Matthew_1
Scripture Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Observation-What does it say? The author of this Gospel is Matthew, the tax collector, one of the twelve disciples. “The author, a Jewish Christian writing for a church mainly composed of Jewish Christians, concentrates his skills on presenting Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah- the Christ predicted in the Old Testament” (Zondervan Handbook to the Bible, p. 549). Matthew connects the covenants of the Old Testament to Jesus and his teachings. He starts by mapping out the genealogy of Jesus, mapping him all the way back to Abraham.
Understanding-What does it mean? One day while visiting my mom, I found that she had put up a new family picture in the spare room. It was an old black and white, with a few of my grandmother’s uncles. The men were standing in the woods in front of a large metal tub that had some tubing coming out of the sides. I yelled to my mom, “Where’d you get the picture of the moonshiners?” Shortly after, she popped in and asked what I was talking about. She had no idea that the contraption they were standing in front of was a bootleg whiskey still. While my mom was a little embarrassed at the prospect of being related to a bunch of outlaws and black sheep, it made me a little more proud of my “Southern” roots.
The first chapter of Matthew and the genealogy of Jesus has become one of the most exciting sections of scripture to me. Not only is it the introduction of the one who would ultimately fulfill the covenants laid out in the Old Testament, but it also shows what God can do through people who might have been marginalized in society. When you look through Jesus’ family, you see a group of people who look as though they weren’t good enough to cary out God’s ultimate plan. Jesus’ great grandma, about twenty times removed, was Rahab the harlot. There is also Ruth, a widower, and not Jewish by birth. Jesus was also from the line of David, who was responsible for the murder of the husband of the mother of his illegitimate child. And this is just a few of the most amazing black sheep of the family.
Jesus’ family is a great reminder to me to trust in the reconciling power of His grace. Throughout scripture, God made covenants with his people with the plan of wiping out the indemnity of our sin through the redemption brought through Jesus. In doing that, God worked through people that would normally be seen as useless and not worthy. In Isaiah, God speaks to us, reminding us that His ways are not what we would expect, nor are they the way we would do things(55:8-9). In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul writes to us about how God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise things of this world. And in Romans 3:21-26, we are reminded that our justification is only as a result of His gift of grace.
So while we may not feel “good enough,” we are reconciled to God only through His goodness.
Life Application Jesus, I am nothing without your grace. Thank you for covering me, and casting away the debt of my sin. Help me to always abide in your grace, to know that you are the only good I need. Remind me that my past is not what you define me by, but you define me by your goodness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ferLIsvlmI
-Tyler Galloway