The Lineage of the Man

A Strange Opening

Introduction to the Series

We are going to begin a 3 part series this morning entitled The Path to Christ. And we are going to look at this from three aspects, one each week. Our message this morning is entitled The Lineage of the Man, and we will follow this up with the Fullness of Time and then the Incarnation of God. That will give some idea of where we are headed.

Difficult Reading

If you have your Bibles, turn them with me to Matthew Chapter 1, and we are going to be looking at what we find in verses 1-18 and hopefully nobody has checked out already at just the mention of these verses.

It is as strange way to start a book. With a genealogy. These are the infamous begat verses and we get list of Jesus’ ancestry starting at Abraham. It’s not what I would call riveting reading.

When you learn about public speaking or writing you typically want to start with something that catches the readers attention. For you and I, Matthew does not do that. Luke has a very similar list in his Gospel, he at least has the decency to wait until Chapter 3 to introduce it.

A Needed Start

But some of that has to do with our perspective. If you happened to be part of Matthews original target audience, then this list is crucial. Abraham is who the promises of God were given, so he is consider the patriarch of the Jewish faith. David, is the King in whom God said his Kingdom would have no end, from who the Messiah would come.

This list is something you and I take for granted, some 2000 years after the fact, but for any Jewish person of the time to even consider that Jesus of Nazareth is the prophesied Messiah they would need to be first given this list because the first question they would have is this: Is Jesus descended from Abraham and from David. So Matthew makes this case.

Revealing

This list has more value to us than just proving who Jesus was in a way that could be fact-check to records that have long since been lost to antiquity.

It tells us who it is that came before Him. It tells us who made the way for the Messiah. And by looking at these people we can see one side of Jesus’ nature that is often overlooked.

Because Jesus is the Son of God. And he came to be in a way that was entirely miraculous. But, Jesus is also the Son of Man. That’s the title that even He uses for Himself. Son of Man. And by looking at this list we get an idea of just what that means.

The Passage

This morning I am going to spare you the reading of the entire passage from verse 1 through verse 17 and am going to only read the first verse. You can follow along in your Bible as we jump around this morning.

Tagline

I am going to read verse one but I want you to consider it like a tagline like you would see on the cover of a book or a movie poster. Let me give you some examples:

The Tag Line for the movie 12 Angry Men (Incidentally one of the best movies ever made) read: “Life is in their hands — Death is on their minds”

The Sound of Music’s Tagline is: “The Happiest Sound in All the World”

Star War’s Tagline is probably the most famous: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...”

You get the idea. The tagline gives you a quick synopsis as to the what the movie or book is about. So let me read to you Matthew 1:1 with that concept in Mind.

The Gospel According to Matthew

Matthew 1:1 KJV 1900

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Let’s Pray

Any Good Thing?

Church people tend to fall somewhere on a scale. On the one end you have people who come from generations of church people, sometimes even in the same church and can claim that their Great Great Great Uncle Twice removed was Charles Spurgeon.

Some of us don’t have such a pedigree to fall back on. Some of us, when we see families in church together, we aren’t looking at a mirror we are looking at something we wish we had.

Some of our families are filled with lost people, and it breaks our hearts. Some of are going to sit around the table at Christmas and are going to be the odd ones out because they are the ones in their families who are the Christians. And listen, it’s true that many Christians have earned the bad wrap of acting like they are better than everyone else, and that is something that needs to be addressed. But even if you are as humble and filled with grace and understanding as possible, there is a good likelihood that just by being Christian some people are going to think the worst of you. See, not everyone comes from the family from the Norman Rockwell painting, I would venture to guess that the vast majority of us don’t even if we pretend we do in public. — For every one who can vainly take pride in who came before them there are others that would be embarrassed to have people know where they came from, or from whom they came.

But let’s be honest. Unless you are Jewish you can only follow your heritage back so far until you reach pagans, rebellious against God.

In Romans 3:1-2 we read

Romans 3:1–2 KJV 1900

1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

See, it’s unto the Jews that were committed the oracles of God. Which means the knowledge or the understanding of God. And while the Jewish people were worshiping the true God, I don’t know about your ancestors, but mine were worshipping tree’s and other nonsense like that.

But you know, one layer deeper than that, what was that question that was asked? Look with me at John Chapter 1, starting in v45

John 1:45–46 KJV 1900

45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

Now, who was Nathaniel? We don’t have a lot of information on him, some people believe he is the Apostle Bartholomew and that may be so. One thing we know is that he was a friend of Philip and they came from Bethsaida, the same town as Peter and Andrew, the Apostles who were fishermen and betrayed by their speech in Jerusalem.

Yet, here is Nathaniel who hears about Jesus, and immediately casts dispersions on where Jesus came from. There isn’t any historical explanation for why Nazareth is looked down upon but we know it was a city in Galilee heavily populated by Gentiles and therefore could easily the subject of scorn for most Jewish people. — What prophet would be raised up in such a dirty place.

Stops along the Way

So then we return to Matthew Chapter 1, verses 2-16. The Genealogy of Jesus. Matthew makes his point early. Something good does in fact come out of Nazareth, and here is proof.

But I want you to notice some of the stops along the way: Thamar in v3, Rachab and Ruth in v5, and look at v6: Her that had been the wife of Urias. That women would show up at all in the Genealogy of Jesus breaks tradition, women weren’t usually included when discussing a lineage. It’s kind of like last names right? My last name is self, There is a group of people that are very dedicated to keeping track of the Self family tree and how do they do that? It’s from the last name. That name that is handed down by the father. And that is what is going on here but a few women are thrown in for good measure.

So these must be exception women of great character right? Well, lets look.

Tamar

We read of Tamar back in Genesis 38 and we see her introduced in v6, you are probably going to want to turn there with me. Genesis 38 and we are going to start by looking at verse 6

Genesis 38:6 KJV 1900

6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.

That’s pretty strait forward, Tamar is the daughter-in-law of Judah and his wife Er. Now if you keep reading, this is a pretty scandalous passage but to summarize Er was wicked and put to death in v7 and Tamar was left a Widow.

Tamar goes to live with her father as a widow and years later Judah shows up in town and now lets pick the story back up in v15 down to v19

Genesis 38:15–19 KJV 1900

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. 16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. 19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

So Juda, being a jerk from the beginning here, mistakes his daughter-in-law as a prostitute and proceeds to impregnate her, and with twins no-less.

So when you are looking at the genealogy in Matthew 1 and you get to v3 here is Juda, Tamar and the children that came from the their wicked actions at the very beginning of the list.

Rahab

So who is the next woman on the list? Rachab. Surely this woman is a more pure woman for the genealogy of Christ. Right? Well, Rachab is better known by how she is mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame

Hebrews 11:31 KJV 1900

31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

See, Rachab is the woman who sheltered the Israelite spies and was therefore spared when Israel conquered Jericho. She wasn’t just a prostitute either, there is enough extra-biblical writing, so that we get the idea that she was also the owner an inn. She was very likely more than just a harlot she was a madam in a den of iniquity.

Now, she made a decision to have faith. And I believe it’s likely that things changed for her. But, here she is in v5 of Jesus’ genealogy. See, this prostitute ended up being the mother of Boaz who married Ruth, the next woman on the list and a woman who has a whole book of the Old Testament written about her.

Ruth

There really isn’t much bad that can be said about Ruth, except for that she was the daughter of a prostitute and like Rahab and Tamar before her were gentiles. For a Xenophobic people like the Jews, It would have been very uncomfortable to recognize that their greatest King, David and the Messiah were the decedents of gentiles.

Of Her that had been the wife of Urias

The final woman on the list is a woman who you get the impression Matthew had a great deal of animosity towards. He doesn’t even refer to here by here name, he calls her Her that had been the wife of Urias in v6.

We read of her in 2 Samuel 11. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 11 if you will and verse 1 gives us the setting:

2 Samuel 11:1 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

See, the King, David. He was expected to be in battle with his armies. But he stayed behind. And then v2 continues

2 Samuel 11:2 KJV 1900

2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

There is a lot of speculation about this and we can’t know if it is completely true. But the roofs at the time were open and very visible to the houses around them. And for this woman to be on the roof bathing herself, she was breaking the customs for decency. She was likely very aware that she could be seen, especially from the vantage point of the royal palace. Some have speculated that this woman may have been trying to advance her position in life by being seen by the King. This would explain Matthews reluctance to call her by her name.

So David found out who she was in v3. She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

So, read with me in v4

2 Samuel 11:4 KJV 1900

4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.

and in v5

2 Samuel 11:5 KJV 1900

5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

And you likely know the rest. David, seeking to cover up his sin, sent his faithful soldier Uriah to the front lines to guarantee that he would be killed. And he was.

God took the life of that first child. But Bathsheba bore a second child, the child who would become the next King of Israel. Solomon. And we find all of this right there in v6 of Matthew Chapter 1.

Where we are going

We are out of time this morning, but there are a lot of knots in Jesus family tree. A lot of rough patches that decent people might want to gloss over.

But what a beautiful picture of Christ that paints. There is a big theology term, the Hypostatic Union of Christ. All that means is that somehow, in a way that we can’t fully grasp, Jesus was both completely human and completely God.

We understand — God is good. God is pure. God can’t lie. God is Holy. But that’s not who man is. And as we look at who makes up the human genealogy of Christ we see an uncomfortable amount of human-ness in that list.

A list that might look like where we come from.

But it doesn’t matter if that is in our family tree, or if we have a story a lot like Rahab’s. Someone who used to be known for your sin but now strive to be known for your faith.

A Christmas Present

When we think about the Christmas story, it’s easy to pass over the first 17 verses of Matthew and jump strait to v18. Like Tamar and Bathsheba before her v18 starts with an unwed woman who found herself pregnant, but under very different circumstances.

I want you to know this morning that the baby she carried, Jesus. The God-Man. The Messiah. He isn’t going to reject you by what you have in your past or where you come from.

In fact, he grew up to be a man who rejected those religious people who acted like they were without sin and had the perfect pedigree of Jewishness. Instead he related to sinners, who knew they were sinners, and just needed a savior.

Closing

This morning, if you want to know what it is to be a follower of Christ, or if you want to know more about church membership, we are going to pray in just a few minutes, and I invite you to come speak with me afterwards. If you are watching from home you can send the church a message on Facebook and I will get back to you confidentially as soon as I can.

Let’s Pray.