A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (23:5-8)
‘Look, the days are coming
declares the Lord–
when I shall raise a righteous Branch for David;
he will reign as king and be wise,
doing what is just and righteous in the land.
In his days Judah will triumph
and Israel live in safety.
And this is the name he will be called:
The-Lord-is-our-Saving-Justice.
‘So look, the days are coming – declares the Lord – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,” but, “As the Lord lives who led back and brought home the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the north and all the lands to which he had driven them, to live in their own land.” ’
After a history of poor leadership God announces for the days that are coming the arrival of a ‘righteous Branch’, a new king of David’s line. The emphasis is on what is ‘just’ (mishpat) and ‘righteous’ (tsedaqah). This oracle probably arises during the reign of Zedekiah, whose name means ‘The Lord is my justice’, but this final king of Judah brought neither justice nor peace. The coming Messiah, however, will establish true justice, and will be worthy of the name ‘The Lord is our justice’. In the second part of the reading it is stated that the oath by which the Israelites shall swear will no longer be focussed on God who brought Israel out of Egypt, but on God who regathered the house of Israel from all the lands ‘to which he had driven them’, in a new act of deliverance which outshines the former exodus.
Psalm 72 (71) The psalm tells us that the true justice brought by the Messiah involves salvation for the poor and needy.
O Adonai, ruler of the house of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush,
and gave the law to him on Sinai,
come and save us with outstretched arm.
The ‘O’ antiphon is addressed to ‘Adonai’ (our Lord), whose name is revealed to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3), and who gives the law to him on Sinai (Exodus 20 and 24).
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (1:18-24)
The birth of Jesus the Messiah happened like this. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to disgrace, decided to dismiss her quietly. He had this in mind when suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
Look, the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which means ‘God-is-with-us’. When Joseph woke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took her as his wife.
Following the opening genealogy, this is the first of five scenes in the first two chapters of Matthew’s gospel which feature the fulfilment of a biblical text. Joseph is the central figure in Matthew’s stories, and in this passage he receives a message from an angel, just as Mary will do in the gospel of Luke. Being ‘righteous’ (dikaios), Joseph is committed to the law of God, but also to kindness and generosity. He responds to the strange request of the angel, and thereby to the voice of God, with a willingness which matches that of Mary, his wife. The story is presented as a fulfilment of Isaiah 7:14, which, in the Greek translation, reads: ‘the virgin (parthenos) is with child and will give birth to a son’. While in the original Hebrew there is no mention of a ‘virgin’, the Greek text is open to such an interpretation which supports the evangelist’s presentation of the virginal conception of Jesus.
Are the servants of the Lord always ‘righteous’?
Matthew is particularly keen to demonstrate the fulfilment of Scripture.