What it Means to Be a Christian 1.1: History Repeats Itself (Matthew 1: 1-17)

I naturally hoped that my review of the gospel accounts would "start off with a bang."  Something thought provoking, challenging, or even deeply comforting.  Something that would impact me in a deep fashion.  Instead, I got this:

Matthew 1 The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

 ¹ This is the genealogy^[a] of Jesus the Messiah^[b] 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^[c] 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.

Ha. I had forgotten that Matthew's gospel begins with a listing of the genealogy of Jesus. I smiled and chuckled over the fact that my supposedly grand voyage of discovery would begin with perhaps the most boring type of passage for the average Bible reader: a genealogy.  After the humor of the situation wore off, however, an interesting question presented itself: "why did Matthew begin his gospel with a geneology?"

"This is the Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham" is our introduction to Jesus.  Interesting.  The first thing the author wants the reader to know is that Jesus is the Messiah and places Him as the culmination of God's relationship with the Jewish people.  

The Jewish Bible/Old Testament details the beginnings of God's interaction with humanity, which occur through the Jewish people. It is interesting to notice that God was with his people through good times and bad.  God appears to Abraham and tells him that if he will follow God, Abraham will be father of a great people.  Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and imprisoned, but for the ultimate purpose of being used by God to save his people from a devastating famine.  However, that salvation would bring the people under the ambit of the Egyptians who enslaved them, requiring God's direct intervention to free them from Egypt and send them on their way to a promised land of their own.  During this journey, God introduced a set of laws detailing how the people are to worship Him and conduct their lives generally.  

Israel was set up initially to exist without an earthly King.  Instead, they would simply follow God and stand as a witness to the rest of the world of a people who follow God with all their hearts.  Accordingly, these people would be blessed by God and prosper.  However, Israel desired to be like the other people groups and have an earthly King and a monarchy was established. As is the case with all human governance, these rulers were a mixed bag. However, the one King who sought to please and obey God the most--David--ruled during during a golden age for Israel.  Going forward the people would always recall his reign as a time when, despite mistakes, the people really did follow God and really were His people on the Earth.  However, that glory would fade and subsequent kings and their people would wax and wane with faith in God. They would face repeated invasions and even be taken captive by the Babylonian empire, ultimately to be freed when the Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to their land.  History was like a sine-curve: some ups and some downs.  

Throughout this history of the people God directly interacted with, God always loved them and remained faithful.   Israel specifically and humanity more generally showed itself unable to follow God with consistency and treat each other with love and respect. Through the generations, prophets would be used by God to call the people to follow God truly and purely through really loving God in worship and following His laws and really loving others by by being honest and generous in dealing with others. Sometimes the people would listen, and sometimes they would not.  An inconsistent goodness might be sufficient for a man to feel good about himself, but God made clear that such a life is unacceptable.  The creation account stated that God denied immortality to man because of his sin.  Put succinctly, the penalty of sin is death.  To reiterate that fact, God established a system whereby the Jews had to sacrifice animals for the forgiveness of their sins. 

However, the prophets also foretold of a coming King--a Savior--who would establish God's kingdom on Earth. The prophets said that the Messiah would both be a conquering King who sets things right in the world and a suffering servant whose afflictions would bring healing.  With the coming of the Messiah, the prophets foretold that God's people would love and worship God with their hearts, that justice would be given to the poor and downtrodden, and that people from all nations would be drawn to the worship of the God of Israel.  When Matthew begins by saying that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ means Messiah), he is making an astounding statement that Jesus is the person who is going to inaugurate God's kingdom on the Earth and reconcile humanity to God.  

As I review the history of the Old Testament, I see that the struggles of God's chosen people are often mine too.  I too often am inconsistent in my faith.  I try to follow God, but fall short.  I seek after God for a time, but then choose to seek after idols in my life.  If Jesus is God's provision for a humanity that has failed to live as it should, then He is God's provision for me individually as well.  I am part of God's working in history to reconcile humanity to himself and make us into the sorts of people we are intended to be.  I am not alone.