The Birth of Jesus
Reading the Word: Matthew 1:18-25
Jesus’ genealogy is full of unexpected names with unexpected stories. And that trend continued with his birth. A virgin is with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. An angel appears in a dream.
The angel tells Joseph – a good, respectable, godly man – to go ahead and marry Mary. Can you imagine how this looked? Just think about the whispers and rumors that followed them for the rest of their lives. And this was God’s plan.
Jesus means “Savior.” This baby would save His people from their sins. He would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” When Mary held this baby, she would be holding God Himself in the flesh.
How much more unexpected could God be? God does not think like we think. He does not plan like we plan. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
How should we respond to a God so surprising and unexpected? Like Joseph, we should trust Him and obey (1:24-25). Even if we don’t know where it might lead.
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