＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Jeremiah 23:5-8

 Yahweh further says,

“The day is coming when I will raise up a king who is David’s righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness.   That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called Yahweh-our-justice!”

 “The days are coming,” says Yahweh, “when people shall no longer swear by Yahweh as the living God who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.  Rather, they will swear by Yahweh as the living God who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where he had driven them, to live again in their own land!”

 

Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19

Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

 Matthew 1:18-25

This is how Jesus Christ was born. Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her. 

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins."

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel which means: God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and he took his wife to his home. He did not have any marital relations with her. When she gave birth to a son, Joseph gave him the name of Jesus.

 

Gospel Reflection：

What must be going on in the mind of Joseph? He consented to be Mary's betrothed and he found out that she is with child. Mary must have talked to him about the angel's visitation and the ministry she accepted from God. She will be the human mother of God who will become man.

As a God-fearing Jew, Joseph must have had second thoughts about his fittingness to be the earthly father of God's son. After all, Jews have this holy fear of going near God. They know that their frail body cannot contain the fierce majesty of God.

That is why no one sees the face of God and lives. On top of that, he is a humble carpenter. He has a good enough decent job to raise a family. Perhaps Joseph doubts whether he is good enough to provide for the Son of God.

But God assures Him in a dream. He is God's choice not because he is good enough. It is because God makes us adequate for the ministry He prepares for us.

 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,

the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.