This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1, ESV).
The sons of golfing greats rarely follow in their dad’s footsteps. The list of young men who reach anything near their dad’s level of success is extremely short.
Some notable exceptions come to mind: Old and Young Tom Morris, Jay and Bill Haas, and Bob and Kevin Tway. The world of golf will have to wait and see if Charlie Woods makes it to the dance.
When we turn to Scripture, we see numerous father-son relationships, especially in the genealogies. More than a few readers admit to skipping over the “so-in-so is the son of so-in-so” parts.
But being the “son of” in Scripture tells us many important things. For instance, Matthew tells us that Jesus is “the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
For some, reading the genealogies is like watching “paint dry.” That’s a shame because there are some significant surprises in biblical family trees:
Strikingly, Matthew’s genealogy includes five women (patriarchs typically dominate genealogies). In this case, he names Tamar (she had sex with her father-in-law), Rahab (a Canaanite prostitute), Ruth (a disqualified Moabite, see Deuteronomy 23:3), the “wife of Uriah” (Bathsheba), and Mary (rumored immorality, see John 8:41).
My older brother, the PhD in the family, was intrigued by our ancestry long before there was anything like Ancestry.com. I suspect he is barking up the wrong family tree, though, because there is little chance William Wallace, Martin Luther, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, Robert the Bruce, Marie Curie, and Margaret Thatcher are my forebears.
If he told me that my ancestors were mostly scalawags, rascals, and convicts, I might believe him. While my older brother is tracing our DNA to the “rich and famous,” in Jesus’ case, his ancestors include both the famous and the infamous— “warts and all.”
Another surprise is this. Matthew went through all the trouble of tracing Abraham’s and David’s lineage to Joseph, only to find out that, in the end, Joseph is not Jesus’ biological dad. So, if the point is not bloodline descent, what is? I am not questioning Jesus’ Jewish heritage but asking, “What is Matthew up to?”
The obvious answer points to Joseph as Jesus’ adopted dad; the more profound answer is that the Holy Spirit conceived the baby in Mary’s womb. Without virginal conception and birth, Christianity is nothing more than a good fiction—a myth disconnected from historical reality.
But why choose Abraham and David? In the Old Testament, God made covenants with Abraham and David. To Abraham, God promised that his son would be the one through whom God’s blessings would come to all the nations (Galatians 3:16). To David, God promised that his son would sit on his throne and his reign would endure for all eternity. Matthew is making a serious point about the covenantal structure of redemptive history!
Matthew’s genealogy is hardly boring; it points to staggering truths:
1) Jesus fulfills these covenantal promises made millennia before with David and Abraham. Unlike our opening golf analogy, Jesus is the greater son of David and Abraham! After all, David called him LORD (see Matthew 22:45).
2) God’s saving purposes have always included gentiles (e.g., Ruth) and social outcasts (e.g., Rahab).
3) No moral failure, connivance, gene pool, or resistance can thwart God’s plans and promises!
4) Jesus is not only the covenantal “seed” of Abraham and David; he is the Son of God!
Christmas is way more textured, layered, and profound than we imagine! The “big picture” of Christmas tells the story of God’s unalterable providence—he is leading history to its appointed end—a world bowed on bended knee before the rightful heir-King Jesus!
Prayer: “Jesus! We give you thanks for shining the light of your glory into the world and into our hearts!