Why would you start a story with a genealogy? To the modern mind this is senseless, but in the ancient world (particularly the ancient Jewish world) this was the perfect place to start.
Matthew starts his Gospel by placing Jesus within the vast and extremely rich history of Israel. Matthew starts by making a profound statement. Jesus wasn’t just some insignificant peasant Galilean; Jesus’ story is Abraham’s story and this means that it is our story! It is because of Jesus that we (Gentiles) are included in God’s story of redemption.
There are four things that jump out of the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel:
- God is on Mission—God has a plan to redeem the world. From Abraham all the way to Jesus and his mission here on earth, God has been working and moving through history to save the fallen human race.
- God uses the Broken—Matthew makes it a point to add in those of ill repute and even women (oh, my!). If you’ve ever said, “God can’t use me because I’m not…” or “God wouldn’t use me because I did...” think again. Throughout history, God has used the seemingly calamitous actions of even the most wicked to accomplish his purposes.
- God uses the Mishaps—Right in the middle of this genealogy is the exile to Babylon. Can one say there is a more calamitous event in history than when God poured out judgment on his own rebellious people?
- God invites us to the Story—Through Jesus Christ we are invited in on his grand story of redemption. The good news of Matthew’s genealogy is that it ends with Jesus our Savior who invites Jews and Gentile, male and female, slave and free.
So the next time you're reading along in your Bible and you run into one of those “boring” genealogies, don’t just skip over it. Grab a concordance and see if you can find what gems are lurking beneath those names.
