Well, everyone who reads my blog knows that I am officially nuts! I mean, who really has 5 favorite dinosaurs? That would be me. Then it probably will not come as a shock to anyone that the genealogy of Christ made my top 5 list. Who really picks a bunch of names as one of their favorite passages of scripture? Again, that would be me.
Matthew 1:1-16 (English Standard Version)
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,
4 and Ram the father of Amminidab, and Amminidab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,
8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah,
9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,
15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born who is called Christ.
I heard a sermon on this passage years ago (by Ferman Carpenter, the man who studied with me and baptized me) and it has been one of my favorites ever since. I love that the Messiah came from an imperfect lineage. I always knew that Jesus was a descendent of Judah, but I never really paid attention to who else was in that line.
Jacob--tricked his brother Esau into giving up his birthright for a bowl of stew.
Judah--tried to weasel out of giving Tamar in marriage to his 3rd son. So she tricked him into sleeping with her by dressing as a prostitute.
David--a man after God's own heart, but he had a sexual relationship with a married woman.
Solomon--the wisest man to ever live, yet he had numerous wives and concubines.
Three women were also mentioned in the lineage of Christ:
Rahab--a prostitute
Ruth--a woman who did not really know God, but found him because she promised her mother in law that she would follow her God.
the wife of Uriah the Hittite--a woman who shared fault with David for an adulterous relationship.
In a way, I feel like this passage shows God's love for us. Let me explain. Will any human being ever be perfect like Jesus? No. But, does God show us his humanity through this passage? Yes. God loves us so much that he gave us a human example that we could identify with! (I am not at all trying to take away the deity of Christ, just trying to point out his humanity)
If I knew that Jesus just descended from Heaven one day on a beautiful cloud and walked on air his whole life, I would have a hard time trying to be like him. Instead, God gave us a man who was a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, a teenager, and an adult. He gave us a man who experienced death (and not just any death, he was murdered) and who was loved and abhorred. He gave us a man who came from imperfection, yet showed us what perfection looked like.
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