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Christmas · Christmas Eve · Year A

Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph Named Him Jesus

December 24, 2025

The Dream of Saint Joseph, Georges de La Tour
The Dream of Saint Joseph, Georges de La Tour, c. 1640Musée d'Arts de Nantes, Nantes
A single candle, a boy with wings leaning in to speak, and an old man asleep with a book open on his knee. La Tour painted nearly everything by one flame.Matthew's account turns on Joseph being told something in his sleep and believing it when he woke up.Georges de La TourA Lorraine painter, lost for three hundred years and rediscovered in 1915, whose night scenes are lit by a single candle.Musée d'Arts de Nantes, NantesA nineteenth-century municipal museum in Brittany, reopened in 2017 after a long rebuilding.Musée d'Arts de Nantes, Nantes
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelMatt. 1:18-25Mt 1:18-25
Epistle1 John 4:7-161 Jn 4:7-16
Old TestamentIsa. 7:10-14Is 7:10-14
PsalterPs. 110:1-4Ps 110:1-4

Overview & Insights

“He will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Matthew tells the nativity from Joseph’s side and as a legal problem. Betrothal was binding, so the discovery of the pregnancy left him choosing between a public charge under Deuteronomy 22:23-27 and a quiet writ of divorce, and his preference for the second is what Matthew means by calling him righteous (v. 19). The resolution comes in a dream, the first of five in these two chapters, which together align this Joseph with the patriarch who also received God’s word in dreams and went down to Egypt. The angel’s instruction is precise: Joseph is to name the child, and naming rather than begetting is what confers legal paternity, which is how the son of Mary becomes son of David and the genealogy of 1:1-17 holds. The name is then interpreted, Yeshua as the Lord saves, and the saving is specified as from sins before any mention of Rome or the nations.

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Take it further: Matthew 1:18-25

Commentary

Working Preacher: Matthew 1:18-25Working Preacher: Mt 1:18-25 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary exegesis on Joseph's obedience and Matthew's use of Isaiah 7:14.

Enduring Word: Matthew 1Enduring Word: Mt 1 Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse by verse evangelical notes on the genealogy and the angel's message to Joseph.

Precept Austin: Matthew 1 CommentaryPrecept Austin: Mt 1 Commentary Precept Austin

Verse level study helps and gathered quotations on the nativity account.

BibleHub: Matthew 1:18 CommentariesBibleHub: Mt 1:18 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on Joseph's dilemma and the virgin birth.

StudyLight: Matthew 1StudyLight: Mt 1 StudyLight

Combined commentary set, including Barnes and Gill, on the chapter.

Sermons That Work: A Daring Plan Sermons That Work · Episcopal Church

Anglican homily on Isaiah 7:10-16 and Matthew 1:18-25 read together.

Background & Word Study

BibleHub Interlinear: Matthew 1:18BibleHub Interlinear: Mt 1:18 BibleHub

Greek text with parsing for how Matthew describes Mary's pregnancy.

BibleProject: Matthew 1-13 OverviewBibleProject: Mt 1-13 Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the first half of Matthew's Gospel and its literary design.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Matthew 1Catena: Mt 1 Catena

Patristic comment chain on the virgin birth and the naming of Jesus.

Worship & Prayers

LCMS Three-Year Series Prayers, Christmas Eve files.lcms.org

Prayers of the Church written for the Christmas Eve service, keyed to Joseph's dream and Isaiah 7 for LSB Series A.

Podcast

Sermon Brainwave 328 - Fourth Sunday of Advent workingpreacher.org

Luther Seminary faculty discuss Matthew 1:18-25, the same Gospel LSB assigns to Christmas Eve.

Art & Music

The Dream of St Joseph, Georges de La Tour wga.hu

La Tour's candlelit depiction of the angel appearing to Joseph in sleep, the exact scene of Matthew 1:20.

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