An Unexpected Family Tree
An Unexpected Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewAdvent #1 The Messiah has a very interesting family tree. Filled with heroes and villains it's not the family tree you would make up.
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Family Trees can be interesting thing. Maybe you’ve heard this song about a very strange one. I’m My Own Grandpa
Mine isn’t quite as complicated.
I do have this really cool picture frame in my office that has these pictures in it.
Philip Wagner 1858-1940
Henry Wagner 1890-1943
Oliver Wagner 1919—1997
Vernon Wagner 1949-1994
Scott Wagner 1972-present
Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy, echoing the genealogies of the Old Testament. He thought of his work as a continuation of the Old Testament story of God’s gracious redemption of his wayward people.
Frank Thielman
Genealogies were very important to the Jews because it was the way in which one could prove the authenticity of their blood line and the proof of what tribe they belonged to.
Now keep this in the back of your mind too… when someone ascends a royal throne, knowing the genealogy is very important.
Text: Matthew 1:1-17
-Matthew divides his genealogy into 3 sections and as he states each section is divided into 14 generations.
-Numbers are very important in the Bible. 14 is a 7X2 and 7 is the number of perfection. 3 is God’s number. This is no mistake.
1. Matthew’s genealogy demonstrates the unexpected lengths that God has gone through to save his people.
1. Matthew’s genealogy demonstrates the unexpected lengths that God has gone through to save his people.
-God keeps his promises. From the garden and throughout the OT God has said he would send someone to overthrow the power of Satan and to bring his kingdom to earth.
-Look at how Matthew divides up his genealogy.
A. Abraham
A. Abraham
-The promise that the messiah would come from Abraham. On at least 3 occasions God tells Abraham that he is the man whose linage would bless the whole earth. This is Messianic prophecy.
-Abraham is the the father of the Jewish nation. If the Jewish Messiah was going to come, he’d better be Jewish. This genealogy proves that.
B. King David
B. King David
Connects the Jesus to the royal line
Promise to David
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
C. The Exile to Babylon-
C. The Exile to Babylon-
The exile was front and center in the history of the the Jewish people.
The Jesus is the one who leads people out of captivity and not just into freedom but into the kingdom of God.
2. The names in Matthew’s genealogy are connected to some unexpected circumstances as well.
2. The names in Matthew’s genealogy are connected to some unexpected circumstances as well.
Abraham wondered from Babylon to Egypt and back to the Promised Land. God provided a son who wold eventually become a nation.
Isaac, almost sacrificed on a mountain
Jacob was nearly killed by his own brother, had problems finding a wife
Judah’s generation would have died in a famine had they not sold their younger brother Joseph into slavery
The nation of Israel grew in Egypt but they were slaves
They escape under the leadership of Moses but wonder in the desert for 40 years.
Once they entered into the Promised Land life for Israel was a roller coaster depending on their obedience to God
Under King David and his son King Solomon Israel prospers but they soon become morally and spiritually corrupt as they begin to worship other gods.
Over and over again God sends prophets to warn them and call them to repentance but most of the time it falls on deaf ears.
God allows the nation he created from scratch to be taken in to exile. First Babylonians then the Persians. The allowed Israel to return to their homeland. Greek and Roman subjugation would follow. This would bring a common language to this part of the world along with peace and roads that would unite the region.
In the midst of all this apparent chaos and change God would always preserve a remnant. So the Jewish nation was never completely snuffed out.
And so a man named Jacob fathered a son he named Joseph would be pledged to Mary who would give birth to a son who would be named Jesus who is the Christ.
There was never a moment when God’s plan for redemption was ever in peril. God is faithful and saw his promise to Abraham all the way through to completion.
The history connected to Jesus’ family tree isn’t always pretty and Matthew doesn’t try to clean it up.
The history connected to Jesus’ family tree isn’t always pretty and Matthew doesn’t try to clean it up.
3. The character traits of some of the people in this genealogy are also quite unexpected.
3. The character traits of some of the people in this genealogy are also quite unexpected.
Abraham—lied about his wife being his sister…twice
Jacob was a cheat and a swindler
Judah sold his brother into slavery and slept with his daughter-in-law
Rahab was a prostitute
Ruth was a gentile
David committed adultery and then murdered someone to cover it up
Solomon who took on hundreds of wives became a worshiper of many pagan gods
Rehoboam split the nation of Israel
Side note:
There are 5 women mentioned in this genealogy
This is really unusual in Jewish genealogies
You know who’s not mentioned? Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel or Leah
Who is mentioned
Tamar- seduced her father-in-law through prostitution
Rahab-a prostitute
Ruth-a Moabite
Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba)-Adulteress
and of course
Mary-a young virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph
So why these 4 four previous to Mary?
3 of them were caught up in in illegitimacy regarding sexual activity. Is Matthew attempting to cushion the blow of anyone who might bring accusation against Mary? She is a virgin promised in marriage and here she shows up pregnant. Perhaps
But I think the bigger picture with these women and with the men as well is that Jesus has come to save precisely such people. The marginalized, the foreigner, the sinner.
Let’s be honest Jesus family tree is just as dysfunctional and sketchy as anyone's.
One of the themes of Christmas is Hope. Since God met with Abraham and promised that he would father a great nation and out of that nation would come Messiah, hope stirred in the hearts of every Jewish man, woman and child.
That hope was realized in the coming of Jesus, the first time. Today the church hopes in his return. That great and glorious day when he returns.
And this is our hope
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.