Texts: Matthew 1:1-17 (a.m.) / Luke 3:23-38 (p.m.)
Aim: to discuss the significance of the genealogies of Jesus.
Thesis: the genealogy of Jesus demonstrates the nature of GOD, of JESUS, and of HUMANS.
Introduction:
Back in 1976 an author named Alex Haley published a book that electrified the nation – it went on to become not only a best seller, but also a week-long television mini-series that attracted a massive audience. That book, of course, was ROOTS – the story of Haley’s search for his ancestor, an African from Gambia named Kunta Kinte. By listening to the stories told by the “old folks” in his family, and through painstaking research over a period of twelve years, Haley was finally able to trace his family tree back seven generations, all the way across the ocean to the African village of Juffure.
Haley’s accomplishments encouraged many people to become interested in their own “Roots,” and genealogical societies have sprung up across the country. There is an interesting television program on PBS that Gina and I sometimes watch called “Finding Your Roots,” in which well-known people are invited on the show to learn what the researchers have discovered about their ancestry.
It is a fasinating hobby because, after all, America is a nation of immigrants – we’re ALL from somewhere else – and part of the appeal is in finding out where we’re from. For example, I knew that all of my ancestors were from Scotland, Wales, and England – but I recently learned that one branch of my family tree came to England from Holland.
Often it is very difficult for Americans to trace their family tree, simply because our ancestors were immigrants – pioneers – settlers. They came to this country looking for a new start, and for the most part they weren’t concerned with hanging on to the past. Abraham Lincoln reflected this attitude when he made the comment: “I am much more concerned about what my descendants will be than who their ancestors were.” Records were lost – family histories forgotten – names were changed – and generations grew up who didn’t know anything about their genealogy. It’s not uncommon for Americans to be completely ignorant about their origins, and many folks have no idea who their grandfather’s father was.
In the days of Jesus that kind of attitude would have been unthinkable! To the Jews the passing down of the family line was a sacred obligation, and they kept meticulous records, both written and oral, of their genealogy. This was partly because of the Old Testament law – many of the regulations concerning property rights and inheritance and religious offices were based on ancestry.
And this was partly due to the nature of their society – there were 12 “tribes,” and that kinship identification and clan loyalty were supremely important (witness the division of the Kingdom after Solomon along tribal lines!). Still today in much of the world, in Africa, in Asia, even in what used to be the Soviet Union, a person’s primary loyalty is not to his nation, but to his ethnic group, his “tribe.” And you’d better believe those people keep track of their family history! Why, some can remember family feuds that took place 500 years ago – and what’s more, they’re still angry about it!
In our society tracing your family tree is a hobby, but nothing more – and because we don’t have the same perspective as those first-century Jews, it keeps us from appreciating one of the most significant features in the story of the birth of Jesus: the genealogies!
Generally, when we get to that part of the story of Jesus’ birth, we skip over it.
• For one thing, we have enough trouble with the tongue-tangling names in the Bible as it is, without plowing through a whole list of them! Names like Zerubbabel, Eliakim, Eleazar, and Shealtiel are difficult to read, and it’s easier to simply pass over the whole section.
• And for another thing, we don’t see the point in reciting a list of musty, dusty, obscure Hebrew names. What possible spiritual value could we find in doing that?
This morning, at a time of the year when we are reminded of the birth of Jesus, but almost no one is thinking of this part of the nativity stories, I’d like to suggest that the FAMILY TREE of Jesus teaches us several significant lessons: lessons about the nature of GOD, the nature of PEOPLE, and above all, about the nature of JESUS. There are actually two family trees of Jesus recorded in the Bible:
Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Joseph, who was the legal (but not the actual) father of Jesus, Jesus having been born of a virgin. Matthew picks up the family line beginning with Abraham and carries it down to the first century.
Luke evidently begins with Mary’s family and goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, so this is the actual, physical family tree.
What do these family trees teach us?
Body:
First and foremost, they demonstrate THE NATURE OF GOD: He Is Faithful.
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL”
God is not always fast, but He is faithful! While the Lord may take years – or even centuries – to carry out his will, we can rest assured: our God keeps his promises! For example, Luke’s genealogy ends with ADAM & EVE, and thus we are reminded of a promise made in the Garden of Eden.
The Lord warned the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers: he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
It would take many centuries for God’s plan of redemption to unfold, but eventually the day would come when Satan would inflict a mortal wound on God’s Son at the Cross, but Jesus would return the favor by gaining a “crushing” victory in the Resurrection. God’s promise came true!
The family trees of both Mary and Joseph include a man named ABRAHAM. That is highly significant because it was to him God promised: “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). And generations later that prophecy was fulfilled when a baby named Jesus was born to the descendants of Abraham, and that baby was to be the Savior of the world. Abraham’s name, listed in the genealogy of Jesus, reminds us: God’s promise came true!
Both Mary and Joseph could count King DAVID in their family line. This reminds us of the promise God made to David in 1 Chronicles 17:11-12 “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his Kingdom…..I will establish his throne forever”. That was quite a humbling promise to receive, and David responded with a sense of wonder and unworthiness (READ 1 Chronicles 17:16f.)!
God made that promise, and he kept it! Listen carefully as Matthew’s gospel tells us when the angel appeared to reassure a troubled Joseph, he addressed him thusly: “Joseph SON OF DAVID, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).
And Luke’s gospel makes a point of telling us that “Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem THE TOWN OF DAVID, because he belongs to THE HOUSE AND LINE OF DAVID” (Luke 2:4).
Even the angels who announce the birth to shepherds in the field emphasize the connection, saying “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the TOWN OF DAVID a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:4) It was tremendously important that Jesus was one of the physical descendants of King David, and the genealogies are in the gospel to demonstrate that he was.
That baby could not have been born into any other family line, could not have been born in any other place, because all of the prophecies and all the promises of God were focused on this family tree – God had made promises to ADAM & EVE, and to ABRAHAM and to DAVID – a pledge that some day in the distant future one of their descendents would be born, and be born in Bethlehem, be born of a virgin – that he would be the Messiah, the Savior, a King of an everlasting Kingdom, and a blessing to all the nations of the earth. And David’s name in the family tree of Jesus serves to reassure us: when God makes a promise – he keeps it!
The genealogies thus testify to the nature of God: and those names remind us of long-ago promises that were finally coming true! In the last chapter of Roots Alex Haley tells the moving story of finally locating Juffure, the village of Kunte Kinte, his long-lost ancestor, and of being united with his sixth-generation cousins, also descendants of the Kinte tribe, after a separation of some 200 years.
And then, when he returned to the United States, he learned of an odd coincidence. His eighty-three year-old cousin Georgia had died on the very day he had reached Juffure. She had been the last of the older generation who had passed down the stories of Kunte Kinte. Haley writes:
“I think that as the last of the old ladies who talked the story on Grandma’s front porch, it had been her job to get me to Africa, then she went to join the others up there watchin’…..I think now that not only are Grandma, cousin Georgia, and those other ladies ‘up there watching’, but so are all of the others…..” (page 682, 686).
Now, you might consider that a bit far-fetched. And yet, the genealogies, coming as they do at the story of the birth of Jesus, represent something very much like that. After all, in Hebrews 12:1, we find many of these same ancestors of Jesus called “a great cloud of witnesses.” At the very least we can say those names stand for the hopes and dreams handed down from generation to generation, all being fulfilled in the babe of Bethlehem. When the angels were trumpeting the good news, it doesn’t take much imagination to picture those faithful family members, “up there watching”.
God is not always fast, but he is always faithful!
2 Peter 3:8-9 “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some men count slowness.”
God had made promises, and “in the fullness of time, God sent forth His son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). His promises DO come true!
And when God promises us that good will ultimately prevail, the Kingdom will grow, even men will be punished, and Jesus will return – it will happen, no matter how much time elapses!
All those names underscore the REALITY of our faith! Christianity is unique among world religious in that it, and it alone, is an historical religion. That is, it wasn’t spun out of the imagination of one man, as in Mormonism or Islam, and it isn’t based solely on the teachings of one man, as in Buddhism or Confucianism.
Our religion is centered on one man, to be sure; but the birth of Jesus was the culmination of centuries of promises and prophecies to people, real flesh-and-blood people, who knew that someday he would be born.
The genealogies remind us that our religion is not a theory, not a fantasy. Our faith has “ROOTS” – our faith has REALITY!
PART TWO
INTRODUCTION: (Matthew 1:1-17)
This morning I mentioned that many people are interested in tracing their family tree: I should also have issued a warning – you never know what you’ll find up in those branches!
I heard about a fellow who was reading his genealogy and the notation underneath one of his ancestors read: “Occupied the chair of applied electricity in one of our better-known institutions.” He was so impressed, he did a little more checking on this illustrious individual – and found what it really meant was he had died in the electric chair at the state pen!
Dr. Samuel Johnson, when paying court to Mrs. Porter, confessed that his family was not without stain, as he had had an uncle who had been hanged.
Mrs. Porter, with a woman’s true tact, set the good Doctor’s mind at rest by assuring him that, although this was not the case with her, she had in her family at least fifty who deserved hanging.
(Edmund Fuller, 2500 Anecdotes For All Occasions, p. 154)
Some people, on the other hand, become rather proud because of their family tree. Will Rogers, the great American humorist, was part Cherokee Indian. Once he was at a dinner party when a society matron came up to him and haughtily informed him – “Did you know that my family goes all the way back to the beginning of this country? In fact, my ancestors came over on the Mayflower.” Will just grinned and replied – “Yep, and my ancestors were on the shore to greet them.”
Does your family tree contain a few rotten branches? Are there any black sheep in your family? Well, join the crowd – so does mine, and so does the family line of every other person in this assembly, and so did the genealogy of Jesus!
THE NATURE OF HUMANITY: MIXED!
The family tree of Jesus, like everyone else’s, had good branches and bad. Not even the genealogy of the Messiah was without a few disreputable characters! And in this day and age in which people are being encouraged to blame all their problems on their parents, and heredity, and the way they were raised, I think there is a significant lesson to be gleaned from the genealogy of the Lord, in Matthew 1:7-8 (READ).
Thomas Fuller, an English preacher who died back in 1661, commented on these verses:
“I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.
Rehoboam begat Abia: that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
Abia begat Asa: that is, a bad father begat a good son.
Asa begat Jehosophat: that is, a good father begat a good son.
Jehosophat begat Joram: that is, a good father begat a bad son”.
(Christianity Today, March 15, 1985, p. 50).
Upon reflection Fuller concluded: “I see from this that my father’s piety cannot be handed on. That is bad news for me. But I also see that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son.” The genealogy of Jesus thus provides a balance that is often lacking when parents consider their responsibilities! On the one hand it is true that we as parents can and should provide a spiritual legacy for our children! When Paul wrote the young man Timothy he said, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). Timothy could be grateful for having had the privilege of growing up under the influence of a Christian mother and grandmother!
I recently learned something new about my own spiritual heritage – I’m not the first church leader in the family! I had a great-great-grandfather named Thomas Franklin Eastes who was an elder for the Church of Christ in Commerce, Tennessee until he died in 1916. In fact, I am told he gave the lumber and the land for the original church building, and the pulpit Bible he dedicated to the church was still in that congregation when I visited it back in the ‘80’s. That means I can trace my own spiritual heritage back at least five generations. Does that make me “better” or more “righteous” than anyone else? No – because faith must start fresh with each generation!
On the one hand Timothy could be thankful for the influence of his mother and grandmother – but on the other hand, he had to have “sincere” faith – that is, it was his own! Each generation must make its own decision whether to obey God or not – and that means parents are not the only factor. It’s just not as simple as saying “If a kid turns out bad, his parents are at fault” – just as it’s also not accurate to say “If you had bad parents, you’re doomed to be hopelessly disadvantaged for the rest of your life.” (READ Ezekiel 18).
The genealogy of Jesus teaches us something about human nature – our decisions, our destiny, are ultimately up to US!
A final lesson is to be found in the fact that Matthew does an unusual thing for a Jewish family tree: he includes the names of four women in the lineage of Christ. And, I believe, for a good reason. He lists:
v. 3 – TAMAR (who was an adulteress)
v. 5 – RAHAB (a pagan and harlot)
v. 5 – RUTH (a Moabite, not a Jew)
v. 6 – BATHSHEBA (with whom David sinned).
It is extraordinary to find these names in the genealogy of the Lord, and especially since the names of women weren’t ordinarily required. WHY? Because they capture the essence of the gospel:
the barrier between Jew & Gentile is down (two Gentiles, Rahab and Ruth are included)
the inequality between male and female is erased (“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female – you are all one in Christ Jesus” – Galatians 3:28)
the separation between God and sinners has been reconciled (“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” – Matthew 9:13).
When Matthew recorded the birth of the Savior he began the story with the family tree of Jesus, and he included in that genealogy the names of four people you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to find. I think the point is the grace and forgiveness of the gospel, don’t you?
THE NATURE OF JESUS: BOTH HUMAN AND DIVINE!
This is the true purpose of a family tree: not just to satisfy curiosity, but to provide identity. What do the genealogies tell us about who Jesus is?
Jesus is A SON OF ADAM. That is to say, he was a real man, a human, a flesh and blood person, not some mythical character. The Greeks and the Romans had all sorts of “gods” – but they weren’t real, and everyone knew it! But Jesus was as real as you or me – he didn’t have an earthly father, because of the Virgin Birth, but he had a mother – through her he had a family – aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. In Luke’s record the genealogy goes all the way back to ADAM (and so would ours, if only we could trace it).
The point: he is one of us. We all share the same origin, the same nature, the same struggles. Some folks use their genealogies to brag: “I was descended from royalty,” or “One of my relatives was President”! But if we could just trace it back far enough, there’s no reason to boast – we’re all the same family! Acts 17:26 “From one man he (God) made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth.” We’re all sons and daughters of Adam, and so was Jesus.
More than that, the fact that Jesus was one of us ought to encourage us – he knows how we feel! (READ Hebrews 2:10-18 “same family….he himself suffered.” Jesus himself emphasized his identification with us – his favorite title for himself was “Son of Man.” And even though he has now ascended to heaven, and is there interceding with the Father on our behalf, he has not lost his humanity – “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). The family tree of Jesus demonstrates that he is a son of ADAM: he is one of us!
Jesus is A SON OF ABRAHAM. That is, a Jew, one of God’s chosen people: but – chosen for what? To receive the Messiah (cf. John 8:56 “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day”). He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and thus to the Jewish people (hence, “to the Jew first….” – Romans 1:16, 2:9).
Jesus is A SON OF DAVID. That is, an heir to the throne. Matthew begins his genealogy (and his gospel) with the words: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This is the single most important feature of the genealogies for the Jews – they document the fact that Jesus of Nazareth the tribe of Judah, from “the house and line of David” (Luke 2:4).
They may seem like a dusty, irrelevant, even boring list of obscure names to those of us in the twenty-first century, but I can assure you they came alive in the first century when the apostles began to make their argument that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah! Their Jewish audiences wanted to know: Where was he born? What was his tribe? Who was his family?
They knew the prophecies – they knew the promises! Jesus himself once asked the Pharisees, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” and the answer came back, “The son of David” (Matthew 22:42). And one of the most tragic episodes in the gospels is found in John 7:52 when the religious leaders angrily reject Jesus saying, “Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” They were right! AND they were wrong! For Jesus did not come from Galilee – not originally. He was actually born in Bethlehem, the city of David.
And the apostles could point to the genealogies and say – “He was of the royal line.” And they could relate the story of his birth and say – “He was born in Bethlehem.” And they could list all of the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus and conclude – “He is the Messiah.”
And finally, Jesus is THE SON OF GOD. He was born into an earthly family, but his father was God. Jesus came into the world as a tiny baby, but he had been in existence for eternity. The paradox of the incarnation is that Jesus had Abraham as an ancestor, but he could also say – “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).
Luke’s recitation of the family tree of Jesus ends with this sequence: “the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” And thus the circle is complete! The list begins and ends with GOD!
A group of first graders got together and decided to write their own version of the Nativity. It was more modern than the traditional drama. Oh, there were the familiar members of the cast: Joseph, the shepherds, the three wise, the star and an angel propped up in the background. But Mary was nowhere to be seen, suddenly from behind some bales of hay could be heard some soft moans and groans. Evidently Mary was in labor.
Soon a doctor arrived dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Joseph, with a look of relief on his face takes the doctor straight to Mary, then starts pacing back and forth. After a few moments the “doctor” emerges with a big smile on his face, “Congratulations, Joseph,” he says, “IT’S A GOD!”
Dan Williams