Matthew 1
Matthew 1 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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If you have your Bibles or Journals, please turn to Matthew 1 and 9. First letter of the NT. If we were to go back in time and play a good game of backyard football or kickball, and Jesus was one of the team captains,
Would Jesus choose you to be on His team?
It’s easy to conclude that Jesus would choose everyone else – but I’m not sure He would choose me. You know what I mean. “I’ve got a shady past. I’m not qualified. I can’t play sports” – and on it goes. We can think of a hundred reasons Jesus would choose someone else.
Would Jesus choose you to be on His team? Set that aside and we’ll come back to it at the end.
I want to begin our study of Matthew with this -
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The Apostle Paul wrote that primarily with the OT in mind, but I believe he was also speaking prophetically – to what we call the NT. That is my starting point – believing that Matthew wrote this letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Not just an account of Jesus, but within these pages we find a Savior to know personally and a lifestyle to emulate.
Matthew wrote this letter sometime after 65 A.D. – 30 to 40 or so years after the resurrection of Christ. This letter, as with all
Scripture, was written for us, not to us.
Understanding the audience, historical context, the purpose of the letter is critical to good theology and knowing God. We have 4 Gospel accounts: Luke wrote to Theophilus, Mark to Gentiles, John to everyone, and Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience. He employs many OT references to emphasize that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and Lord. We see this in the very first line -
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Throughout his letter, Matthew highlights that Jesus is the fulfilment God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 12 that through Abraham’s descendants, God would bless the nations); Jesus is also the fulfillment to a promise made to King David, which the Apostle Peter affirmed in
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Yahweh – Adōn – Messiah? Peter quoted Psalm 110, which was written by David. This is a reference to the OT concept of two Yahwehs – One invisible and One sometimes visible. Yet they are One. Not two gods, but one God revealed in 2 forms. So
Matthew uses the designation Son of David to affirm the humanity of Jesus.
and his lineage from King David while
Matthew uses the designation Son of God to affirm Jesus’ Divinity.
who has authority over nature, disease, and sin. Fully God and fully Human, which is one of Matthew’s primary goals - to reveal that Jesus is Yahweh in visible form – in the flesh. Thus, Jesus is the Messiah or Christ – both mean anointed one chosen by God to save humanity. With the arrival of the Messiah, also comes God’s Kingdom - His rule and power and authority, His way of living, which is a main theme in Matthew.
Now, the first 17 verses of Matthew contain Jesus’ family tree. Genealogies may not be a big deal to us, but to the Jewish people, especially ancient Jews, genealogies where critical – specifically with royalty and the priesthood. Jews put a tremendous amount of stock in ancestral purity. In some cases rightfully so, in other cases, too much. [we do as well. You’re related to so & so? Cool. Or, you’re related to them?] If anyone, especially Jewish men, had a hint of foreign blood (impurity or unclean), you could lose your right to be called a Jew and shunned from the community, barred from priesthood. This is a big deal. One reason Jews despised Samaritans – they had intermarried with Gentiles and were considered impure tainted with Gentile cooties.
The Messiah should be able to trace his ancestry to David and to Abraham without any discrepancies. We want a Messiah, our King and Priest with an unblemished family history. But that’s not the case with Jesus.
Jesus has some significant “stains” in His family history.
that would cause Jewish leaders to raise some eyebrows and question His claim as Messiah.
Jesus’ ancestry includes some sketchy messy people that a Messiah would not want on His resume. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob were liars. Jacob was a cheat and swindler. King David was a murderer and adulterer. King Solomon was a womanizer. After Solomon there were several “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad” kings such as Rehoboam, Abijah, Ahaz, Manasseh – all who did evil in the sight of God – killed prophets and sacrificed children, worshipped evil gods, abused their authority and power and enslaved their own people. These are not good references for the Messiah job.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Within this genealogy, Matthew included 5 women.
To us, this may not seem like a big deal, but in the ancient Jewish culture, this was abnormal, objectionable. Genealogies are for men – no girls allowed. Women had little space in Jewish culture. Not only does Matthew include women, but they would be an embarrassment to any “respectable” Jewish male – let alone the Messiah.
These 5 women were “outcasts” in one way or another.
V3 - Tamar was unfairly treated by men and then became a deceiver and an adulteress. V5 – Rahab and Ruth. Rahab, though she helped Israel invade Jericho, she was a prostitute. Ruth was a Moabite. The Moabites were specifically excluded from Israel’s assembly. V6 – we have the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba, with whom David committed adultery. When you study the narrative, she played a part in seducing King David. In v16 – Mary, pregnant out of wedlock.
What’s the point? Before we answer that, let’s consider the author. Tradition and scholarship attribute this letter to Matthew – also known as Levi the tax collector.
Tax collectors were crooks - despised by their fellow Jews because they were traitors.
Tax collectors worked for and with the Romans to collect taxes. They would collect more than what was required and pocket the money and became wealthy at the expense of others who struggled to survive. Tax collectors were hated. They were the outcasts of outcasts.
But look at
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
Matthew did not need to include the women in the genealogy – but he did. Why? I wonder if Matthew included these “outcasts” because he was once an outcast as well. Matthew, the tax collector was invited by Jesus to be on His team. For 3 years, Matthew watched and learned and recorded how Jesus lived and what He taught. Matthew wrote one of the greatest literary documents in history – one of the 4 Gospel accounts about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
But there’s more to it. Matthew included Gentiles. Communicating that the barrier between Jew and Gentile was eliminated in Christ. Furthermore, the barrier between male and female was eliminated in Christ. The barrier between God and humanity was eliminated in Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
The Gospel – the Good News that God has come to seek and save the lost, to reconcile humanity to Himself, and to choose the outcast to be adopted as sons and daughters.
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
At the beginning I asked you a question. Would Jesus choose you to be on His team? There’s only one correct answer.
For those who accepted His invitation and you’re on the team – keep playing. The “game” is not over yet.
For those who accepted the invitation but you’re on the bench ….
For those who haven’t – Jesus wants you. Died for you. This passage reveals a Savior who invites the outcast, the outsider, the sinner ….
Why would Jesus choose you?
