Gospel in the Family

Who is Jesus?

The early church associated Matthew with a human face because of the theme of revelation. His outline closely tracks with the Old Testament story. He begins with a genealogy (1:1–17), echoing Genesis, and ends with a commission from Jesus (28:18–20) that mirrors Cyrus’s at the end of 2 Chronicles. In the center are Jesus’ parables about the mystery of the kingdom (13), causing readers to recall the wisdom tradition. The rest of the narrative fills out Israel’s history. Jesus is supernaturally born, saved from a tyrant king, comes out of Egypt, goes through the water, into the wilderness, up the mountain, heals, sends out His disciples, and prophetically pronounces both judgment and hope upon those who listen. Ultimately, Jesus undergoes exile in His death. However, He is raised to life because of His innocent blood. He is the Mosaic-Davidic King.

A list of names. It’s an odd way to begin. But the genealogy shows readers this isn’t a fairy tale, but a true story. Matthew opens with his convictions fully exposed. Jesus is the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (1:1). The genealogy gives a Davidic family tree that proves Jesus is the new King of Israel. Not only that, but genealogies function prominently in the Old Testament with the promise of a seed (Gen. 3:15).

This genealogy is made up of good guys and bad guys. Three sets of 14 names/generations.

A nerve wracking game that was played in seminary class as our professor liked to torture us was good guy/bad guy. He would throw out, “Abraham, good guy/bad guy”. You would tend to get the pride squeezed out of you pretty quick. Funny enough, we can look at the names in the Bible and think, “oh, they had it all together.” We’re probably not reading it close enough… save Jesus, Himself, there are very very few that the Bible doesn’t show us their humanity.

We can be encouraged by the people that God chose to reveal Himself through.

Abraham - Father of the Jewish nation, called by God to leave Ur, received God's covenant promise that through his seed all nations would be blessed

Isaac - Abraham's promised son, born to Sarah in her old age, was willing to be sacrificed by Abraham, father of Jacob and Esau

Jacob - Received the name Israel after wrestling with God, father of the 12 tribes of Israel, favored Joseph among his sons

Judah - Fourth son of Jacob, received the blessing of kingship among his brothers, father of Perez through Tamar

Tamar - Daughter-in-law of Judah who disguised herself as a prostitute to continue the family line after being wronged

Perez - Twin son of Judah and Tamar, his birth involved him pulling back after his brother Zerah put out his hand

Amminadab - His daughter Elisheba married Aaron, the first high priest

Salmon - Married Rahab after the fall of Jericho

Rahab - The prostitute in Jericho who protected the Israelite spies and was saved during Jericho's destruction

Boaz - Wealthy landowner who married Ruth, showed exceptional kindness and followed the law of kinsman-redeemer

Ruth - Moabite woman who chose to follow her mother-in-law Naomi and the God of Israel, great-grandmother of David

David - Second king of Israel, "a man after God's own heart," great military leader and psalmist

Solomon - Son of David and Bathsheba, known for his wisdom, built the first temple, but later turned to idolatry

Rehoboam - Son of Solomon whose harsh leadership split the kingdom in two

Asa - Godly king who removed idols and restored worship of God

Jehoshaphat - Godly king who sent teachers throughout Judah to teach God's law

Jehoram - Married Ahab's daughter and led Judah into idolatry

Uzziah - Began well but became proud and was struck with leprosy for offering incense in the temple

Ahaz - Wicked king who promoted idolatry and closed the temple

Hezekiah - Righteous king who restored temple worship and witnessed God's deliverance from Assyria

Manasseh - Initially very wicked but repented after being captured by Assyria

Amon - Evil king who served idols

Josiah - Final good king who found the Book of the Law and instituted reforms

Jeconiah - Also called Jehoiachin, taken captive to Babylon

Shealtiel - Born during the Babylonian exile

Zerubbabel - Led one of the returns from exile and helped rebuild the temple

Joseph - Husband of Mary, descendant of David, received angelic messages about Jesus, not Jesus' biological father but His legal father

Mary - Mother of Jesus, virgin who conceived by the Holy Spirit

Jesus - The Christ (Messiah), Son of God, born of a virgin, died for sins and rose again, fulfillment of God's promises

Some are good guys, some are bad guys, some are so obscure we don’t know much about them.

Through broken bonds and faithful hearts, strained relationships and new starts, God weaves His story of redemption just as He did through Jesus' own family tree - showing us that every family's complexity is held in His grace.

Surprisingly, some in Jesus’ family are Gentile women with checkered sexual pasts. They are all characterized by tenacious fidelity to Yahweh amidst the failings and circumstance we find them in. However, Matthew’s genealogy isn’t primarily about people, but about a child and God Himself. God carries along this family line despite their failures (1:1–17). If the genealogy shows Jesus is the son of David and Abraham, then the birth narrative displays Jesus as the Son of God and son of Joseph (1:18–25). Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Joseph names Him according to the angel’s command, thereby adopting Him. Joseph and Mary’s situation resembles and fulfills Abraham’s and Sarah’s: both have supernatural births. Matthew 1 fulfills Genesis: a new creation, a new humanity, has arrived. Schreiner, P. (2021). The Visual Word: Illustrated Outlines of the New Testament Books (C. Sterchi, Ed.; pp. 14-16). Moody Publishers.

God has sought to give us an abundant life in this world. Ultimately we know though it is about Him. Here’s the invitation, heaven, eternity after this moment… it is wrapped up in knowing Him. John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

You see, the genealogy isn’t primarily about the people, it’s about Jesus… God continuing to fulfill His promise to you and to me. But what we can glean from this genealogy is a few things: 1. ”God's plan will not be up-ended" - Consider the chaos and scandal in this family tree: Tamar's deception, Rahab's profession, David's adultery, Solomon's idolatry, and multiple kings who actively opposed God's ways. Yet through exile, moral failure, and national collapse, God's promise remained unbroken. The genealogy reads like a story of how everything could have gone wrong, but didn't.

2. ”He has come to redeem all that is human" - The inclusion of foreigners (Ruth), those born of scandal (Perez), and people of questionable reputation (Rahab) shows that Jesus didn't descend from a line of perfect people. His family tree embraces the outsider, the broken, and the scandalized. It's almost as if God is saying, "I'm not just coming for the religious elite - I'm entering into the messiness of human existence."

3. ”If He will identify and work through these people, He will work through you" - Matthew's genealogy is brutally honest about who these people were. These aren't carefully curated success stories - they're real people with real failures. The fact that God chose to trace Jesus's lineage through them isn't just encouraging - it's revolutionary. It suggests that God's work isn't limited by human weakness or failure.

This Christmas season, we find hope in how Jesus chose to reveal Himself—through those He identified with, through His chosen family, and through making Himself known and accessible to all. Church, let us be reminded of His great love for us. Even when we feel we don't belong, God's Word shows us that He has deliberately drawn near to us. Know this truth: He is among us, He loves us, He has redeemed us, He has made us new, and He has given us a place of belonging.