Sunday: A Book of Genesis
“This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ … the son of David” (Matt. 1:1, NIV).
Right from the start, Matthew calls his work a “book” (from the Greek word, biblos, which can mean a “sacred writing”), a “book of the genealogy,” of the ancestry of Jesus. In fact, the Greek word translated “genealogy” or “generation” is from a word that can be translated “genesis.” Hence, it could be said that Matthew started his Gospel with “a book of genesis.”
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Just as the Old Testament itself began with a book about the creation of the world, Matthew (hence the New Testament itself) starts with a book about the Creator Himself and about the work of Redemption that only the Creator could accomplish.
What do these texts tell us about Jesus? John 1:1-3, Heb. 1:1-3, Micah 5:2, Mark 12:35-37.
“From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the Father; He was ‘the image of God,’ the image of His greatness and majesty, ‘the outshining of His glory,’ …
“By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,—God’s thought made audible.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 19.
The divinity of Christ, however, was not first and foremost in Matthew’s mind, as in contrast to John (see John 1:1-4), who immediately writes about the deity of Christ before going into the human side of Jesus (see John 1:14). Instead, Matthew focuses very much on Christ’s humanity, Christ as “the son of David, the son of Abraham.” He then traces, from Abraham, the lineage of Jesus’ human ancestors up to the birth of Jesus, all in a desire to show his readers that, indeed, Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah predicted in the prophecies of the Old Testament.
| Of course, family and ancestry are important. At the same time, as far as the gospel is concerned, our parents or grandparents or any of our ancestry is irrelevant. What, instead, is important, and why? See Gal. 3:29. |
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I was thinking about the lineage in Matthew and the participants. How many, were of questionable character. I ask myself was Jesus really from that bloodline. What was the birth of Mary first called? By whom? Was this a reflection on the character of Jesus, and His siblings. I see some of this weeks lesson study is already a possible source of some discussion. I am looking forward to this quarters subject material.
I can't even try and grasp all this genealogy. But,
find it very interesting.
Surely Jesus as human his bloodline goes back to King David, a man whose heart pleases the Lord.
Matthew 1 is yet another manifestation of God's compassion for the condition of humankind and the hope that we have in Jesus. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew exposed the human lineage of Jesus -- a lineage filled with sinners, for "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." All were in need of the Saviour, who moment by moment, killed His human nature (lineage) and chose to allow His divine nature to empower and free Him. Jesus, our Perfect Example, wants us to accept His invitation to live as He lived.
Righteous men are found in the lineage of Jesus too.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, Boaz, Josiah, and Zerubbabel, are all mentioned. And to a greater or lesser extent all these men were men of faith.
But genealogy was extremely important to the Jews, and if anyone was spoken of as the Messiah, the first logical question would have been, "Is he of the house of David?" The genealogies were matters of public record, and these public archives were ultimately under the special care of the ruling Council, the Sanhedrin.
I know we are dealing with the book of Matthew this second quarter of 2016. It is an interesting book to study. Already we have opened with genealogy of Jesus. Difficulty as it maybe to understand this genealogy, I hope we shall be enlightened of Jesus as a human all in order to save mankind. Is this lineage or genealogy critical to one's faith?
The narrative built around Jesus' coming to earth, His rejection by His own people, (John 1:11), and the cruel death He suffered at their hands, illustrates precisely the reason that family lineage or pedigree is immaterial with regard to the gospel of salvation. The Jews were intensely preoccupied with issues such as ancestry, (their history being intricately tied to the lineage of Abraham, whom God chose to be the father of a great nation), yet they missed the greatest event ever to occur on earth in their time, by a mile. The event that their fore-parents looked for but never saw, that was recorded in the scriptures which were read in the temple at weekly and daily ceremonies too many to count, and which the prophets expounded on for generations.
The prophesy of the promised Messiah, to every detail regarding place, time, circumstances, ancestry and even some characters involved, was fulfilled accordingly. What Simeon, the prophetess Anna, the shepherds, the wise men and of course, Mary and Joseph heard, saw and believed, the majority missed. The angel appeared to Mary with the plan of salvation, she believed and accepted her role as mother of the Redeemer of man, in surrender to the will of God (Luke 1:26-38). Joseph likewise, after an angelic visit submitted and did as he was bade (Matt. 1:20).
But why did Israel miss their Savior? Maybe they were looking in all the wrong places, for the wrong reasons and for the wrong king. A King in a manger was not what most expected; certainly not one who could deliver them from their oppressors and captors. They just didn't get it; the role God selected for them in the whole plan of redemption, that included all men not just Jews. They were to be a light to the nations who knew not their God but their unbelief and rejection of the Son of God, Creator of everything, who was the Word from the beginning (John 1:1-4), proved their downfall. But God is rich in mercy as Ellen White recounts in the following:
"Notwithstanding the awful doom pronounced upon the Jews as a nation at the time of their rejection of Jesus of Nazareth, there have lived from age to age many noble, God-fearing Jewish men and women who have suffered in silence. God has comforted their hearts in affliction and [380] has beheld with pity their terrible situation. He has heard the agonizing prayers of those who have sought Him with all the heart for a right understanding of His word. Some have learned to see in the lowly Nazarene whom their forefathers rejected and crucified, the true Messiah of Israel. As their minds have grasped the significance of the familiar prophecies so long obscured by tradition and misinterpretation, their hearts have been filled with gratitude to God for the unspeakable gift He bestows upon every human being who chooses to accept Christ as a personal Savior." Act of the Apostles, p. 380.
Jesus makes it plain that the most important connection to man is our relationship to Him. No amount of earthly pedigree of the most royal DNA, can substitute being born of God and belonging to Him. Jesus laid the matter of genealogy to rest in (Gal. 3:29). He knew the thoughts of the doubters and naysayers regarding His virgin birth and claim to Divinity and no number of miracles could convince them. Yet some tried to plot and scheme Jesus into their plans to use His power to usurp the authority of their captors and regain control. Many walked with Him for food and miracles but refused to submit to the government of the King of Heaven. While the door of mercy remains open, Jesus still invites whosoever will, to become members of His royal family, the family of God.
I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God
I've been washed in the fountain
Cleansed by His blood
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod
For I'm part of the family
The family of God.
Matthew’s gospel begins with a genealogy of Jesus. To be honest with you, when I am reading the Bible, the moment I get to the genealogy (so and so begat so and so) I flip the pages very fast. However, this week’s lesson of the genealogy of not just anybody else, but Jesus Himself, it made me to pause a bit and read it prayerfully and I have learnt a lot.
One theme of Matthew's, supported by the genealogy's structure, is that of the importance of the inclusion of Gentiles in the Kingdom inaugurated by the Messiah's coming. The genealogy includes the names of several Gentile women brought into the people of God i.e. Ruth, Thamar, Rachab, and Bathsheba (the wife of Urias). Matthew explicitly takes a path through Jesus' ancestry to connect Him with Gentiles and Jews. He connects Him ultimately with Father Abraham. This genealogy is incredible proof that God keeps His promises. It was very important for the Jews to be able to trace this lineage so that they could be convinced that Jesus really was of royal blood. But you know, this genealogy is not just a bunch of names, but behind every name is a story. God will work through unlikely people to accomplish His will.
Most people will become angry if you say something bad about their ancestors or their family. They would feel that if you say something bad about their kin then you are by default saying something bad about them. If you are to ask someone to tell you a little bit about their ancestors, you will find the majority only saying the great things leaving out those things that they do not want the public to know about. How much more do you think that would be in the genealogy of Jesus? However, Matthew really amazed me, being a good and devout Jew, you would think that he would do his level best to paint the best picture possible of Jesus' genealogy. When you look at Jesus’ ancestors, the people in the line from Abraham to Jesus, you see just the opposite. Each person has skeletons in their closet. We get to know that all of Jesus’ descendants were very human with weaknesses like us and some were worse than others, if I may say so. God used all of these sinful, fallen people in his plan to bring the Savior to the world, to save the world. God used murderers, cheats, liars, prostitutes, pagans and swindlers to accomplish his plan to save the world.Amen
I always wonder at this geneology of Jesus b/c its really the geneology of Joseph, who technically did not begat Jesus. Since Jesus went against the grain in so many other ways, why not give Mary's geneology to prove Jesus is the son of David?
Does this mean that none of Mary's DNA was used to create Jesus? (I always assumed it had been but now I question.) Is this a physical 'born of the spirit' that shows it is more important than one's lineage to be accepted by God? Since God created Adam, first man, I know it is possible.
It is interesting I think, that Jesus accepted Joseph in the role/designation of "father" (Luke 2:48), even though Mary and Joseph himself knew only too well that he was not Jesus' father.
Joseph's line is given to us by Matthew, but Mary's genealogy is given, I understand, in the Book of Luke. (Luke 3.)
The Scripture that reads -
"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli..." (Lk 3:23), allows for the alternate rendering "... the son of Joseph, which was the son [in law] of Heli...".
And so it is that Luke 3 supplies us with the real source of the humanity of Jesus... through his mother's family.
"The Genesis" means the coming into being of something or their origin. As we read through the genealogy of Jesus we get to know of where He originated from. Nothing just happens or comes into being. It made me realise that in this day and age, let us be people who have a discerning spirit. There are people who are rising themselves up and saying that they have been called by God when in essence when you see their fruits (Matthew 7:20) it does not testify what they say. Now there are some ‘fly by night’ people in the Ministry who are not willing to wait to be ‘made’ first (Matthew 4:19) before they can go out there.
Jesus was born a Saviour, but guess what, He only began His Ministry at the age of 30 (Luke 3:23). David was first anointed amongst his brethren (1 Samuel 16:12) at a young age but he did not become a King at that time, he went back to be a shepherd and at one time was serving the King who was there at that time (Saul) (1 Samuel 16:21) before David was crowned the rightful King of Israel.
Everything has its origins and in due season the purpose of God will come into being in our lives. Let us not despise the small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10).Yes you might not be having a good family tree but guess what, that does not define who you are.
You are born of God and you overcome the world (1 John 5:4). People are able to marvel and see the Glory of God and what the power of God can do in a person’s life when they see where you came from, and you end up defying all odds, and stand out not because of your power but because of God who is in you.
"Of course, family and ancestry are important". Mathew was inspired to first dwell on the genealogy of Jesus as it was prophesied that he will be a seed of Abraham.
Despite being new in the Adventist faith, I always want to understand the history of any celebrations such as Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, Mothers Day etc which I find some Adventist observe. I am sure the origins of such is important to consider.