Episode 418 Joseph’s Christmas Dream (Matthew 1:18-25)

This week BibleWorm concludes our Advent series with the less famous version of the Christmas story as told in Matthew 1:18-25. This quieter version of the Christmas story focuses on Joseph, who marries his betrothed Mary despite her unplanned pregnancy, gives Jesus his name, and adopts Jesus into the family line of David, credentialing him as the Jewish messiah. Joseph’s role is mostly to keep his male ego out of the way, and he ultimately does so without hesitation. We also discuss the two names given to Jesus in this text and what they tell us about both Jesus and God. The name Jesus, or Joshua in Hebrew, indicates God’s power to save humankind from the powers of sin and death, while the name Emmanuel, or “God with us,” gestures to the intimate presence of that God here among us in quiet and unassuming ways. In this baby Jesus, God’s saving power is present among us. What a beautiful image.