4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT - A

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.

Mt 1: 18-24

v. 18 - When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, 7 but before they lived together….

Jewish marriage consists of three steps. (1) Engagement. When the couple are still children, their parents or a match-maker arranges their marriage. (2) Betrothal. It is a one-year period when the engaged couple are already considered husband and wife but not yet living together. The betrothal may be broken if the girl does not want to go through with it. Once entered into, it can only be ended through divorce. This was the stage in which the gospel of today finds Joseph and Mary. (3) Marriage proper – at the end of the one-year betrothal.

v. 19. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to ex-pose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

A just man is one who observes the Law. St. Jerome asks: How can Joseph be a just man if he seeks to hide the sin of his spouse (adultery)? He will only be a just man if he had insight into the origin of the child, that is, the child to be born was not the fruit of adultery but of divine intervention.

v. 20. Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

Jesus did not become a man through ordinary means.

v. 21. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

Naming the child Jesus means that Joseph was adopting Mary’s son. Since Joseph belonged to the House of David, Jesus also becomes part of David’s House. In this way Scripture was fulfilled. The Messiah was to come from David’s House.

Jesus is the Greek form of Yehoshuah. Joshua is the Jewish form. It means “Yahweh saves”. Jesus was born to be a savior.

v. 22. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet….

The Greek word that is translated as “fulfill” can mean two things: (1) To realize, for example, a prophecy; (2) to fill, for example, a container. Here it means to realize the full meaning of the prophecy or to bring it to perfection.