Loving God, we think about the birth of Jesus into our world for the sake of sinners, and we are amazed.  Grant us grateful hearts by the power of your Spirit as we wonder at your love for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            You may have noticed that ancestry is a big thing these days.  For various amounts of money, you can send away your DNA and get a full report on where you come from.  However, in Jesus’ case, there is no need.  It is all right there in the first chapter of Matthew – the good, the bad and the ugly.

         Now, I do understand that for many people, it is hard to read a list of Hebrew names that you can barely pronounce, and some might zone out fairly quickly while listening.  However, others might recognize many of the names from the stories we have heard over the past year or so.  So why would Matthew begin his gospel with this genealogy of Jesus?... There are at least several possible reasons, one of which involves the importance of ancestry in Judaism.

         If you have ever spent much time reading the Old Testament, you will have discovered that people are often identified by their ancestors.  Just one example, which happens to be found in Numbers, is a guy named Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest (Num. 25:10).  This is how men are always identified in the Scriptures.  Thus, the genealogy gives Jesus’ Jewish roots, but in this case it goes back much farther than three or four generations.

         In this particular instance, Jesus turns out to be the fulfillment of promises that were made to Abraham and to David.  Thus, both of these ancestors are held up as being especially important.  Abraham was promised that through his descendants, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).  This promise is finally fulfilled through Jesus, who came for both Jews and Gentiles.

         At the same time, we heard the promise to David in today’s Psalm (132:11-12).  Way back in 2 Samuel 7, God promised David that one of his descendants would rule forever, and that his kingdom would be established forever. You might recall that David’s descendants were not particularly faithful in keeping God’s covenant, and so for many years there was nobody from David’s line ruling in Jerusalem.  This is why Matthew deems it to be extremely important to show that Jesus is a descendant of David.  After all, who else would be able to reign forever?

         Now, at least some of you are probably wondering how any of this ancestry applies when Jesus isn’t Joseph’s biological son.  The truth is that even though Joseph was not Jesus’ natural father, he was Jesus’ legal father.  Joseph adopted Jesus, making Jesus his son in the eyes of the law.  He did this by naming Jesus at the time of his birth (Mt. 1:25).

         So far, then, the reasons for the genealogy are two-fold: One is to show Jesus’ Jewish roots, and the other is to show how Jesus is connected to Abraham and to David, and the covenants that God made with them.  However, there is at least one more reason why this genealogy might be important. Throughout this list of names, there are hints that maybe Jesus really did come for everybody. 

         Both men and women are named, which is highly unusual, and there is even a Gentile woman named Ruth who snuck in there.  At the same time, while the list includes people who received God’s promises and some who were particularly faithful to God, it also includes people who lied and cheated and murdered and committed adultery, among other things.  There is no attempt made in this genealogy to keep the skeletons in the closet.  They are all right there for everyone to see.  In fact, you can read the stories of Judah and Tamar (Gen. 38), of Rahab (Josh. 2; 6:17), and of David and Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11-12) right there in the Old Testament.

         However, in our families, the skeletons tend to be put in the closet with the doors firmly shut, just in case anybody might find out what actually went on.  In my own family, one of those skeletons got let out after my grandmother died and her children found her marriage certificate.  She had been married at a Lutheran church in Zurich, Ontario, and it turns out that somebody had actually changed the date of the marriage in the parish records.  It had been changed to a year earlier so that her first child would not be born too early.

         I find it particularly sad that they had to pretend their marriage was a different date in order for them to be deemed acceptable, especially in a church that supposedly has discovered the riches of God’s grace.  Jesus, as it turns out, was descended from a number of people who needed his forgiveness the most.  He also hung out with the people who were known to be sinners.  It was also Jesus who said that “the truth will make you free” (Jn. 8:32).

         The truth is that no matter what skeletons we might have hanging around, and no matter what is in our background, Jesus came for us.  Jesus came for all those in need of God’s love and forgiveness, and that includes everybody.  The moment that we become judges rather than forgiven sinners, we have missed the point of Jesus’ birth, life and death among us. It is Jesus who is the judge – the same one who loves us so much that he would lay down his life for ours.

         Let us then give thanks for Jesus, whose birth affirmed the value of all people, whose life showed us what God is like, and whose death and resurrection give both forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Christmas 1 (NL 1)                                      Matthew 1:1-17

December 30, 2018                                    Psalm 132:11-12

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved