Matthew's story points us to two dimensions of gift giving. There is the wrapping and manner in which the gift is given. Secondly there is the actual content of the gift.

The Wrapping of God's Great Gift

Very often the way a gift is wrapped and presented can mean everything. A dozen roses delivered by a singing quartet to your wife's place of work will make for a birthday gift never to be forgotten. (Also guaranteed to demolish a doghouse in about 3 seconds flat!) The woman who was proposed to on the Oprah show in front of a nationwide television audience will never forget the way she received her engagement ring.

You would not likely wrap an engagement ring in newspaper or a Rolex watch in a brown paper bag. Who would display a dozen roses in an oil can or showcase a crystal chandelier in a bedroom closet?

So how do you suppose God wrapped up and displayed the greatest gift of all -- the gift St. Paul called "indescribable"? If it were you or me, would we not want the Son of God to be born in a royal household where heralds would trumpet his arrival and servants would wait upon his every need. Should the Son of God not have the finest silken gowns and bejeweled pillows upon which to lay his head? Shouldn't the whole world be waiting at the palace gates to hear the news of his birth?

Anybody who is anybody today has a public relations expert to advise them on important issues. Certainly a publicist would consider Matthew 1:18-25 a terrible way to go about the birth of the long awaited Messiah!

Think about it. An unplanned pregnancy of an unwed mother engaged to a blue collar Galilean without the means or connections to arrange a birthing suite! "Lord," the publicity person would protest, "This simply won't fly -- no one will believe it. Messiah born in a barn? To a woman pregnant before her marriage? This will never do!"

And yet, as St. Paul says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom..." (I Cor. 1:25) Could there be any more powerful way to invite the "everyone" of John 3:16? If Messiah had been born in a castle, to a royal family in the midst of all the splendor this world can offer -- he could not be my Messiah -- for I am none of those things. No, God wrapped his great gift of love in the most simple way and presented it through the most humble parents and thus made it possible for any of us, from the greatest to the least to reach out and receive God's gift!

Deep within our hearts there sometimes lingers a sense that we might not be acceptable to a holy, almighty, righteous God. But a God who comes to a stable and chooses humble folk like Mary and Joseph to be parents of the Messiah -- well such a God just might care for the likes of me!

The Content of God's Great Gift

When I come to unwrap God's great gift, there are two powerful words that tell me what I have received.

Jesus! and Emmanuel!

The name Jesus (or Joshua) means savior.¹ In Jesus, God has given us the "One who saves". This savior who was born in a barn and condemned to a cross can surely understand the trials and difficulties you and I face.

The name Emmanuel means "God is with us." In Jesus, God has come to be present with us -- all of us! The manger and the cross give strong witness to that. To his followers Jesus promised, "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you..." (John 14:18) It is the ancient promise God made to young Joshua who felt the incredible weight of the mantle of Moses. "I will never leave you or forsake you." (Joshua 1:5)

The Gift of God's Presence is the ultimate, perfect gift that fulfills the deepest longings of the human heart. The gift Matthew speaks of in our scripture is the perfect gift we've all longed for -- sometimes without even knowing consciously. The virgin's child will be called Emmanuel -- God is with us. This gift is the fulfillment of the deepest hopes and dreams of human history -- the arrival of God in our midst. This is the gift that Augustine spoke of when he said, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."

In a time of national trial, Isaiah cried out for the presence of God, "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence..." (64:1) The prophet Joel spoke of a time when Israel's trials would be over and says on behalf of God, "You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other." (Joel 2:27) The concluding vision of fulfillment in the bible is that of Revelation 21:3-4, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."

In other words, when God is with us, there is perfect peace and every longing of every heart is fulfilled. We glimpse something of this in Christmas worship when our hearts are open and expectant and we sing the words of Phillips Brooks, "O holy child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in; Be born in us today."

As we come to the very threshold of another Christmas, may God grant that each one of us may by faith unwrap the great gift of God.

Jesus saves!

God is with us!

Amen!

Notes On The Text (Matthew 1:18-25)

¹ Actually the word Jesus "Yeshua" means "Yahweh is salvation"

v. 21 The words "Jesus, for he shall save" -- are almost lilting in Hebrew -- Jesus (Yeshua) shall save (Yoshia). "Yeshua, yoshia."

v.22 "... to fulfill what had been spoken" - Matthew uses this fulfillment formula seven different times, (1:22, 2:15, 3:15, 8:17, 12:17, 13:35, 21:4) which is consistent with his desire to show the strong connection between the O.T. and the coming of Messiah in Jesus.

There is voluminous literature on the subject of Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew's use of the verse. We note here simply a summary of three essential positions:

1) There are some who see Isa. 7:14 as referring to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth alone. (The "single reference") theory. Isaiah's intent would be along the line of: "Since you refuse to trust in God -- your alliance with the Assyrians will finally not be the answer for Judah. Judah will crumble! However, God has a sign for you anyway, a virgin will conceive...." The fact that the sign would not have a current application does not matter because Ahaz has already tuned out anyway.

2) Isaiah's verse is historically limited to the time when the throne of Ahaz, King of Juadah was threatened by the King of Israel (Pekah) and the King of Syria (Rezin). Isaiah urges Ahaz to trust Yahweh and even to ask a sign of God's protection. Ahaz declines the sign in phony humility -- and instead is trusting in an alliance with Assyria. Isaiah's response is to give the 7:14 sign anyway. A young woman will bear a child and name the child Emmanuel -- saying in effect, there are those who trust God in spite of all the current troubles. Matthew's use of the verse, in this view, is a bit tortured.

3) Some see Isa. 7:14 as having a "double reference". Isaiah indeed speaks to Ahaz and the contemporary situation, but the spirit who "bears along" (prophero) the words of the prophet is pointing ahead to an ultimate salvation as well as giving a sign for the current crisis.

v.23 As with the discussion of Isaiah 7:14, The literature on the virgin birth is legion and we won't rehearse it here, except for a linguistic note or two. Matthew translates the Hebrew, " 'almah" (young woman and by implication, virgin) using "parthenos", or "virgin". The Septuagint also translates Isaiah 7:14 'almah with "parthenos".

Obviously a discussion of the intent of Isaiah 7:14 relates to the discussion of the virgin birth. Luke and Matthew have independent sources of the virgin birth, demonstrating the circulation of the teaching in Christian circles. The notion of a pagan source for this story or a "competing" motivation are without merit in that the creative power of God and intervention of the Spirit in both accounts would likely not be a product of stories about births resulting from interaction between gods and women or goddesses and men.