Wednesday 17th December
Read Matthew 1:22-23
“All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).” (NIVUK)
The first of ten fulfilment quotes Matthew scatters through his gospel account, seven of which occur as he introduces Jesus. Writing a short devotion that captures the meaning of Matthew’s message and pointing us to Jesus is particularly challenging.
A simple reading may argue that Matthew has thought about the birth of Jesus and just written about a virgin (v18), giving birth to a son (v21), and giving them a name (v21). He remembers, almost by word association, that there is a verse in the Old Testament that is like that – so hey presto – Jesus must fill that verse full!
But reading it that way demands that we accept Matthew was a vandal when it came to quoting the Old Testament – all he has at his disposal is proof-texts when he reflects on the scriptures. What Isaiah actually meant is irrelevant. But given the immense skill he has already demonstrated in the genealogy, we can’t accept that reading at all.
The problem is really with us. In order to fully grasp why Matthew interrupts his gospel (and he does interrupt it – if you deleted these two verses the story flows perfectly…) we actually need to have meditated upon Isaiah long and hard. We need to have contrasted Ahaz’ story in Isaiah 5-11 (particularly Isaiah 7) with his son Hezekiah’s story in Isaiah 36-39 and reflected on how both stories are fulfilled in Isaiah 60-66. Then we would understand why Matthew quoted this verse and argued that the birth of Jesus fills it full.
And only then would we see how richly Isaiah 7 is fulfilled in Jesus – when the virgin daughter brings forth One who will restore and redeem humanity from its exile from God and allow us to find our true home.
