Family (Matthew 1:1-17)

What is Advent?

it means “Coming”

It reminds us of the time of anticipation that the Jewish people had for the coming of the Messiah, but it is ALSO a reminder that he is COMING AGAIN. So, we take up the cry and yearning that the Messiah would return and establish his Kingdom. But, we also do this with the understanding that He has already come and begun to establish his Kingly Reign. So, it is a season that reminds us of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and that Jesus, the Messiah, is the answer for ALL our yearnings for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love!

We all have family right?

But when we talk about our family we usually leave out the stories or even the people who make us look bad. We leave out mention of the crazy folk who ruin the family name.

I love family stories:

The water fight in the house

The dukes of hazard

The teater totter onto the car

Fishing with dad

Garage sales with grandma and aunt jewell

And you would think that if someone were writing a biography about how great you were, most likely that person would leave out the parts that sketched you in a bad light. But, not so with Matthew when he wrote about Jesus. I’m sure he used a record that was mostly already in place, but Matthew takes no great strain to filter out the questionable characters in Jesus’ family. In fact, I almost get the feeling that Matthew highlights those questionable characters.

Read Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew 1:1–17 NLT

1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). 12 After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. 17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

To many, this is a boring list

but to others this is an amazing list about the plan of God who acts in history; and who is intimately involved in the lives of people.

Matthew hints on this plan when he writes, Matthew 1:17

Matthew 1:17 NLT

17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

Matthew highlights that there is a pattern, and where there is a pattern a plan cannot be thrown out.

Matthew declares that God had a plan in history. Matthew declares that history is not absent from God’s activity. And Matthew declares that Jesus has come to fulfill the promises of God to Abraham and to David.

Who are some people that stick out to us on the list?

What are some things they did? Good and Bad?

ABIJAH = bad1

ABIJAH, KING OF JUDAH (אֲבִיָה, aviyah, Ἂβιά, Abia). The son of Rehoboam and second king of the southern kingdom of Judah (1 Kgs 14:31–15:8; 2 Chr 13:1–14:1); also referred to as Abijam (1 Kgs 14:31).

Abijah reigned for three years in Judah (ca. 913–911 bc) as an evil king who “committed all the sins his father had done before him” (1 Kgs 15:3 NIV), which included many idolatrous acts. There was constant conflict and war between Judah and Jeroboam and the northern kingdom of Israel during his reign (1 Kgs 15:7; 2 Chr 13:2). Abijah seems to have had some military savvy and led a few successful military campaigns (2 Chr 8:1–22). Abijah had 14 wives who bore him 22 sons and 16 daughters (2 Chr 13:21).

The account in 2 Chronicles speaks more positively about Abijah. In both accounts, both Rehoboam and Abijah were appointed by God in order to fulfill His promise to David that his line would continue to rule in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 15:4).

Jeconiah

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Jehoahaz, King of Judah

JEHOAHAZ, KING OF JUDAH (יְהוֹאָחָז, yeho'achaz; יוֹאָחָז, yo'achaz). The 17th king of Judah. Also known as Shallum (שַׁלּוּם, shallum) or Jeconiah (see 1 Esdras 1:34). Reigned for three months in 609 BC before being imprisoned and deported by Pharaoh Necho. Succeeded by his brother Eliakim/Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34).

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Jehoahaz in the Bible

Although Jehoahaz was not the oldest son, he was anointed king at 23 years of age, likely because of his anti-Egyptian policies (Malamat, Twilight of Judah, 126). Born as Shallum (1 Chr 3:15; Jer 22:11), he took the name Jehoahaz upon his ascension (Honeyman, “Evidence,” 20). His reign was short-lived. On his way back to Egypt, Pharaoh Necho punished Judah for their disloyalty. He deported Jehoahaz to Egypt and imposed a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold (2 Chr 36:1–4). Pharaoh Neco II installed Jehoahaz’s older half-brother Eliakim/Jehoiakim as king (2 Kgs 23:34; 2 Chr 36:4). Jehoahaz eventually died in Egypt as a prisoner.

The author of Kings attributes the brevity of Jehoahaz’s reign to his lack of covenant fidelity (2 Kgs 23:32). While a specific sin is not mentioned, Ezekiel poetically describes him as a young lion that devoured men (Ezek 19:3). This “young lion” was eventually caught in a pit and “brought … with hooks to the land of Egypt” (Ezek 19:4). In Jeremiah, Yahweh judges Jehoahaz for oppression of the poor, defrauding of laborers, covetousness, lavish spending, and shedding innocent blood (Jer 22:13–17). However, Jeremiah also encouraged the people not to mourn the dead Josiah, but to lament the exiled Jehoahaz: “Do not weep for him who is dead, nor bemoan him; weep rather for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land” (Jer 22:10 NRSV). Jeremiah spoke this way because he understood Jehoahaz’s exile as similar to the kind of exile that the entire nation would experience (Jer 22:8–9).

God had a plan, and God worked through UNRIGHTEOUS PEOPLE to bring about God’s RIGHTEOUS PLAN...

Jesus had a MESSED UP FAMILY

So, if you look at the family line of Jesus you must ask yourself why God chose this family. Of all the things that this child could be, a king would not be expected; and neither would a savior.

Jesus’ family line is a sketchy one, at the least, and cursed at the worse!

Normally, when a king or dignitary had been written about they would cast their life as one of God’s favor all along. Their family would be perfect! But not Jesus’. Sin plagues his family from the very beginning. Of course, even a simple reading of any part of the Bible should have us figure out really quickly that people, no matter who they are and who their parents are, will be sinful.

And as we read the Bible it becomes even more clear that families are messed up! That no body is righteous “There is no one righteous, not even one;” (Romans 3:10) and that we all need someone to rescue us from the hamster wheel of sinfulness.

The genealogy shows us that Jesus was definitely a human.

That Jesus definitely had a messed up family.

That Jesus was born into a world that was so marred and fallen that it needed divine intervention to rescue it.

So, to make the point clear let’s look at some of Jesus’ relatives. I do not wish to draw undue attention to the female gender; however, I do find it very profound on many levels that Matthew would include women in the lineage of Jesus. I have to point this out because too many people believe that the Bible is a book for men and about men. Those people are incorrect!

Let’s look closer at some folk in Jesus’ family

Abraham

He was definitely a man of faith. A man credited as righteous; no doubt. But he didn’t always hit the nail on the head when it came to faith. Think of the birth of Ishmael by his union with Hagar and the problems that has caused.

Think of how Abraham and Sarah lied not once, but twice, about Sarah being Abraham’s wife. First in Egypt (Genesis 12:11-20). Pharaoh took a liking to her and took her into his house as his wife. Well, God wasn’t pleased with that so God sent plagues on Pharaoh’s house. Well, Pharaoh got pretty angry with Abram/Abraham and sent them away after taking all the sheep and donkeys and oxen and slaves away that the Egyptians had given Abram.

But, since that worked so well a few years later (Genesis 20) Abraham and Sarah do the same thing in Gerar.

But yes, on the whole, Abraham is considered a great man of faith, especially given the events that are written in Genesis 22 where God asks of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the child of the promise, and Abraham follows through up unto the point of no return and the angel of the Lord stops him.

Tamar

The first woman mentioned in the list. Her story is quite interesting (Genesis 38)

Judah went into the Canaanite land and settled there and he had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. Tamar married Er, but Er died. According to custom and later Israelite law the wife of a widow would be redeemed by her brother-in-law who would have a son with her but that first son would carry on the widow’s first husband’s name. Onan didn’t like this idea.

So Judah sent Tamar back to her father and made a promise, that he didn’t intend to keep, that when Shelah would be old enough he could marry Tamar. Eventually Judah’s wife passed away and he went to the town of Tamar’s father. Tamar disguised herself and Judah thought she was a prostitute and well… she became pregnant with twins. Perez and Zerah. Perez is listed as one of the ancestors of Christ.

Rahab

Judges 2 There’s no nice way to put this; she was a prostitute. However, she aided two spies that were sent by Joshua to Jericho to check it out before the Israelites invaded it. The king of Jericho was told that spies had come to Jericho and Rahab hid the spies in her house.

She told the spies that the people feared the Israelites and she knew why they were there. She also asked the spies to spare her family. They agreed to spare anyone who was in her house when they invaded, but they would not be responsible for anyone who was not in her house. When they invaded, the people of Israel kept the oath that the two spies had made. And we are told in Joshua 6: 25 that she and her family remained in Israel and it seemed that she was converted to become and Israelite. And she is listed in Hebrews 11 as one in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11:31)

Ruth

We love the story of Ruth! She also was not an Israelite but married into the family of Elimalech and his wife Naomi from Bethlehem because she married one of their sons when they went to the country of Moab during a famine. Well, Elimalech died leaving Naomi a widow. So did their two sons leaving their wives widows. Ruth was determined to stay with Naomi when Naomi returned to Bethlehem. She showed great faithfulness to this woman and was a great help to her.

Most of us remember the story about how Ruth gleaned in Boaz’ field and how Boaz was very kind to her in return. But, there were also the events of that one night where Ruth snuck into the place where Boaz was lying down, amidst all the other men where it would not have been well looked upon for women to go, and she lay at his feet. He did not notice her until he rolled over around midnight and she startled him. When he awoke she asked him to redeem her as the next of kin. And the story unfolds that he did; even though technically he didn’t have to. The law for redeeming next of kin was only applicable when the father of the son was still living (for that is when the brothers would still be living together. After the father would have died they would have divided up the property) and it was only applicable for a brother.

Deuteronomy 25:5-6 “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.”

Never the less, Ruth stands as a woman who was determined not to be looked over and who was compassionate and faithful towards her mother-in-law when she didn’t have to be.

David

Well, we can’t forget David. Of course we remember David and Goliath. We remember how David was one of the greatest kings and how he replaced Saul. We know how God made a covenant with David that David’s son would build the temple and that his throne will endure forever. David has become one of the greatest person in the faith.

But, we also cannot forget that David wasn’t perfect either. In fact, Matthew draws swift attention to this as he wrote, “And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6). I believe that Matthe purposefully doesn’t give the name Bathsheba in this list. It’s not because he doesn’t like her. It’s to remind us of how it all came about.

2 Samuel 11 tells us what happened. Everyone was at war and David saw Bathsheba bathing. Now she was married to Uriah the Hittites (Hittites aren’t Israelites.) Well he liked what he saw, even though he knew who she was and who she was married to, and he asked her to come to him. She became pregnant. That’s a problem because she’s married. So David sends for Uriah to come back from war and David tells him to go home and be at home with his wife. Uriah chooses to sleep with all of David’s servants at the entrance to David’s house because he didn’t think it was fair to have the luxery of being home from war while his men were fighting. David then tried to get Uriah drunk so he would go home, but he refused to go home. So, David had Uriah set at the front of the army so that he would die in battle. After Bathsheba mourned the death of Uriah she came to be David’s wife. The child that they conceived died in her womb, but later they conceived and gave birth to Solomon.

Joseph

We read more about Joseph in the second part of Ch. 1. We read he is righteous (v.19) we read that he was merciful (for he chose to divorce her instead of kill her for adultery) and we read that he was obedient for we read “When Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife… and he named him Jesus (Matthew 1:24;25)

But think about how he looked in his time to those around him. He will raise a child that isn’t his. And he would go against the righteous requirements of the law.

Mary

You know, a lot can be said of her response to the angel, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Here she is, a virgin and yet pregnant. How many people do you think believed her story that it was a miracle from God? Yeah, so she at the least risked the potential of being shunned by her community and she definitely risked her life if people believed that she was an adulterous woman.

And enter Christ!

Christ came to take on our sinfulness and wear it as his own and sanctify what we messed up; and that includes our families.

Jesus’ family wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was far from it.

I think too many times we have this picture that everything was fine for Jesus and his family. Yet we forget that Jesus was born into a line of sinners. He was born into a family of sinners. Yes, people that did good things, but at the same time, people who didn’t hit the nail on the head all the time. And, yes, people who were just crazy and did strange things.

His family is full of murderers, rapists, prostitutes, idol worshipers and people who, in general, refused to acknowledge God...

Sin, it’s a problem for us all; and we all suffer for it.

But, Christ came to redeem it. He came to buy us out of our bondage to sin. He came to rescue us. The one who is God did not hold tightly to those rites but became emptied and became a servant. Not for his own sake, but for our sake. And through this one God will be glorified.

You see some people think that they are unworthy of Christ.

They think that their family isn’t special enough. They think that they are too messed up or they have too many problems. They think that their family has made too many mistakes and Jesus wouldn’t want any part with them.

And because of this they think that God couldn’t love them. That they must earn God’s favor somehow.

To answer this cry I ask those people to look at the world Christ came to.

Look at his family. Look at the world he came to. It was messed up! There is no question about that!

Christ’s family had problems. Do you know why? Because they were human. Because they had sin. Because they needed to be redeemed. Because they needed a savior. Because they needed someone who could and would do for them what they could not and would not do for themselves.

Hope stems from Christ in the midst of our situations

Christ is promised to be WITH US in order to LEAD US through...

True hope stems from that promise

Matthew 1:22–23 NLT

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

It is no wonder that Matthew draws our attention to sinful humanity and then to the redemptive work of Christ as he tells the story of the angel appearing to Joseph in dream and tells him Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21 NLT

21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

WHERE DO YOU NEED TO PRESENCE OF IMMANUEL SO THAT YOU CAN BRING HIS PRESENCE WITH YOU INTO HOPELESS SITUATIONS?

We are called to take the hope of Christ into the darkest, most chaotic, hopeless situations - BUT WE DO THAT WITH THE PRESENCE OF IMMANUEL!

His people, that starts with his family!

So I ask, are you any different? Is your family really all that bad? Is your family any different?

If Christ could come to that his family, if he could come to those people and enter their lives and change the future, and change the world’s outlook on his family (for it is believed that until Christ this family was almost forgotten) then Christ can come to your life.

Christ can come to your family.

Christ can change your future.

Christ can redeem you.

You don’t have to be fixed up to come to Christ; that’s why he came.

He came to fix you up.

You don’t have to have the perfect family; who does?

You don’t have to be the best at any hobby.

You just have to accept that Christ came, and he came for you.

You have to accept that there is nothing you can do to earn favor with him.

He came to a messed up world and lived in a messed up family so that he might come to your messed up world and live in your messed up family.

And so that by his dwelling with you and your family you and your family will be changed.

IN FACT, the pattern shows that God does GREAT WORK amidst MESSED UP PEOPLE!!!

Messed up people don’t derail God’s plan, but are the conduit for God’s plan!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Who needs to hear this message of HOPE this season?

Blue Card Tradition!!!

Write the name of a person OR a place where you are being challenged to bring HOPE and the presence of Immanuel to this season. Write that on BOTH cards. When you come receive communion this morning, place that card in the basket up front.

BENEDICTION

Romans 15:13 NLT

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.