We all have an origin story. However, if you’re like me, I really don’t know much about my family tree beyond my grandparents, maybe a couple of great-grandparents – I’ve got some roots in Oklahoma and Mississippi, but I can’t really tell you much beyond that. However, there has been a recent move toward deeper discovery – in the last 20 or so years, websites like anscestry.com and My Heritage have made it possible to trace your family tree in unprecedented ways – and through the discovery process, it can bring deeper understanding to who you are and why.

 

Today, I want us to look at a passage that if you have read the book of Matthew, you’ve likely skimmed over or skipped altogether, yet it is rich in both history and mystery – It is a tracing of the family tree of Jesus, an origin story of sorts – but more than that, it is historical proof that Jesus was in the royal bloodline of KINGS as well as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessing – Three things we will see in this passage: God’s RESOTRING REIGN, God’s GRACE, and the God’s MISSION - Let’s look at it together – Matthew 1:1-17

 

GOD’S RESTORING REIGN

V1 -  We could spend all of our time here, because Matthew is setting up his Gospel account right here in verse 1: “A genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” – the word genealogy is synonymous with “origin”, or beginning, which is where the word Genesis comes from – So, Matthew is writing his own “in the beginning” narrative – and, he is explaining where Jesus the Messiah came from.

 

I think we only appreciate this genealogy if we look at it from the Jewish perspective. At that time, no one could serve as a priest in the temple unless he could prove that he belonged to the tribe of Levi. They also subdivided all the land according to tribes. So no one could sell real estate unless he could prove that his family owned the land. So their family tree was important. But, more than that, a genealogy proved who had the right to be king.

 

Matthew claims Jesus to be the “Christ” or “Messiah”, the anointed one of Israel whom they had been waiting for, and “Son of David”, fulfilling the promise in 2 Samuel 7:16 – YOUR THRONE WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER – Isaiah 9:6-7 – “He will reign on David’s throne forever…” – Matthew, right here in verse 1, is making the case that Jesus is fulfillment of promise and prophecy.

 

But he doesn’t stop there – he also calls him the “Son of Abraham”, taking them back to the beginnings of Israel, showing Jesus to be the fulfillment of God’s promise of blessing to ALL people – Genesis 12:2-3, ALL PEOPLES on EARTH will be blessed through you – Genesis 17:6 – I WILL MAKE NATIONS FROM YOU and KINGS WILL COME FROM YOU He also connects Jesus to the 12 tribes of Israel, specifically Judah – Genesis 49:10, the descendants of Judah will be rulers.

 

So, right here in Verse 1, Matthew is making the case that Jesus is the promised King not just of Israel, but of the world, and his reign and rule will be ETERNAL.

 

If you jump down to V17, Matthew is furthering his claim of the royalty of Jesus – “Fourteen” is used three times in this verse – the number 14 is significant in scripture – first, Hebrew letters all had numerical values, and David in Hebrew is “DVD”, “dalet” is 4, “vav” is 6, so 4+6+4 equals 14, and David is the 14th name mentioned in the genealogy – Matthew is further claiming that Jesus is the ETERNAL KING – Genealogy broken into 3 sets of 14: Abraham to David, David to Jeconiah, and Jeconiah to Jesus.

 

GOD’S GRACE

This genealogy is full of brokenness and dysfunction.

Abraham was a polygamist who lied about his relationship with Sarah to protect himself – Jacob was a liar and deceiver, it’s literally what his name means – Judah sold his brother Jospeh into slavery - Tamar posed as a prostitute to get her father-in-law to sleep with her – Rahab was a prostitute – King David was an adulterer and murderer – Solomon was the ultimate hedonist – Rehoboam, Abijah, Jehoram and Jeconiah were all evil kings – AND these are all in the family tree of Jesus according to Matthew.

 

But another reason this genealogy was scandalous is because women were rarely included in Jewish genealogy, yet there are 5 women included here: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah, mother of Solomon) and Mary – all had roots in some kind of sexual innuendo – Tamar and Rahab in prostitution, Ruth, a Moabite whose nation was birthed out of incest, Bathsheba, who was an adulterer – and Mary, a teenager who would become pregnant out of wedlock – it is as if Matthew were intentionally setting the stage for the unlikely birth announcement, which we will see next week – Again, God chooses an unlikely path to his plan to redeem the world And remember Abraham’s son Isaac? He was born to a 100 year old Sarah – An unlikely birth, and Matthew is pointing out that another unlikely birth is about to take place.

 

This is important: Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was very intentional on who he included in this family tree – WHY? To show GOD’S GRACE on display – remember, Joseph was not the biological father, but was the LEGAL father of Jesus, so while Jesus was SINLESS, he was legally attached to a heritage of SIN – it gives weight to 2 Cor 5:21 – “He who knew NO SIN became SIN on our behalf…” – I love that the genealogy of Jesus makes him accessible and relatable – For you and me, this KING is just DIFFERENT: Because of his checkered family tree, Jesus becomes approachable, not judgmental – He can relate to you right where you are – Do you have sexual sin? Jesus can relate – Do you have a problem with telling the truth? Jesus can relate – Whatever your failure or struggle, Jesus can relate because it runs in his family – God could’ve saved humanity anyway he wanted, but he CHOSE to come through BROKENNESS and DARKNESS to RESTORE and BRING LIGHT to the WORLD.

 

Remember, when Jesus found Matthew in Matthew 9, he was a tax collector, known for ripping people off – when Matthew threw a dinner party, he ONLY HAD TAX COLLECTOR FRIENDS – and when the religious questioned Jesus, he said in Matthew 9:13, “I didn’t come for the righteous, but sinners.” So, the author of this book had a unique perspective on God’s grace, as he himself was a recipient.

 

Life Maps:  a template for telling your story that reveals heroes and villains, but more importantly God’s hand in your life and key people and events that God used to shape you – Most important: your broken story and how God redeems brokenness is what God will use to change the world – We don’t celebrate brokenness, but acknowledge it and how God is redeeming it for his glory.

 

GOD’S MISSION

We all know John 3:16, “For God so loved THE WORLD…” – but remember, the Jews had a difficult time embracing that God was calling them to both LOVE and be a part of RESTORING ALL PEOPLE to HIM – Here, Matthew includes Gentiles throughout the this genealogy – Tamar was a Canannite, Rahab a Gentile, Ruth a Moabite, Uriah a Hitite – God’s Mission of salvation, reconciliation and restoration was for ALL PEOPLE – Again, this message would’ve been a bit hard to choke down for the early hearers and readers, yet the mission was clear – in fact, Jesus chose 12 Jewish men, not the religious elite, but the also-rans of society, trained them in his mission, and then told them in Matthew 28:19-20 to make disciples of ALL NATIONS – Matthew could’ve traced the family tree of Jesus in several different ways – for instance, Luke chose to trace Jesus’ roots from Joseph all the way back to Adam – But Matthew’s end goal was to prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah from the line of David , and the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham –

 

So, what does this mean to you and me as we approach this ADVENT season?

 

Closing points:

1. Jesus is the ETERNAL KING.

Jesus is not just a historical figure to be researched, but a King to be worshipped – Matthew lays out a strong case that Jesus had the legal right to the throne through bloodline, but through his DIVINE NATURE, his reign and rule was not temporary, but ETERNAL – He is not just a KING, but the KING of KINGS, who ISAIAH 9 says is WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE of PEACE and HIS KINGDOM is FOREVER.

 

2. Jesus is GOD’S GRACE.

His lineage is replete with sin and brokenness, yet his DIVINE NATURE overcame ALL SIN for ALL TIME. If you are looking for a KING who can relate, look no further – Hebrews 4:15-16, Jesus empathizes with our sin and brokenness, but because he overcame sin, we can approach the THRONE of GRACE with CONFIDENCE - John 1:14, The God-man, God with flesh on, is full of GRACE and TRUTH – he is the embodiment of God’s GRACE – when you couldn’t meet up to the standard of God, Jesus took your place.

 

3. Jesus is the completion of GOD’S MISSION.

Remember, God’s MISSION is for THE WORLD. Jesus came to RESTORE ALL PEOPLE to GOD, and by receiving HIM, you are now what Paul describes in 2 Cor 5:17-20 as an AMBASSADOR of RECONCILIATION.