Matthew 1:1-17 “Ancestors”
INTRODUCTION
There is great interest in our ancestry. Tens of thousands of people are researching their family histories and genealogical records in order to find out more about their families, their relatives and themselves. DNA scans are also popular as we, who live in a land of immigrants try to discover where our ancestors came from and unravel the riddle of the reason for our peaches and cream complexion, aquiline nose, wavy hair or big butt.
Our reading today points to the obvious fact that the writer of the gospel of Matthew was interested is Jesus’ genealogy, also. There is much that we can learn this list of forty-two names—teachings that are applicable to our lives today.
MATTHEW’S PURPOSE
It is odd to start a book with a boring list of names. Such a tactic is not an attention grabber or page turner. That, however, wasn’t Matthew’s primary intent. Matthew first wanted to link Jesus to his Jewish heritage. Jesus’ genealogy begins with Abraham, who is the father of the nation of Israel. The list of names, which is divided into three groups of fourteen goes from Abraham to David, Solomon to the Babylonian Captivity, and from the return from exile to Joseph who was the husband of Mary.
Matthew also wanted to affirm Jesus’ connection with the Davidic dynasty. God had made a covenant with King David that an heir of David’s would always sit on Israel’s throne. Jesus’ lineage is traced directly back to King David. Jesus is worthy of bearing the title, “Anointed One,” another name for King is Jewish terminology, which is also translated the “Christ,” or the “Messiah.
For Matthew, Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. (Christ is not Jesus’ surname—as in son Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Christ. Christ is Jesus’ title. Jesus is King, Savior and Redeemer.) Matthew identifies Jesus as “Messiah” in verses 1, 16, 17, and 18. Jesus, as a descendant of David and as the Messiah, is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David and the promise God gave to all of Israel.
SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET
If you have done any research into your family’s history, you have probably discovered a few nefarious ancestors. It’s the same with Jesus.
The women listed in Jesus’ genealogy are have both strong and sordid sides. Tamar was a widower twice over. Her father-in-law, Judah, neglected and ignored her, than molested her. Rahab is listed in the letter of Hebrews “hall of faith,” for her heroism in hiding Israelite spies before the fall of Jericho. Yet, Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was the Moabite alien who was the model of loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi. At the same time, she seduced Boaz secure her future. Bathsheba, the mother of King Solomon, was raped by King David and the King had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah murdered. Life was hard and these women faced challenging times. They were not saints, but Matthew never calls them sinners. They were all used by God to fulfill God’s purpose and promise.
Jesus did not have a pure Jewish lineage. Some of Jesus’ ancestors were aliens. We are reminded that God uses aliens in the same way as God uses God’s chosen people. Aliens are children of God and nations are judged by God by how hospitable they are to aliens.
There were great leaders in Jesus’ family history—kings like David, Uzziah and Hezekiah. They were devoted to serving the Lord. There was great prosperity during their reigns. Unfortunately, the people were greedy and self-serving. They came under the judgments of the prophets Amos and Isaiah for neglecting the poor and needy.
Some of the kings like Manasseh were evil in God’s sight. They worshiped other God’s. They were selfish, self-centered, immoral, and unethical. Though they were used by God to bring forward God’s promise, they and the people of Israel suffered the consequences of their ungodly behavior.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
There are several lessons from this list of people that we can bring forward and apply to our lives today.
No one has a perfect heritage—not even the royals—still God uses them.
We are not perfect and God does not call us to be perfect. Rather we are called to be loving and compassionate.
God is faithful to God’s promises. Throughout Israel’s history God was moving to fulfill God’s promise of bringing forward a Messiah from the lineage of David—and that person was Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Today we can celebrate who we are—who our ancestors were and what part of the world we come from. We also rejoice that God uses us as God used Jesus’ ancestors and ours in order to bring forward God’s promises and kingdom. Amen
