Ancestry BC - Matthew 1:1-17

© December 8th, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent

People have always been interested in knowing their family background. We attach some measure of significance from the people who came before us, especially when those people are well-known or famous.

Today, our family history is important for medical purposes, as there are many medical issues that are passed on genetically. Many people simply find it interesting as well, and sites like ancestry.com and others like it serve to help us make connections and trace our family lineage.

But even when we know who our relatives were, we often have precious little information about them. While we may know back a couple generations, most of us cannot trace our ancestry much beyond our great-grandparents, let alone knowing anything about their lives.

Jesus did not have that problem. He had a long record of his ancestry. Admittedly, most of us do not find reading the genealogy of Jesus (or anyone else, for that matter) terribly interesting, but both Matthew and Luke felt it important to include Jesus’ genealogies in their narratives of Jesus’ birth.

We’re going to focus on Jesus’ genealogy today, and we’re going to look specifically at Matthew’s account. Luke and Matthew’s accounts have some slight differences, though there are many possible explanations for this. Both accounts are trustworthy, but today we’re going to focus on Matthew’s account, look at the purpose and meaning of the genealogy, and try to draw some application from it for our own lives.

Anchor to History

The first purpose of Matthew’s genealogy is to anchor the story of Jesus to history. It reminds us that Jesus was not a mythical man who was invented to tell a story. Jesus was a real person who really existed in the context of the larger story of the Bible.

Many religious figures do not have this kind of connection to history. We may be told about their parents or hear mythical stories of how they rose to power or gained their insights, but often there is precious little evidence to support these stories. They’re simply legends that have arisen over time or been embellished to communicate a point. Jesus, however, is not like these other religious leaders. Jesus’ story is anchored to history.

One of the great things about the Bible is that while there are miraculous things that happen, and things that we cannot fully explain nor wrap our heads around, it does not read like a mythological book. As you read the accounts in scripture, it becomes painfully apparent that this isn’t just a fairy tale, but real life.

The scriptures tell us the stories of the people in its pages, warts and all. We read about people’s successes, and on the very next page, we read about their failures. If the authors were simply trying to tell a good story, create a legend, or invent a fable, they would have left out some of these embarrassing details. Noah was upheld as a righteous man, and then the very next scene we see him passed out naked and drunk on the floor of his tent. David was the great king, but committed adultery and murder. Elijah was a bold and powerful prophet, but he struggled with fear and doubt. The fact that these stories are included in the bible shows us the stories are real and unvarnished.

This happened with Jesus’ disciples as well. It would have been tempting for the disciples to try to invent a story that pictured them as super-men, who had great faith and tried to elevate themselves to the level of revered saints…but that’s not what they did at all. Instead, they told the stories of Jesus as they actually happened, including the parts where He rebuked them for their lack of faith, the parts where they seemed to be working against Him, the parts where they ran away instead of standing firm. And even in the early church, they record the stories of their struggles and occasional disagreements. With the exception of Jesus, no one in scripture is larger-than-life. They’re all sinful, flawed people like you and me.

Context

The second purpose of genealogies like this one is to give us context for the story that follows. It shows us that not only is Jesus a real person and not merely a legendary character, He is part of the bigger story of all that God has done and is doing.

The genealogy ties everything we read about Jesus into the overarching story of the Bible. Matthew gives us this context as soon as he concludes the list of ancestors.

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 1:17, NLT)

Matthew breaks Israel’s history into 3 separate periods here. While this covers thousands of years, and we can’t possibly cover all of it in detail, I want to help you see the point Matthew was making. The first period he lists is the 14 generations from Abraham to David. This was the beginning of the nation of Israel. David Israel’s greatest king, so this is a fitting first division.

The second period he lists is 14 generations from David to the Babylonian exile. Just two generations after David, the kingdom of Israel split in two, each with their own set of kings. For most of this period, the kings rebelled against God, so God eventually allowed them to be conquered and deported by the nation of Babylon. This is the middle period of Israel’s history.

The third period Matthew identifies runs from the Babylonian exile on. The Israelites spent 70 years in captivity in Babylon, but then were allowed to return to their land and rebuild. This was the third period of Israelite history.

But Matthew is also implying something important—the birth of Jesus marked the beginning of a new period of history. Because of Jesus, everything changed. The rest of Matthew’s gospel focuses on how Jesus changed history. He didn’t do it in the way anyone expected, but Matthew wanted his readers to understand that the fourth stage of history is focused on Jesus.

Contrast

The last thing I believe Matthew’s genealogy provides for us is contrast. If you take some time to look at the characters included in the genealogy, you realize that Jesus’ family history is full of people who had checkered pasts and who others might have said were unworthy to be part of God’s rescue plan for humanity. And yet, I think that was part of God’s purpose as well.

For many of the people in Jesus’ genealogy, we know quite a bit about their back story because it is recorded in the Bible for us. We can start with Abraham, who began life as a pagan, but God called him and led him in a different direction. Abraham had a lot of good qualities, but his faith wavered when it came to his wife. On two separate occasions Abraham lied about his wife, calling her his sister, because he was afraid people might harm him to get to her. He showed a lack of faith and a lack of respect toward her.

Isaac played favorites with his sons, leading them to hate one another and compete for his affection. He also lied about his wife in much the same way his father had done.

Jacob was a deceiver and lied to his father to steal his brother’s birthright. He had children with 4 different women and played favorites with them as well. But God chose to work through Jacob, and God used the trials of his life to turn Jacob became a different person. God eventually changed his name to Israel and made him the father of the nation of Israel.

Judah was one of Jacob’s 12 sons, but when we get to Judah, Matthew also does something unexpected—he not only mentions the father (Judah), but he also mentions the mother (Tamar). This was not common practice in a genealogy. Women were typically not mentioned. But Matthew includes five women. Each of these women is significant, and their stories are recorded in the Bible.

Tamar was originally married to Judah’s eldest son. He died before they could have children. The law stated that the next son should help her father a child to carry on the family line. Unfortunately, while this son was happy to use Tamar for his pleasure, he had no interest in helping her father a child. Because of his wickedness, the Lord caused him to die as well. Judah only had one more son, and he refused to give him to Tamar. Tamar eventually figured this out and deceived her father-in-law. She posed as a prostitute and got Judah to get her pregnant. When Judah found out Tamar was pregnant, he wanted to have her killed, because he assumed she’d been unfaithful. That’s when Tamar revealed that Judah was the father. This seems like a strange choice to include in the family lineage of Jesus, but this is not the only story like this.

Rahab is the second woman mentioned. She was a prostitute from Jericho. She was originally a pagan but had heard about the power of God. When the Israelites came to spy out the city, she protected them because she trusted in God. As a result, though everyone else in the city was destroyed, Rahab was spared. She became part of Israel, married an Israelite man, and had a son named Boaz.

We learned about Boaz and his wife Ruth a few weeks ago. Ruth was from Moab, a people who had set themselves up as enemies of God. Israelites were forbidden from marrying Moabites. But through a strange series of circumstances, God brought her to Israel, caused her to trust in the God of Israel, and provided a way for her to be provided for by a godly man named Boaz. She becomes the third woman and another unlikely character in Jesus’ lineage.

Ruth and Boaz were the great-grandparents of King David, who is often thought of as the greatest king of Israel and was called a man after God’s own heart. But David was far from perfect. His most famous failure is the reason we see the inclusion of the fourth woman in the genealogy, Bathsheba.

Bathsheba was married to one of David’s most trusted warriors, a man named Uriah the Hittite. David saw her and decided he wanted her, even though he knew who she was. While her husband was away serving David at war, David committed adultery with her, but then discovered she was pregnant. He attempted to cover up his sin by bringing Uriah home from the front lines so he could spend time with his wife. But Uriah was too loyal to David, so his plan didn’t work. So David sent Uriah back to the front lines carrying orders that would lead to him being killed. David had Uriah killed so he could marry his wife. The child he fathered with Bathsheba died shortly after birth. But he and Bathsheba had another child, named Solomon, who became the next king of Israel.

Solomon was given more wisdom than any other man who had ever lived but chose to indulge his desires in nearly every area of life. He had nearly 1,000 women in his harem and was led to worship foreign gods by these women. He did eventually return to faith, but squandered much of the blessing God had given him.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam was foolish, choosing the listen to the advice of his young friends over the advice of his father’s experienced advisors. He was proud and self-important, and caused a rift in the kingdom of Israel that would never be healed.

After Rehoboam came a series of kings. Some were relatively good kings, like Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jothan, and Hezekiah. Josiah stood in a class alone as a great king who did what was right.

But there were far more evil kings. Jehoram and Ahaziah both did what was evil and led the people of Israel astray. Ahaz had abandoned God so thoroughly that he even sacrificed his own son in the fire to a pagan god.

Manasseh had such disrespect for the Lord that he had pagan altars erected in the temple. Amon continued this path, and Jehoiachin rebelled against God so completely that it led to the Israelites being conquered by the Babylonians.

We know very little about Jesus’ ancestors from after the Babylonian captivity, except for Zerubbabel, who helped to reestablish Jerusalem after they returned.

Finally, we come to Joseph, and the fifth woman of Matthew’s genealogy, Mary. These were ordinary people who would have been shunned by their community because Mary became pregnant before they were married. You can only imagine the whispers of people talking derisively about Mary’s so-called virgin birth. Mary and Joseph were honorable and chosen especially by God, but many would not choose to believe it.

So how does knowing these people’s stories serve as a contrast? It reminds us that Jesus chose to come to the earth and become like us. He would leave His place as God and come to the earth in weakness, making Himself subject to the same kinds of situations and people that his forbears had faced.

Why would God choose to cause His Son, the redeemer of all mankind to come from such riffraff? Jesus’ ancestry was intended to show us that Jesus came to rescue people from all walks of life. He came to save men and women alike. He came to be the savior of not just the people of Israel, but people from all over the world. He came to save people who had checkered pasts. He came to save those whom others may have written off.

Conclusion

While this may be a strange passage to focus on for Advent, I also think it is a passage that can teach us a great deal. While we’ve looked at thousands of years of history today, I think there are several lessons we can draw from this passage.

First, God is in control of history. Sometimes we are tempted to believe that everything is chaotic, or that history is unfolding randomly. But that’s not the case. The things of the past are called “His Story” for a reason! Looking at the genealogy of Jesus, looking at how God was working to accomplish His plan and purposes from the very beginning reminds us that all of history (and the present and future as well) is under the control of the Lord. That should give us hope and confidence as we walk through our part of the story as well.

Second, God’s plan isn’t hindered by evil people.Jesus’ family line had many evil people whom God could have easily destroyed. But He didn’t destroy them because He was using them to bring about a purpose far greater than they could have possibly understood. Even though some of the people set themselves in direct opposition to the Lord, He wasn’t fazed by it. He accomplishes His purposes, despite those who oppose Him. His purposes will not be frustrated, but those who stand against Him will be.

Third, your past does not define you. I love that some of the outcasts of the Bible are the people God used to bring the Savior to the world. Tamar’s story is heartbreaking. Rahab seems an odd choice to include. Ruth is similarly someone you wouldn’t expect to be a part of the story. Bathsheba similarly seems like a strange choice. And yet, God chose to use them. I don’t know what mark you may think disqualifies you from being used by God, but I can assure you it doesn’t. He’s an expert at redeeming people who you never would have thought He would. When you come to Jesus, He begins the process of rewriting your story and redeeming your past.

Fourth, the Christmas story is history, not myth. Jesus was a real person who was fully man yet fully God. The circumstances of His birth, life, death, and resurrection had been foretold by the biblical prophets hundreds or even thousands of years before his coming. Jesus really lived, died, and rose again. His coming into the world changes everything, because He makes it possible for every person, regardless of their past, to be forgiven and made new. Unlike some of the other “Christmas stories” that have become part of our culture, the story of Jesus’ birth is based in reality.

While it’s always difficult to read through a genealogy when we come across it in our daily Bible reading, we need to remember that the author has always included it for a reason. Matthew chose to open his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus, meaning he must have thought it was a particularly important detail.

Jesus’ family tree was filled with people who were flawed, people who made choices that were sinful and disobedient. It includes people who were once pagans, murderers, polygamists, people who didn’t keep their word, and people who lived in outright defiance of God. And yet, they were the family line through whom God had chosen to work. It was through this messed up family tree that God would save the world. Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise, and the One who makes it possible for every person to be redeemed, no matter what their past is. That was Matthew’s point, and he wanted that to be clear from the start.

No matter what your life looks like—if it feels like it’s in shambles, if you feel broken, if you feel like you simply can’t measure up—you’re in good company. And there’s good news. Jesus came into the world to save messed up people like you…and me. He is our only hope. He asks us to submit to Him and follow Him. He asks us to stop trying to be good enough, and instead rest in the gift of forgiveness He gives. It doesn’t mean we can live in disobedience, but it changes our approach to life. We can stop trying to earn God’s favor and live in obedience to him because we know His way is best, and we trust Him fully.

Everyone, no matter their past, can find forgiveness through the baby in the manger. That’s the message of the gospel and the message of Christmas. I hope you’ll embrace it—and I hope you’ll share it with others as well.

© December 8th, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent