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BATHSHEBA (2 OF 3)

by Scott Maze

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-6
This content is part of a series.


Bathsheba (2 of 3)
Series:The Mother's of Jesus
Scott Maze
Matthew 1:1-6


Merry Christmas from my family to yours! We begin a short series two Sundays ago designed to make room in your heart to worship Jesus, entitled The Mothers of Jesus.

The best-selling book in the world begins in the most odd way. Matthew chapter two is the account of the first Christmas and it warms our hearts to read about the romance of the scene. But Matthew chapter one is the place where most people get “glaze in their eyes” when reading Jesus’ family tree. The New Testament begins by telling us the family background to Jesus, His genealogy. In Matthew 1, right before the Christmas narrative, Matthew gives a genealogy of Jesus, and the genealogy is a way to show who Jesus is and why he came. Again, listing a person’s family tree is an odd way of starting the most significant book of all time. No other Gospel begins the way Matthew’s does. Yet, for Jewish readers of Matthew’s day, it wasn’t unusual.

Genealogies were a big deal for the Jewish people; Jewish families commonly kept private family records. Some of you are into genealogies as well. You research your family’s history through elaborate website and reams of paper. For everyone of you who have discovered you have a famous person in your family history (president or a military general), there’s also the black sheep who was hung for stealing a horse. The first page of our New Testament reads like an ancient Hebrew phone book – many of us would simply wish to skip it. Against the common notion that these words are boring and irrelevant is a failure to see it’s importance. Genealogies were significant because they communicate a person’s social’s standing and status. And Jesus’ family tree shows His pedigree and it conveys His importance. But His Jesus has skeletons in His family’s closet as well – you’ll see some liar, cheats, and crooks.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of ...

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