Matthew 3: Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit

 Saul and David were anointed by oil when the Samuel laid his hands on them; thus they were Messiah, "anointed". The point is that the Holy Spirit was with Saul when he was anointed and so with David.
Jesus is our Messiah, but how was he anointed?
We read:

13-14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”
15 But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it.
16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”

It is not written that this was the anointment, but in this passage, the Spirit declared how the Lord loves Jesus, and called Him, his son. Jesus is very precious to the Father and the Father was showing his love on baptism. Jesus was delighted on doing the Father's will.

We, as "little Christ", know that our Father loves us. May we delight on doing his will because we know that his will is good.

Matthew 2: Baby Jesus is recognized by scholars from east but not by the Judean authorities

In Matthew 2, scholars from east recognize that the Messiah, the king of the Jews, was born and they came to worship Him. Perhaps, these scholars were influenced by the Jews in Babylon exile. They brought gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Interestingly, the scholars from Judea  (ex: priests) knew the place where Jesus would be born but they were unable or unwilling to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Some priests could join the east scholars to identify the Messiah, but they didn't.
Herod was the king settled by Rome. He wanted to preserve his power, thus he was afraid of the Messiah; so afraid that he was eager to kill Him. We read:

16-18 Herod, when he realized that the scholars had tricked him, flew into a rage. He commanded the murder of every little boy two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and its surrounding hills. (He determined that age from information he’d gotten from the scholars.) That’s when Jeremiah’s revelation was fulfilled:
A sound was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and much lament.
Rachel weeping for her children,
    Rachel refusing all solace,
Her children gone,
    dead and buried.


Baby Jesus is protected by the Lord who instructed Joseph how to proceed to protect Him.
The power belongs to the Messiah, but some men can do everything to be in power.

Matthew 1: Emanuel - the Lord is with us

The newest book of old testament is taken as Malachi, 5 centuries before Jesus. In this period, it seemed that the Lord has silenced. Many prophets in old testament were claiming that there will come the "day of the Lord" when Israel would be restored, and the evil doers would be punished. The kingdom of the Lord would be governed by the son of David. Jesus came but many Jews didn't understand the connection to the old testament prophecies, thus, Matthew is a book that shows how the prophecies were fulfilled. It begins showing Jesus as the son of Abraham and son of David.

Jesus was born in a very peculiar way: He was born by the Holy Spirit and not by a human father. Matthew does not go into details about the implications of being born by the Holy Spirit, but it must be related to the fact that Jesus lived without sin and all other human beings have sinned.

The Lord is the One who writes the story of mankind, but not only that: He takes care of individuals too as he took care of Joseph. If Joseph were a mere robot in the hands of the Lord, it would not be necessary to reveal him the work of the Spirit. So, in Matthew 1 we see a great picture of the Lord dealing with the story of mankind, and also, a picture of the Lord dealing with one man, Joseph. The Lord is the One who loves mankind but He also is the One who loves me in particular. The Lord is with us, but He is in particular with me.