Perspectives Pete Kersker - Dec 29, 2025 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18 NIV). It's common in our day and age for people to talk about perspectives. (That's his perspective. That's her perspective. What's your perspective on this?) We use the term as though the concept is new, but it's not. People have been looking at things from their own perspective since the beginning of humanity. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19 NIV). Luke, for example, wrote his gospel from the perspective of a non-Jewish person (Gentile) who had become a Christian. He focused on Mary's perspective when writing about Jesus' birth. Matthew, in contrast to this, wrote his gospel from the perspective of a Jewish tax collector (sinner). He focused on Joseph's perspective in his account of Jesus' birth. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21 NIV). Mary needed to accept God's will for her to carry a child without any biological father. Joseph needed to accept God's plan for him to raise a child he knew was not his own. God sent an angelic messenger to each of them so they would know the messages came from the LORD. They both believed the LORD and accepted God's plan. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us") (Matthew 1:22-23 NIV). Since Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, he quoted from the Jewish Scriptures of his day (our Old Testament) more often than Luke did because they had different perspectives. These different perspectives didn't contradict or conflict with each other. Instead, their perspectives help us see more details of the only perspective that really matters: God's. God was sending His Son to us. 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 NIV). Did you know that the gospel writers were writing from different perspectives? How do their different perspectives help us see God's perspective more clearly?