Matthew 1 reminds me of that awful feeling
of watching someone else’s “home movies”. We know few of the
people and have no context about their relationships. Usually, we
cannot wait for it to end. The first time I tried to read the Bible
for myself, I thought I would start with the first book in “our
section”. I remember reading a few familiar names and then getting
lost in all the unpronounceable people “begetting”. I did not
get very far. In frustration, I concluded that maybe I was not
supposed to read it on my own. Why in the world would the writer
start with a list of names? It never occurred to me that this family
tree included people like me. Matthew was a Jew. He was also tax
collector, which means he was despised and considered a traitor,
working for the Roman government to tax the occupied Jews in
Jerusalem. He was also educated, organized and accustomed to
writing. The Gospel of Matthew begins, “This
is the genealogy of
Jesus the Messiah the
son of David, the son of Abraham“.
This short sentence was full of controversy. This was heretical to
the Jewish mind. Every Jew was looking for the coming of Messiah to
restore the Nation and defeat the enemy. They were expecting the
King of Heaven with sword drawn, leading the battle against their
oppressors.
Matthew
first lists the ancestry from Father Abraham to King David. These
were two of the most revered men in all of Jewish history. These
records were meticulous because the land was divided up by family.
It is comforting to see the list includes a harlot named Rahab and a
foreigner named Ruth; both of whom were adopted in, and saved by
faith. God promised David that Messiah would come through his line,
“I will raise up your
offspring… your own flesh and blood… and I will establish the
throne of His kingdom forever.
I
will be His father, and He will be My son… and your kingdom will
endure forever before Me” (2
Samuel 7). The term “Son of David” refers to the Messiah.
Through rotten kings, rebellion, Babylonian exile and return to the
land, the list of decedents of David includes both “Joseph,
the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called
the Messiah“.
The
rest of the chapter is familiar, sometimes discussed near Christmas,
“This is how the birth of Jesus
the Messiah came about“.
These very young people would each have to believe the impossible,
“Mary was pledged to be married
to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be
pregnant through the Holy Spirit“.
Mary is often held up for her obedience, but note before he received
God’s word, Joseph “did not
want to expose her to public disgrace“.
He was a good man, but being good was not enough; he also believed
the promise and took action. In a dream, he was told, “do
not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She
will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins“.
He was well aware that this was a reference to the Messiah. The
chapter quotes a prophesy from Isaiah 7:14, given to the King of
Israel 700 years earlier, at time when the king had to choose to
trust God, or trust an army of men that he could see. “The
Lord Himself will give you
a sign:
The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means ‘God
with us’)“. Friend, do you
have questions, doubts and choices to make? Let’s read on together
to see if you recognize yourself in this family of faith.