I want to do a series of brief posts reflecting on the gospel that Christmas declares. I begin today where the New Testament begins with the gospel: the genealogy of Matthew (1:1-17). Here we find a list of names, but the names are ordered into a message.
There are three major points in the geneaology: Jesus is the King/Messiah, Jesus is a descendant of David, and Jesus is a descendant of Abraham. There you have it : from Abraham to David to Jesus, the Messiah/King. The gospel, which is what Matthew is, begins by telling us something vitally important about Jesus: he is the fulfillment of the Story that runs from Abraham’s election to David’s appointment as king (forever). The genealogy is a nutshell expression of the New Testament’s gospel: see my book, The King Jesus Gospel.
Abraham can represent both Israel and the Gentiles. How so? Clearly, God’s way of dealing with human problems in Genesis 4-11 is to form one covenant people, eventually Israel, and Abraham was that person. But the Jewish context also tells us that Abraham was a Gentile, that he was eventually classed as a proselyte, and that he represents in Matthew’s gospel the expansion of the gospel to Gentiles, beginning with the magi of Matthew 2:1-12 and finishing off with the mission to the world in Matthew 28:16-20.
David’s place in this geneaology is clear: he was the king and he became the ideal king and he was the one on whom Israel focused its hopes from the exile on. Someday, it was said, we will have a king like David and borders as wide as David’s. That Matthew orders the genealogy into groups of fourteen carries on this “David” theme: David’s name in Hebrew, which did not have numbers but used letters, is D-V-D and that adds up to “14.” So the 14 theme is all David. The genealogy of Jesus is a 14 genealogy.
Yet, I see one more theme here: not only is Jesus Abrahamic and Davidic, he comes from some odd inclusions: there are four unusual women in the geneaology of Jesus, each noted for what could be seen as a sexual irregularity overcome by God’s grace and plan: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah. This sets the stage not only for Jesus but also for Mary.
So, what is the Christmas gospel? It is to tell the Story of God in this world beginning with Abraham, flowing through David, finding its way to King Jesus but also including all sorts of folks who find their way into the People of God.
Matthew 1:1-17
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
“begins by telling us something vitally important about Jesus: he is the fulfillment of the Story that runs from Abraham’s election to David’s appointment as king (forever).”
Would this be something that falls under “according to the Scriptures” in 1 Cor. 15?
Comment by Rick — December 12, 2011 @ 10:53 am
Rick, sure would!
Comment by Scot McKnight — December 12, 2011 @ 11:10 am
Scot, I’m so looking forward to this short series of posts. Upon reading through The King Jesus Gospel the first time, and it resonating so, I determined to tell that story, that way, in particular to use the Gospel story as expressed by you in chapter 10, on Christmas day when our congregation gathers for worship. It takes about 15 minutes to read and will not only tell the story well, but will express a pinnacle in the revelation of the Incarnation. I’m sure these posts will further inform our plans and celebration.
Comment by Terry — December 12, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Scot, yes, yes, yes! Great post.
Comment by Bob Brague — December 12, 2011 @ 11:28 am
Bob,
I think we’ve finally found something where we agree! God Bless Us Every One!
Comment by Scot McKnight — December 12, 2011 @ 11:32 am
Matthew is careful to mention the Babylonian exile — it serves as the final delineation in his three sets of fourteen generations. So we should be careful not to overlook the significance of that exile in Israel’s story, and what the coming of Messiah means in regard to that.
I was reading and thinking about Matthew 1-2 in my devotional time this morning. Many things stand out for me now in regard to the gospel of King Jesus and His kingdom. I’m also seeing how, when Matthew speaks of this or that fulfilling what was written or spoken by the prophets, it is not necessarily prophecies, as such, but the whole story of Israel that is being fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah.
Comment by Jeff Doles — December 12, 2011 @ 11:36 am
Sometime within the past few years the Gentile link with the women mentioned in the genealogy was pointed out to me. Tamar and Rahab were Gentiles, and Bathsheba was married to a Gentile. So Matthew is already showing us that the gospel is for the Gentiles also.
Comment by Benj B — December 12, 2011 @ 11:46 am
I appreciate this post. I’ve, randomly, heard quite a few sermon’s on Matthew’s geneology lately (mainly focusing on the women)… but it’s frustrated me that pastors so often miss the overall *story* impact of the geneology. And it’s obvious that such is what it must be, for Matthew *didn’t* record the entire geneology and, moreover, put together a very different story-geneology than Luke did.
Comment by Amos Paul — December 12, 2011 @ 12:25 pm
Rather than Abraham, and the ethnic nation that developed from both his progeny and outsiders joining, I prefer to take Jesus as the focus, for both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is Israel, and all in him are Israel. Abraham is in Christ, not Christ in Abraham. Abraham was told that Israel would come, and it came in Jesus, not Abraham.
Comment by davey — December 12, 2011 @ 2:52 pm
It’s funny that people often use the genealogy to note how boring the new testament is but when it’s explained it’s freakin’ awesome!
Comment by Nick — December 12, 2011 @ 3:41 pm
That’s exactly right, but what do we do with the fact that the last “fourteen generations” seems to be only thirteen? I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer to that one. Thanks.
Comment by Bruce — December 12, 2011 @ 5:04 pm
Please delete if, well, you know….
We should move Jesus birthday to another day, perhaps in April. All of this stuff about Christians and Christmas is really getting to me.
Comment by DRT — December 12, 2011 @ 5:09 pm
I just gave a lesson to an adult Sunday School class on this subject yesterday. Besides pointing out the women, and the Gentiles, we also noted as you did, that Abraham was a Gentile. There is also the element of the second or fourth born who is recognized (Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and Perez). Then there are the very colorful stories of the each of the women, that would be scandalous in our day. Also, there is the inclusion of not just Gentiles, but cursed groups, such as a Canaanite and a Moabite. One of the class members works with foreign students at USC and he wanted to be able to share all of this with Muslims, Hindus, and atheists. The Bible is so unique in this sense.
Comment by Craig Wright — December 12, 2011 @ 7:55 pm
Here is another interesting point about this passage. In verses 7-8, there is a list of fathers and sons, that range from good to bad and bad to good, which caused Thomas Fuller (17th Century) to make this comment, “I see, Lord, from this, that my father’s piety cannot be handed on; that is bad news for me. But I also see that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.”
Comment by Craig Wright — December 12, 2011 @ 9:56 pm