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When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)

The Gospel of Matthew starts off with the genealogy of Jesus.  Seventeen verses of it.  Now we all know that genealogies are dull, boring, and long but also probably important somehow.  Often times when the church focuses in on the genealogy of Jesus the sermons will zero in on how Jesus is the Son of David, or will talk about the time periods that bookend at Abraham, David, the Babylonian Exile, and the Messiah, or perhaps touch on the strange inclusions of five women in the genealogy as we did at Immanuel last Advent. 

But rarely do we focus in on the most glaring issue that this big long genealogy presents, which is the fact that it’s not Jesus’ genealogy!  It’s Joseph’s.  And Jesus is not Joseph’s son.  Which means that Jesus is also not one of King David’s sons.

Matthew is very clear to point this out throughout this first chapter.  The genealogy itself draws you into the rhythm of ______ the father of _____, ______ the father of ______.  Over and over again.  But then the cadence breaks when we get to the last entry which does not say Joseph the father of Jesus, but instead says that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.”  As Matthew continues in the next verses of his gospel, he is very clear to point out that what was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit, not from Joseph—indeed, they did not consummate their marriage until after she gave birth to a son. 

So how exactly is it that Jesus becomes the descendent of David?  It’s not by blood.  It’s by adoption.

Joseph adopts Jesus as his own son, even though Jesus was not his own son.  Ever notice that?  Jesus, the one through whom we become adopted into the family of God, was himself adopted.

Now Matthew’s gospel never says this directly.  None of the gospel writers do.  But there is a Jewish tradition that to name something is to take responsibility for it.  Adam names the animals at the beginning of Creation.  In doing so, Adam takes responsibility for them as he was charged to do. 

I wonder then if the unspoken act of adoption occurs right here in the final verse of chapter 1.  The climax of the genealogy and the story is not only Joseph’s act of taking Mary home to be his wife even though he knows she’s pregnant and not by him, but it is also Joseph’s act of naming Mary’s child, and in so doing, taking responsibility for this child as he was charged by the angel to do.  Joseph does not abandon Jesus to illegitimacy and therefore exclusion from the people of God.  Joseph adopt this child as his very own. 

The one called “Jesus” who would “save his people from their sins,” first needed to be saved himself from exclusion when he was most vulnerable; first needed himself to be adopted into a people, so that he might save his people.  I marvel at the incredible acts of humility our saviour pursed to become our saviour.    

Today on my ornament, I’m going to draw that thing you’ve been itching to draw all along: the baby in the manger, and over it I’m going to write the word: “Adopted.”

For our act of being with someone today, I’d invite you to perform one “act of humility” today in relationship with someone else.  That could be something as simple as not insisting that you were right in a conversation where you normally would, letting someone else go first ahead of you, or offering forgiveness.  You decide.