Five

Scripture text

Introduction

Scripture scholars think that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the last part of the first century CE sometime after 70 CE. Matthew’s intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice. Matthew’s text has many Jewish references that take for granted an audience familiar with Judaism.

For further background on the Gospel of Matthew, see the The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Matthew.

World behind the text

Many scholars believe Matthew’s Gospel was written at Antioch, a Greek speaking city with a number of Jewish synagogues. Antioch became the capital of the Roman province in Syria in 64 BCE and in the first century CE was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Christianity had become well established in Antioch by 80 CE. A number of other possible locations with a similar demographic to Antioch are also suggested as possible sites for the writing of Matthew’s Gospel.

Matthew 1:18-25 needs to be read and understood in relation to questions and disputes in Matthew’s community about the precise relationship between the Christian churches and Judaism. Within Christian churches, there were disputes over the extent to which the observance of Jewish Law and cultural practice was required of Jewish and Gentile Christians. This and other matters were a source of ongoing tension between Early Christian house churches and the local Jewish Synagogue.

Matthew’s Gospel was also written at a time of increasing tension between the Jewish synagogue and Christian church over claims about truth and authenticity. On both sides there was a general hardening of attitudes. For further information see Early Christian churches and Judaism.

For further information, see the teacher background information, Who Wrote the Gospels and When?

World of the text

A major emphasis in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah. From Matthew’s Christian point of view, the teaching of Jesus brings the Torah to its fullness, its full meaning and significance. Matthew uses ‘formula quotations’ throughout his Gospel. ‘Formula quotations’ are quotations from the Hebrew or Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) preceded by the formula “all this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet” (cf. Matthew 1: 22-23). For further detail on Matthew’s use of Old Testament texts see Felix Just - Matthew Old Testament Quotations.

There are seven instances in Matthew’s infancy narratives where the author quotes from the Old Testament seeking to reinforce the point that Jesus is the Messiah and the fulfilment of Jewish expectations about the Messiah. In structuring his infancy narratives, Matthew underlines Jesus’ Jewish lineage from Abraham and through King David (Mt. 1:1-17), and then in Mt.1:18-25 The Birth of Jesus the Messiah uses quotations from Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8-10 to indicate that Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah. For Matthew, there is a strong affinity between Jesus and the figure that Isaiah envisaged as the one to come, the expected Messiah. (The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Isaiah – Themes and Theology.)

World in front of the text

Leadership in every area of life is crucial if society is to flourish and serve the common good. Leaders are the focus of many expectations on the part of those who follow them and are affected by their leadership. Some say that we often have unrealistic expectations of our leaders. We might say that we often expect our leaders to be latter day messiahs protecting us from all that threatens our welfare and delivering to us every good thing. When leaders fall short we tend to label them false messiahs and metaphorically at least, torture and crucify them. Already in the infancy narratives in Matthew, there is a sense of threat surrounding the infant who for Matthew is the expected Messiah. All this is a constructive lesson for Matthew’s community and for ours of the demands and inevitable cost of faithful Christian leadership and discipleship.