Christmas Secrets

Christmas Secrets

Matthew 1:1-16

The Christmas season is upon us. Christmas is an interesting time of the year here in the United States. Mention the word, "Christmas" and

automatically it stirs images of nativity scenes, beautifully decorated homes with lights and tinsel, and Santa with precious little children on his lap

reciting their "wish lists" for Christmas morning. Christmas, on the surface, is a sanitized, serene, and sweet celebration. We tell the story on Christmas Eve with candles lit. We hold our little ones and sing "Away In A Manger" with a lump in our throats. We wrap our presents in the most beautiful paper that we will see all year. We yearn to be with our family

and enjoy the fellowship of those we love. Christmas, in the minds of many, is a Norman Rockwell canvas colored with sentimental strokes of satisfaction and

security.

If you dig a little deeper in your survey of Christmas happenings you might find another picture painted before your eyes. We’ve heard of some of

the secrets of Christmas already as Jo Fischer has been keeping us informed about some of the kids in our community who are going to wake up Christmas

morning knowing that their mom or dad is in jail. We’ve had funerals over the past several weeks that remind us that Christmas, for many, will be

sorrow-filled rather than the sweet celebration that is portrayed on the television or in Hollywood movies. There are many other secrets of Christmas that we don’t like to be reminded of because we don’t want our celebration ruined.

If we will take the time to study God’s Word we will find out that there have always been "Christmas secrets," things that others would have rather

had left out of the story. All we have to do is take a look at the Christmas story recorded for us in Matthew’s Gospel and we will learn that Christmas

secrets existed before Jesus was ever born. Take a look with me at Matthew 1 and you will see what I mean. Matthew has included Jesus’ family tree in

his telling of the Christmas story. Tucked away in the branches are where the Christmas secrets begin. Matthew says,

1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and

Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father

of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at

the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the

father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:1-16 NIV)

Isn’t it interesting that the genealogy of Jesus is the beginning of the Christmas story as far as Matthew is concerned? How many times have we heard the genealogy shared at Christmas? Christmas secrets, remember? Things we had rather not talk about. Things that don’t fit with our picture of Christmas so

we leave them out. Let’s take a look at some of the Christmas secrets hidden for us in Matthew’s account.

There are those in Jesus’ family tree, who, if they had been writing the genealogy, would have left some folks out. I mean, each of us knows from attending our own family reunions, that there are some members of our family who just complicate things. There are limbs in our own family trees that stick out for all the wrong reasons. I learned this lesson several years ago

without even prying into my own family’s genealogy.

Some folks are really into genealogies. They research their past and it seems like they always come up with some famous person that they can claim as