the    sides

I have wrestled with what to do next for the last two weeks. So I’m tired of wrestling. I’m just going to enjoy the Christmas season by looking at all the different versions of Jesus’ birth.

Of course, I’m only delaying the inevitable. I’m still contemplating Wayne’s challenge of going through Leviticus.

So I start today with Matthew’s perspective of the birth of Jesus.

Matthew 1:1-17

A genealogy…what a completely uninspiring way to start off the story of Jesus. I’ve actually investigated the genealogy. No, I didn’t do it on my own accord…I was challenged by a buddy that said - “I bet you can’t preach a sermon on the genealogy.” Not the greatest of motivation to investigate a passage - but it worked.

Ever been around family and all of a sudden a bunch of old stories start pouring out? As the years go by, the stories get a little shorter because everyone already knows them and are laughing before the end of it comes. It finally gets so crazy that the mere mention of “Uncle I.U.” leaves the whole room in either grand laughter or over the top moans…it’s not just the name. It’s the stories with the name.

That’s Matthew 1 to a Jew. Uncle I. U. stories.

There are some names on the list we expect - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David.

There are some names that we had forgotten about - Boaz (married Ruth), Jesse (David’s dad), and Solomon (David’s son),

There are some names and descriptors that most of us would never include in a family tree…

Judah, the father or Perez and Zerah whose mother was Tamar. I’ll let you read the full story of that on your own (Genesis 38)

Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife…also known as Bathsheeba. David’s lover, the one that got pregnant by David while she was married to another man, the man that David had killed.

Rehoboam - his arrogance and harshness sent Israel into civil war, splitting the nation, never to be the same again.

The list goes one - a mixture of good kings and bad kings. Moments of glory, moments of failure, great wins, embarrassing losses.

Deeper in the stories are God-truths that can’t be ignored.

God keeps his promises regardless of our behavior.
God does his best work in the middle of darkness and scandal.
God only uses broken, messed up people.
God can redeem anything.

Whether it’s a twist of irony or His sense of humor, God continues the story with a man who will marry a woman who is pregnant with a child that isn’t his.

And Christmas begins in the darkness of scandal.

It’s where God does some of his best work.