Today's sermon - Arrival, Matt 1:1-17

Mark's Sermon, Matt. 1:1-17,

Arrival, Christmas Logistics

Making it all come together

Arrival – the time that the wheels hit the ground.  For those of you who travel often in this room, it happens so often for you, you probably don’t even notice that the rest of us have just breathed a sigh of relief.  We made it.

Have you considered how much effort and energy is put into an arrival.  The planning, the purchasing of tickets, and the coordination of schedules all take time. This year during our advent season, I would like for us to think about how many details came together in the birth of Jesus: the arrival of our savior on this planet.  I am going to do my best to pull back the veil of heaven, and to reveal the God of the Universal, the maker of heaven and earth, as He mighty works on put on display in the birth of a baby boy in a barn.

We have been in the book of Matthew, and we will stay here, only now we will back up to the beginning.  Having studied the beatitudes of Jesus, we now flip the pages back and start at the beginning of the book. 

And we find there a list, a historical record.  This family tree is unlike any other.  This one connects some dots that would be of the utmost importance to any Jewish reader. 

The first sentence sets up the importance of the list:

Matthew 1

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

 1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:

 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

   Isaac the father of Jacob,

   Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

   Perez the father of Hezron,

   Hezron the father of Ram,

 4 Ram the father of Amminadab,

   Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

   Nahshon the father of Salmon,

 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

   Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

   Obed the father of Jesse,

 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

   David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

   Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

   Abijah the father of Asa,

 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

   Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

   Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,

   Jotham the father of Ahaz,

   Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

   Manasseh the father of Amon,

   Amon the father of Josiah,

 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

 12 After the exile to Babylon:

   Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

   Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

   Abihud the father of Eliakim,

   Eliakim the father of Azor,

 14 Azor the father of Zadok,

   Zadok the father of Akim,

   Akim the father of Elihud,

 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,

   Eleazar the father of Matthan,

   Matthan the father of Jacob,

 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

 ________________

This leads to the first insight, the first clue as to why this list is important.  

1) It shows us that God’s planning is perfect!

God lined up the generations exactly so that Jesus would be born 14 generations after the exile, which was 14 generations after David, which was 14 generations after Abraham. 

Abraham - promised the land

David - ruled the land

Exile - lost the land

Jesus - fulfills the promise, rules the land, and redeems the people lost in exile.

You might wonder why it matters who Joseph’s ancestors were if Jesus was not by birth his son.  The answer is found in John Darby’s Synopsis of the Bible:

It is the legal genealogy which is given here, that is to say, the genealogy of Joseph, of whom Christ was the rightful heir according to Jewish law. The evangelist has omitted three kings of the parentage of Ahab, in order to have the fourteen generations in each period. Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are also omitted. The object of the genealogy is not at all affected by this circumstance. The point was to give it as recognised by the Jews, and all the kings were well known to all. (John Darby's Synopsis of the Bible) 

But this is where this sermon takes it first turn.  I had intended this to be a one point sermon: God’s plans are perfect, so relax.   But as I studied I discovered that this 14-14-14 thing was not quite what it seemed. 

Now to be fair, it is not that Matthew is lying.  When he says that Jothan is the decendant of Uzziah, that is true.  But Matthew skips two generations to get to Jotham. 

Now I was stuck between a theological rock and a biblical hard place.  How does Matthew, the holy spirit inspired writer of the first gospel in the NT get his history wrong? 

And then, as if to add insult to injury I read in another commentary that the numbers  of the generations actually go 13-14-13.  And again, I find myself asking, is Matthew a bad historian and a bad mathematician?  

1) Abraham - 2) Isaac - 3) Jacob - 4) Judah and his brothers - 5) Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar - 6) Hezron - 7) Ram - 8) Amminadab - 9) Nahshon - 10) Salmon - 11) Boaz, whose mother was Rahab - 12) Obed, whose mother was Ruth - 13) Jesse – 14) King David.

 1) David - 2) Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife- 3) Rehoboam - 4) Abijah - 5) Asa - 6) Jehoshaphat - 7) Jehoram - 8) Uzziah - 9) Jotham - 10) Ahaz -  11) Hezekiah - 12) Manasseh - 13) Amon - 14) Josiah – 15) Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon - 1) Jeconiah - 2) Shealtiel - 3) Zerubbabel - 4) Abihud - 5) Eliakim, 6) Azor, 7) Zadok, 8) Akim, 9) Elihud, 10) Eleazar, 11) Matthan, 12) Jacob, 13) Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of 14) Jesus who is called the Messiah.

And before I go any further, I should say there was no lack of answers to these questions.  Evidently the Hebrew culture was not particular in its use of inclusive and exclusive counting.  Which means you can count 13 generations, by not including the first person in the chain.  Or you can get the number 14 by counting the first person. 

As to the people left out, one person suggested it was a tool used by the teachers of the day to make it easier to memorize. 

Regardless of how you account for it, its messy.  And to be honest, I find this to be refreshing.  I will explain this further in my next point, but let me just hint at it here.  There are times in my life when I submit to God, and I ask that he use me, and I fully commit my plans to him, and when its all said and done, something goes wrong.  And I say to myself – why was that not the perfect plan!  Why were there errors in my math?  How could that have happened?  Wasn’t God using me?  Wasn’t God working in me?  And what I find here is Matthew, filled with the H.S. and making mistakes, and God using it anyway, and getting glory from it!

2) This leads to point two: God’s plan allow for human error.

And this is not just found in this text, but also in the content.  If you look back at our list there are 4 women included.  Which is unusual, and therefore attracts our attention.  Each one brings us back to an OT story. 

The story of Tamar –

            Judah’s daughter-in-law,

            Married to two sons, both died, promised the third son

            Promise not kept, so Tamar comes up with a plot to sleep with Judah

            Acts as a prostitute, and becomes pregnant.  Judah wants to kill her

            Judah finds out its his kid.

The story of Rehab

            A prostitute in the city of Jericho

            Saves the lives of the two spies.

            Makes the list of people of faith in Hebrews 11

The story of Ruth

            Naomi has two sons and they both marry Moabite women

            Moabites are the descendants of Lot and his daughters.

            Sons die, one daughter in law returns to Moab, Ruth goes with Naomi

            “Wherever you go, I will go, Your people will be my people, Your God will be             my God”

The story of Bathsheba

            Her name is not mentioned, Urriah’s wife

            The story here is well known.  Adultery, Deceit, Murder

All this to say, the stories that come to mind as we read this list are…messy

And from this we can pull two conclusions.

1)

God is not afraid of messy stories, in fact, he includes messy people in his family tree and in so doing he honors them. 

2)

We are left with a sense of awe that Jesus would descend from Heave to be a part of our very human family.

Which leads to the third insight from this passage:

3. God exceeds all our dreams and expectations

Abrahams expectations: blessing

In Genesis 12:3 God promises Abraham that his descendants would bless the whole earth.  He repeats that promise in 22:18

David's expectations: rule

God promises David that the Messiah (the anointed one) will descend from him,

2Sa 7:12; Ps 89:3; Ps 132:11;

The Exiles expectations: redemption

And these promises are all met  - be it takes time, and its messy. (42 generations – 43 people)

CONCLUSION God’s plans for you

1)

Are perfect – 14 -14-14

2)

Allow for human error – not the best family tree

3)

Exceed all our dreams and expectations

Be patient!

Posted via email from Mark Kraakevik