In St Matthew Chaper 1 there are 4 paragraphs. They are: The Genealogy of Christ, Abraham to David; David to the Babylonian captivity; Babylonian captivity to Joseph; and the Virgin Birth.
St. MATTHEW, one of the twelve Apostles, is the author of the first Gospel. He was
the son of Alpheus and was called to be an Apostle while sitting in the tax-collector's place at Capharnaum. Before his conversion he was a publican, i.e., a tax-collector by profession. He is to be identified with the "Levi " of Mark and Luke. Christ called him to become a disciple, and later an Apostle. After the Holy Spirit had come down upon the Apostles on Pentecost, MATTHEW preached the Gospel in Judea. He wrote his Gospel to prove to his readers that Christ was the Messias foretold by God In the Old Testament.
His apostolic activity was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. His Gospel was written to fill a sorely felt want for his fellow-countrymen. For believers it served as a token of his regard and as an encouragement in the trial to come, especially the danger of falling back to Judaism. For the unbelievers it was designed to convince them that the Messias had come in the Person of Jesus, our Lord, in whom all the promises of the messianic kingdom embracing all people had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way: "My kingdom is not of this world." His Gospel, then, answered, the question put by the disciples of St. JOHN the Baptist, "Art thou he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"
I needed to include some reference for St Matthew because it will come to bear in later chapters and in the other gospels.
In this first chapter what grabs me is, after the long display of Christ's genealogy the next paragraph begins with: " Now the origin of Christ was in this wise." It is kind of a funny way of saying how Christ began. Mary was found to be with child before she and Joseph had come together. I think of some of the racy shows on TV today, Jerry Springer, and Maury, where women come on the show and they are pregnant or have had children by other men. How there husbands discover this fact and the hurt and pain that they feel. I can almost imagine how Joseph felt in that, with all the joy and expectation of his marriage to Mary, to discover that she is with child, and to hear that she declares that she has not been with another man , but this is the handywork of God. Every jewish female child and woman knew that the Messiah was coming and that he had to be born of woman.
Despite all this Joseph was a just man. How far have we come from the justice of his day. Joseph did not want to see Mary taken by the angry crowds and stoned to death. He loved her and therefore wanted to hide her from the law of the crowds and the angry mob that would want to stone her. His heart must have been deeply hurt and his anguish over this matter concerned him greatly. So he did not wish to lash out in anger and to strike back in hurt. How stark is the disparity in their time from ours today. That a man would not have sex with his wife before he marries her and yet still wait nine months before he knew her, is highly unlikely today. How was it possible then??
And then the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream bringing clarity to his confusion and peace to his troubled heart. How many of us have had an angel speak to us in a dream? And so it was. And in this wise is the origin of Christ .
St. MATTHEW, one of the twelve Apostles, is the author of the first Gospel. He was
the son of Alpheus and was called to be an Apostle while sitting in the tax-collector's place at Capharnaum. Before his conversion he was a publican, i.e., a tax-collector by profession. He is to be identified with the "Levi " of Mark and Luke. Christ called him to become a disciple, and later an Apostle. After the Holy Spirit had come down upon the Apostles on Pentecost, MATTHEW preached the Gospel in Judea. He wrote his Gospel to prove to his readers that Christ was the Messias foretold by God In the Old Testament.
His apostolic activity was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. His Gospel was written to fill a sorely felt want for his fellow-countrymen. For believers it served as a token of his regard and as an encouragement in the trial to come, especially the danger of falling back to Judaism. For the unbelievers it was designed to convince them that the Messias had come in the Person of Jesus, our Lord, in whom all the promises of the messianic kingdom embracing all people had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way: "My kingdom is not of this world." His Gospel, then, answered, the question put by the disciples of St. JOHN the Baptist, "Art thou he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"
I needed to include some reference for St Matthew because it will come to bear in later chapters and in the other gospels.
In this first chapter what grabs me is, after the long display of Christ's genealogy the next paragraph begins with: " Now the origin of Christ was in this wise." It is kind of a funny way of saying how Christ began. Mary was found to be with child before she and Joseph had come together. I think of some of the racy shows on TV today, Jerry Springer, and Maury, where women come on the show and they are pregnant or have had children by other men. How there husbands discover this fact and the hurt and pain that they feel. I can almost imagine how Joseph felt in that, with all the joy and expectation of his marriage to Mary, to discover that she is with child, and to hear that she declares that she has not been with another man , but this is the handywork of God. Every jewish female child and woman knew that the Messiah was coming and that he had to be born of woman.
Despite all this Joseph was a just man. How far have we come from the justice of his day. Joseph did not want to see Mary taken by the angry crowds and stoned to death. He loved her and therefore wanted to hide her from the law of the crowds and the angry mob that would want to stone her. His heart must have been deeply hurt and his anguish over this matter concerned him greatly. So he did not wish to lash out in anger and to strike back in hurt. How stark is the disparity in their time from ours today. That a man would not have sex with his wife before he marries her and yet still wait nine months before he knew her, is highly unlikely today. How was it possible then??
And then the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream bringing clarity to his confusion and peace to his troubled heart. How many of us have had an angel speak to us in a dream? And so it was. And in this wise is the origin of Christ .
