Introduction
There seems to have been a big increase recently in people tracing their family history. I think those programmes on TV where famous people have researchers who do all the work have helped to increase the popularity. I’ve sometimes thought about trying to do it but I think it’s time consuming and I wonder sometimes whether I really want to know what might be found way back in the history of my family, what dark secrets may lie hidden centuries ago.
Girl asked mother – who made grandma (God); who made you (God), who made me (God) – well, he has improved a lot since he made grandma.
And I came across this poem which tickled me – many years ago when I was 23.
As we are about to enter Advent want to share some thoughts this afternoon about the genealogy of Jesus. It’s a fascinating list of people in the family tree of Jesus that you find in the beginning of Matthew’s gospel. Most family trees have some skeletons in the cupboard and, surprisingly, the family tree of Jesus also has its fair share, if not more than it’s fair share. Now don’t worry because I’m not going to comment on all the people in the list, just a few of them as I read it.
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham
We read about Abraham in Genesis. You know that God called Abraham to leave his own country, his own people, his fathers’ household and set off and go somewhere. God didn’t tell Abraham where he was going to go, just set off and all will become clear. Strange thing to do but Abraham obeyed the Lord and set out.
God promised Abraham that he would his name great, make him into a great nation, he would be a blessing and all people would be blessed through him. So he set off with Sarah his wife. God promised that they would have a son. Now they both were getting on a bit, well past retirement and so when God promised them a son they laughed.
Of course as time went on an no son appeared they got more and more worried. So they decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarah said that it was the Lord who had stopped her having children, even though he’d promised them. So she came up with a plan for Abraham to sleep with her servant, Hagar, and they could have a child together. And, lo and behold, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
But Sarah wasn’t happy when she realised that Hagar was pregnant to her husband and she despised her and ill-treated her so much that Hagar fled. Eventually of course, when Abraham and Sarah left it to God, she did have a child who was called Isaac. And Abraham was in the line of Jesus.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Jacob
And there was Jacob, he was a real sneaky character. He was born clutching the heel of his brother Esau and twice he took the place of his brother, stole it.
Jacob was a quiet guy, a bit of a mummy’s boy really, he stayed at home and worked in the tents and did some cooking while Esau was a man’s man, a hunter who went out and about. One day Esau came back from a days hunting and wanted some food. He could smell the stew that Jacob was making and wanted some of it. But Jacob wasn’t playing ball and had a cunning plan.
He said that, if Esau wanted some of the stew he had to sell his birthright to him – his title to everything that being first born son men. Well, after a day in the fields hunting Esau was famished and tired so agreed. And he had a good meal.
But then later, when their father Isaac was lying on his death bed, sight gone and nearing the end of his life Jacob stole Esau’s blessing that Isaac gave to the first born. In league with their mother, Jacob dressed up as Esau – clothes and sheep skin to make his seem to have hairy arms and hands, and took some food in. Isaac, blind couldn’t see who it was. He wanted to be sure he was giving his blessing to the right son. He said it sounded like Jacob, but when he felt him seemed to be Esau. So he gave Jacob the blessing of the first born.
And that wasn’t all. Jacob had two wives – Rachel and Leah and, with those two wives, for whom he had to work for 14 years, and their maidservants (4 women in total) he had 13 children, 12 boys and 1 girl. And Jacob is in the line of Jesus.
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Tamar
Now there’s another rum one, Tamar. Tamar had no children to her 1st husband, nor to her second husband, nor to the brother of her 1st husband, nor to the brother of her 2nd husband. She really wasn’t interested in having children so she became a prostitute and she eventually became pregnant – to her father in law, Judah, whom she married and had 2 sons – Perez and Jerah. And Tamar is in the line of Jesus.
Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Rahab
Now Rahab is an interesting character in the line of Jesus. Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho who hid two spies that Joshua sent into the city to sus it out, to explore it. She hid them in stalks of flax. She sent the leaders of Jericho on a wild goose chase when they came looking and let the spies down from a window in her house which was in the walls of the city. When the Israelites captured Jericho she was spared because she had a scarlet cord in the window, a sign that God’s people lived there.
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
David
David, now there’s a good one in the line of Jesus surely. Well not really. David, shepherd boy who became King of Israel, who established Jerusalem as its capital. Sadly though, when the army was out at battle on one occasion he went for a walk on the rooftop of the palace and became a peeping tom. He saw a beautiful women having a bath and admired her. He sent a servant to find out who she was and it turned out to be Bathseba, the wife of Uriah, one one of his soldiers.
He sent for Bathseba and he wooed her and plied on the charm with great effect because, while her husband was away, David played, they slept together and she became preganant. David became infatuated with her, so much so that he had her husband Uriah done away with, but in a very subtle way.
David had Uriah sent out to battle on the front line in a really dangerous place. And, of course, he was killed. After wiping the grin off his face David married Bathsheba. And you can read his very moving account of his regret and remorse at this episode in Psalm 51. And David is in the line of Jesus
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon
Solomon was crowned king at the age of 20 at a time when the nation was having great prosperity. Partly this was due to there being trade treaties with other nations that were to the benefit of the nation of Israel. One of the customs of these trade treaties was that the most powerful person in the trade treaty was given a present which just happened to be a beautiful woman. So Solomon had a constant influx of women coming to him, so much so that he built up a group of 700 wives and 300 concubines (porcupines). Solomon was in the line of Jesus
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam
Rehoboam became king of Israel at the age of 41 at a time when many people were not happy with the monarchy and with the heavy taxes they had to pay to keep it going. So instead of trying to calm the situation Rehoboam increased taxes and, when people refused to pay, sent people to collect them who were immediately stoned to death. And Rehoboam is in the line of Jesus
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz
Ahax, someone not very well known but he was a king of Israel who turned against the God of the Israelites and allowed pagan worship and encouraged the worship of Baal. Isaiah sent him a strong message but it had no effect. But one of the worst things he did was to sacrifice his sons as a human sacrifice to his God. And Ahaz is iin the line of Jesus.
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. after the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
So there is a brief skim through the ancestors of Jesus and you can see some rough ones there – prostitutes, murderers, bigamists, adulterers. But what has it got to do with us today?
Let me tell you about a woman called Mary. Mary was at the Greenbelt festival one year and, during a session there the genealogy of Jesus was read out. Every time a woman’s name was mentioned as the passage was read they stopped and someone spoke about that particular woman. Afterwards Mary went to the person who had been leading the session and told him her story.
She had had a difficult life. She said that she hoped that, one day her son could hear the gospel read and talked about the way it had been on that day because, before she became a Christian she had been a prostitute. Her son was 7.
She said that, when he is older she wanted him to know what she was; and also to know that, within the family tree of Christ there was a place for people like her.
Within the family tree of Christ there is a place for people like Mary. When she realised that she had a place in the family tree of Christ, in God’s family tree she knew she had received God’s love and care.
The circumstances of the birth of Jesus looked very dubious to all the street corner gossips of the day, but his mother, Mary believed and gave birth to him and that means we too can receive his love today. There is a place for all in God’s family, for people like us, for flawed people, imperfect people, just like those that have gone before us stumbling their way through life, and those that will follow us following in our stumbling footsteps. Regardless of our faults and failings he has mercy on us and pours out his love for us. What a mixture of people Jesus descended from.
