Jesus, Who is Called the Christ

Beginning the gospel of Matthew.

Today we begin our third of four in this year’s cycle through the gospels—Matthew. Matthew will take us more slowly through the life of Jesus than Mark did, and its emphases are quite different from John. It’s a beautiful gospel centered in light and community. Jesus takes his place at the very center of Israel’s story, and yet presses outward beyond it—calling all people into the kingdom of heaven.

This gospel is structured around five major blocks of teaching, and we’ll get some of the most well-known content here, including the Sermon on the Mount. But Matthew is also intent on showing how Jesus fulfills Scripture—not just by fulfilling predictions, but by embodying the heart of Israel’s story. We’ll see Jesus as a new Moses, calling a new community into being. He’ll speak often of the kingdom of heaven, and Matthew is the only gospel that names the church.

So buckle up. Matthew’s portrait of Jesus is full of wonder, wisdom, and challenge—and it’s going to shape how we see everything.

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Yay! A genealogy! What an exciting way to begin a new gospel!

But honestly, if we do take the time to read this without just glossing over the names, we discover some things.

For one, there are more names in this list that we don’t recognize than ones we do recognize. Most of what we read in scripture are highlights. If we’re not careful, we tend to apply the highlights to our daily lives. But not every day is Pentecost or Christmas. Miracles don’t happen every day, at least, not to each of us every day. We live in the ordinary, which if we let it be, is actually quite beautiful. But this list of names demonstrates to us that God works throughout time and, most of the time, it won’t be headline news.

But second, God works the extraordinary within the ordinary in ways that humans wouldn’t necessarily predict or prefer. The inclusion here of the likes of Jacob, Rahab, Ruth, and even Bathsheba (who is inexplicably and unfortunately mentioned by not named) seems to be an intentional effort by Matthew to demonstrate that the path of God’s will is neither neat nor humanly conventional.

Matthew 1:1-17

A record of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Aram.
Aram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asaph.
Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram.
Joram was the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amos.
Amos was the father of Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
This was at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Achim.
Achim was the father of Eliud.
Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary—of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ.

Prayer

God,

Thank you for working your extraordinary ways in ordinary contexts. Like me. And the person reading this prayer with me.

As I go through this day - one that as far as I know has no specific incredible happenings, at least in my life - keep me on, Lord.

I’ve got some things to do. And I do understand and pray that they are contributive to your kingdom. So keep my heart, eyes, and hands steady as I proceed. Give me grace for me and for others around me. Help me maintain integrity and what is right, even as I may mess up.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.