Read the Bible passage together and/or watch the sermon from December 3, 2017 on or

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Ethan Richardson
6 years ago
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1 Series Theme: Unlikely Story (Week 1 of 3) Title: A Dysfunctional Lineage (December 3, 2017) Matthew 1:1 16 (ESV) 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Read the Bible passage together and/or watch the sermon from December 3, 2017 on or Background The gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The very first verse of the first chapter is intentional and important. Verse 1 reads, The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Note the lack of a verb. Many scholars believe that this opening line is a title for either the entire gospel of Matthew or the opening section of the gospel. What is so fascinating about this line is Matthew s use of the word genealogy. In the ancient Koine Greek, genealogy is the word geneseos. It sounds like the English word genesis. For this reason, this opening sequence speaks of the origin of Jesus, the story of his becoming and his origin. 1 The author wants to ensure that the reader understands what he/she is about to read. 1 Luz, Ulrich. Matthew 1 7: A Commentary on Matthew 1 7. Ed. Helmut Koester. Rev. ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, Print. Hermeneia a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. 1

2 Once Matthew explains the genesis of Jesus Christ, he adds two Christological titles son of David and the son of Abraham. The Son of David reference is clear. It connotes Israel s Messiah of royal descent. However, Son of Abraham is more unusual, because first of all every Jew is Abraham s son, and the expression appears not to say anything special about Jesus. Initially the sense of the expression clarifies the genealogy. Then throughout the entire Gospel the two expressions are filled with new dimensions of meaning. Thus, at first, they are empty (i.e., filled only by tradition) husks of meaning into which one should read the entire Christology of Matthew. They are only beginning points for the reading and allusions to what is to come. The story of Jesus that is now going to be told will fill these husks successively with new meaning. 2 Context Throughout this month, we will explore the Christmas narrative, specifically in relation to Jesus and his birth. To begin, Matthew s version of Christmas includes enough dysfunction that we all can identify with it. And it starts right with the family tree. Our own family trees can be full of pain, mistakes, and potentially, scandal. Abraham, the father of faith, begins the family tree. Although he is well-regarded throughout the biblical narrative, he too had a potentially scandalous past. Genesis 12:10 20 tells us that Abram (the original name of Abraham) lied to Pharaoh about Sarai (his wife). Sarai was beautiful and Abram was afraid that Pharaoh would kill him if Pharaoh found out they were married. For this reason, he allowed Sarai to be taken into the Pharaoh s house by saying she was his sister. What a standup husband! Shockingly, Abraham did not learn although God s grace saved them both from the house of Pharaoh. Abraham lies again to Abimilech in a similar situation (Genesis 20). Isaac was surely Abraham s son. He also lied about his wife Rebekah to Abimilech in Genesis 26 stating she was his sister rather than his wife. He acted just like his own father. Jacob, Isaac s second born son, was a liar and a cheat. He lied to his own father with the help of his mother and cheated his older brother for the firstborn son s rightful blessing (Genesis 27). Matthew 1:3 makes mention of Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. The scandals don t end. First, note that it is odd to mention women in a Jewish genealogy in the time of Jesus. So, as we look at the women mentioned we should keep in mind that Matthew must have had a purpose in this. Tamar appears in Genesis 38 as Judah s daughter-in-law whose husband named Er died. Ancient custom stated a brother of the deceased would take the widow as his wife in order to protect the family lineage. But Judah forbade Tamar to remarry until his son, Shelah, who was younger. The scandal continues as Tamar takes matters into her own hand and dresses up like a prostitute to where Judah was traveling. Then, Judah went out and laid with the temple prostitute, who was Tamar. The result of that night was twins named Perez 2 Ibid. 2

3 and Zerah. These boys were the result of an incest and included in Jesus family tree. Of all the wives to include, why this one? In fact, as you will see, every time he mentions the wife, it brings some color or non-kosher element to the story. Rahab, the Canaanite woman in Joshua 2 was a prostitute. Ruth was the mother of Obed and wife of Boaz. A whole book is dedicated to Ruth. She was an illegal immigrant who later became an ancestor of King David. So far, the three women in Jesus genealogy were a widow who slept with her father-in-law, a prostitute foreigner, and an illegal immigrant. Verse 6b reads, And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Usually, the author would write out the name of the woman (i.e. Tamar, Rahab). In this instance, Matthew highlighted the scandal itself. Solomon was the child of David from Uriah s wife, whose name was Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). David wound up killing Uriah, a soldier in his own army to be with his wife. Matthew chose to write Solomon into the genealogy based on a flaw of his father rather than his strengths. Solomon himself ended up taking hundreds of wives who eventually led him astray from the Lord despite a strong start to his reign in 1 Kings 8. Matthew could have crossed out Manasseh in verse 10, but again, the author is intentional about including people who seem to be completely out of God s will. Manasseh was an evil king in the eyes of the Lord and 2 Kings 21:5-7 states, And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. He worshipped other gods in the house of the Lord and even stooped to sacrificing his own son. One could say that he was a terribly evil king. Why does Matthew choose certain people to mention in the family tree? Perhaps it was because this book was written in from the view of Levi (Matthew). He was a hated tax collector. The hated, despised, rejected tax collector. He doesn t change the facts but he purposely includes all the misfits. It is how he felt. We saw how much Matthew and his friends were despised by the religious leaders. All the disciples were rejects. How many of them wanted to bunk with Matthew initially? Matthew was a despised man who was not rejected by God and given the chance to follow Jesus. Read Matthew 9:9-13 together to see how Jesus called Matthew, also known as Levi. Just as Matthew was not rejected by Jesus, he was also not allowed to remain where he was. He had to choose to change and follow Jesus. Jesus will command you to live a new life according to His ways. However, you can have lives like those in Jesus tree and still be in Jesus tree. Like Matthew, Judah admitted guilt and repented, David repented in Psalm 51, and even Manasseh repented in 2 Chronicles 33. 3

4 Pastor s Notes You come to Jesus and join a dysfunctional family that has been forgiven and empowered to walk away from the past. Matthew gives us an unlikely story with tremendous truth and potential for all of our failures. You still must choose to leave the tax table and follow Jesus because although he loves you enough not to reject you, he also loves you enough to not leave you where you are. You have two responses that make sense: o Ignore & Postpone o Believe & Celebrate Additional Comments For some, looking back at our family tree is difficult. It can bring up past pains and broken relationships. When the ancient Jews read Matthew s gospel, they were met with the shocking family tree of Jesus. It is full of scandalous acts that are difficult to embrace or accept. But the God we serve chose a path of humility and not a path of power or esteem in order that we all can approach Jesus to receive his grace (Philippians 2:6 8). Matthew s writings were aimed at people of Jewish descent and he intended to explain who Jesus was in this context. In fact, Apostle Paul tells us that the event of Christ crucified is difficult for some. 1 Corinthians 1:22 25 reads, For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For the ancient Jews, Paul says a God that was crucified is a stumbling block, which is the same word for scandal. The story of Jesus is scandalous in the sense that the Jesus-event is in a sense, morally and legally wrong. An innocent man was declared guilty and crucified unjustly. 4

5 Discussion Questions (Optional) 1. If you read Matthew 1 in the past, did you stop and wonder about Jesus genealogy? What was your reaction to Pastor Boyd s sermon? 2. Would you be willing to share some of the not-so-kosher things that have happened in your family tree? Take some time to do this now in pairs, in threes, or as a whole group. 3. As parents, we can reshape our family s past with our children (i.e. Isaac did the same thing as Abraham with his wife). What can you do or say to your children that will help them not repeat the past? 4. Think through your recent conversations with co-workers. Are there any points of his or her family pain you know of that need prayer? Would he or she be in need of this message? Pray for your co-workers together. Feel free to share the video link as a next step and possible invitation to church this month. 5

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and