The Family Tree
Matthew 1:1-17
November 27, 2016
Have you ever tried to look up your family tree? We tried to do that. My cousin spent hours trying to determine where my dad’s side of the family was from. She couldn’t get very far. We believe even though our last name is Deutsch, we have no German blood. My dad’s parents were from Romania and Latvia. Too many died in concentration camps, and many scattered all over, so we’re really pretty clueless.
It would be fun to know our family history. It may explain a few things, but also, it would make for some interesting conversations, if there were some interesting people who I’m related to. I can always blame them for me.
Today, as we start Advent, we’re going to look at a passage of scripture you’re not going to see preached from very often. It’s from Matthew 1. And it’s the genealogy of Jesus. Lots of names that many have never heard of, but they’re all important because they’re part of Jesus’ family tree. Just like your ancestors, they were all necessary, so we could ultimately have you in our lives. The same is true for Jesus’ family as well.
Let’s look at His family tree according to Matthew 1:1-17 ~
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 Shelltiel, and Shelltiel 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. – Matthew 1:1-16
Sometimes there are scripture passages which you don’t think you can preach on. At first glance this many be one of them, but it’s not. There’s a lot of meat in this passage.
The fact that we have a genealogy of Jesus Christ establishes an important truth: our faith is rooted in history, not in myth or legend. Notice a few things as we examine the genealogy of Jesus!
Firstly, there are differences in the genealogies in the New Testament.
There are 2 genealogies of Jesus, one in Matthew and the other in Luke. Matthew, written to the Jews, starts at Abraham goes forward to the birth of Jesus. Luke, written primarily to the Gentiles, goes backwards from Jesus, not just to Abraham but all the way back to Adam.
Most people believe Matthew is recording the line of Joseph. Matthew shows that Jesus was legally in the kingly line of David. There are thirty-nine “begats” in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus but the most important one is the one that is NOT there! Matthew is careful not to make the claim that Jesus was the biological son of Joseph. He chooses his words very carefully when he says, “Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
By saying “of whom Jesus was born” - “whom” is feminine in Greek, showing that Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus. Still it was important that Jesus be shown to have legal claim to the throne of David through the father’s side, and this was true because he was “legally” Joseph’s oldest son. So, Matthew established the legal claim to the throne Jesus had.
Secondly, and this is the meat of message - - there were outcasts in His genealogy
Since Matthew is a Jew writing the genealogy of Jesus to a Jewish audience to prove that Jesus was their king, you would think he would go out of his way to show that Jesus’ family tree was without any shame or embarrassing relatives. But the Bible doesn’t keep the door shut on the skeletons in the family closets of its heroes. Even when it comes to tracing the ancestry of the Messiah, God shows us the unsavory characters in the family line.
The list includes an adulterer who murdered his lover’s husband to cover up the misdeed. There is a man who committed incest with his daughter- in-law, whom he thought was a prostitute (which says some-thing about his morals). Another woman was a prostitute. There’s also a notoriously wicked king who burned his sons to death as offerings to a pagan idol. It’s an unlikely family tree of the Savior of the world!
Ordinarily women were not listed in genealogies in the Old Testament, but there are some women listed here. The list doesn’t include women you might have expected; women like Eve, or Sarah or Rebekah. Instead, strangely enough, in a Jewish genealogy, three of those women were Gentiles, the fourth was married to a Gentile, and three of them were noted for immorality. None of these women characterize the kind of person we would expect to see in the genealogy of the “King Of Kings.” It seems apparent that from the very beginning of his gospel Matthew wants us to take in the grace of God. In fact the four women in Matthew’s genealogy illustrate from different vantage points how the “good news” saves sinners.
There was Tamar.
It would take awhile to tell her story, it’s found in Genesis 38. In short, she had 2 husbands who were brothers, who died, but left her childless, she wanted a child, wouldn’t wait on the Lord’s timing, so she devised a plan. She dressed up as a prostitute to deceive her father in law, Judah. She waited by the side of the road, he hired her, without realizing who she was, and she became pregnant. When her father in law, Judah found out, he was going to have her killed until it was revealed that he was the father. She had twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez was born first and carried on the Messianic line.
It sounds like a story from a soap opera. A woman loses two husbands, tricks her father-in-law into having a child with her by acting like a prostitute. That Judah and Tamar are included in the line of the Messiah sends a strong message about the grace of God.
Tamar’s history shows something we believe, but don’t like to admit, because it hits us pretty hard . . . . Jesus is the Savior of sinners. He deliberately associated with the tax collectors, who were some of the most hated people. He was a friend to prostitutes and sinners and He willingly touched the sick and dead.
There are two ways we can react to this - - - One is to say, “I may not be perfect but I’m not as bad as Tamar!” That’s a position we have to be careful of. That’s the mistake the Pharisees made, in their self-righteousness, they couldn’t see their need for a Savior. Too often, even the people in the church don’t see their sinfulness and their need for a Savior.
The other and opposite extreme is to say, “I am every bit as bad or worse than Tamar and the only hope I have comes in a Savior.” The good news is that no matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you’ve been, no matter what mistakes and sins you’ve committed - - - Jesus came to save you. Hold onto that thought!
Then there was Rahab
Just as we can’t think of Thomas without thinking of “doubting,” so we can’t think of Rahab without thinking, “harlot.” Like Tamar, she was a Canaanite woman, excluded from God’s covenant people. She lived in Jericho and her story is told in Joshua 2.
As the Jews were preparing to enter the Promised Land, Joshua sent two spies to scout out the city of Jericho. The spies stayed in the home of Rabab who we are told made her living as a prostitute. When word leaked out, the leaders of Jericho came looking for the spies, Rabab protected the men and helped them escape, on the promise they would spare her and her family when they captured Jericho.
She knew the city was going to be destroyed and she believed in the God of the Jews, as she said - - - “He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Josh. 2:11). In the great New Testament chapter on faith, Hebrews 11, it says, “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.” (Heb. 11:31)
Rahab proved that her faith was genuine by her obedience in risking her life to protect the spies.
Believing in Jesus, does not just mean to agree that He is the Savior, and never change your ways. Genuine saving faith always includes repentance from your sins and changing who you are. If there is no change, there really is no real repentance.
When the invasion of Jericho came Rahab and her family were saved and in the course of time she became the great-great - grandmother of King David. By faith she was made part of Jesus’s family tree.
Then there’s Ruth.
Like Tamar and Rabab, Ruth was a Gentile. She was a Moabite and didn’t have a relationship with God. The Moabites were a race that came about due to the incestuous relationship between Lot and his oldest daughter in Genesis 19. But unlike Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba, Ruth was a moral woman. She was married to a Jewish man who died. And when her mother-in-law decided to return to the land of Israel, out of love, Ruth chose to go with her saying, “Your people will be my people and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16)
The Book of Ruth tells how Ruth found grace and love in the eyes of a man who was her kinsman-redeemer. Boaz paid the price of redemption and took Ruth, the Moabite woman, as his bride. It’s a beautiful picture of how Christ, our Redeemer, paid the price of our redemption with His blood. As a result, the Gentiles, who were excluded from God’s people, were brought into His family as His chosen bride (Eph. 2:11-22)
Ruth married Boaz and they had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David, making Ruth - - - King David’s grandmother. And that is how a person from the hated nation of Moab entered the line of the Messiah.
Finally, we come to Bathsheba.
Interestingly, Matthew does not use her name. He refers to her as “the wife of Uriah.” We know the wife of Uriah was Bathsheba from the story in 2 Samuel 11. The problem began when King David, was at home during a time when he should have been with his army, including Uriah was at war.
One day he was walking on the roof of his palace and saw a beautiful woman, as she was bathing. He found out who she was and invited her over. You know where this story is going. She comes over, they commit adultery and she becomes pregnant. David tries to hide his sin, by attempting to make it look like the baby was Uriah’s, but when his plans fail he sends her husband into battle and has the other soldiers retreat so that Uriah is killed.
She gives birth and the child dies because of David’s sin. The prophet Nathan helps David to realize his sin and he repents. So, here you have a woman who was involved in adultery. Her story involves deceit, treachery, adultery, and murder. Later, she gave birth to a son named Solomon, who became king after David died. And Solomon is another link in Jesus’ genealogy.
Can you understand how shocking these women are in the genealogy of Jesus? This is the dirty laundry in Jesus’ family tree. These women ~ include Gentiles, and therefore were considered unclean and out of the ‘pedigree’ of the Jewish people. Sinners, involved in deceit, prostitution, and even murder.
Third, The Culmination Of the Genealogy of Jesus.
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. – Matthew 1:1-16
At the end of the list is one name, the name which is above every name, Jesus Christ. This long procession of individuals; two thousand years of history; culminated at Bethlehem with the birth of Christ.
It’s possible you’ve been on a spiritual journey. Perhaps you’ve been asking God to show you the truth. You’ve said you would believe if only you could be sure of the truth.
Maybe you think only the good can make it. Maybe only those who have sins which are not quite as bad as yours. The beauty of this passage, and the reason I used it for today was to help someone here who is struggling with the fact that they don’t feel very good about themselves.
Let me tell you very simply, Christ came for you! He came for you because He loves you! He left perfection for you . . . Jesus wants you to know Him, because He knows all about you, and inspite of knowing all about you . . . . . . He still loves you. Your picture is in His wallet and on His refrigerator! He loves you for who you are and who you are yet to become.
You must seek Jesus. And when you seek Him, He will be found by you! He will make sure you find Him . . . because He wants you and loves you and came and lived and died and rose again - - - - for you!!
