Jesus’ Family Tree: The Gospel Is for All
(Matt. 1:1-17/Rev. 7:6-12)
Tracing genealogies has become big business in recent years. Reminds me of what Mark Twain once wrote: “Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
A. But if you could write your own genealogy, who would you
want to be in it? Royalty? Distinguished statesmen? Leaders in business & industry? Famous athletes or movie
stars?
B. And, who would you not choose to include? Thieves? Scoundrels? Adulterers? Democrats? Republicans?
C. There are some who claim that the Gen of Jesus isn’t a real
one, that Matt (or whoever) just made it up to give Jesus
an air of legitimacy as a descendant of David, but no basis
in fact.
D. But when you read this gen, that doesn’t seem very likely, b/c it certainly isn’t a “cleaned up” one, with all the people
left out that a self-respecting 1st-Cent. Jew might want to omit. Quite the opposite.
E. Gen = Matt’s 1st hint that Jesus came, not just for the good & acceptable & highly-regarded people, but ALL people.
1st indication of what will be stated clearly at conclusion:
“Make disciples of ALL nations.”
F. The gen makes it abundantly clear that “the gospel is for all.” Nobody is excluded.
1. The Gospel is for Women, as well as Men.
A. One of the most interesting features of Matt’s gen of Jesus = the presence of 5 women, 4 from OT, plus His mother
Mary.
B. Wasn’t unheard of to include women in a gen, but it wasn’t the norm either. Fact that Matt does - & 5 no less - indicates he’s making a point.
C. Women have an honored place in OT, but it was clearly a 2nd-class status, especially so in later Judaism.
(1) Rabbinic Prayer: “Lord, I thank thee that thou has not ade me a Gentile, a woman, or a slave.”
(2) Jewish men in antiquity never spoke to women in public, not even their own wives.
(3) Men & women didn’t sit together in synagogues. Not appropriate, & women not allowed to study the Law.
(Reason Mary, sis. of Martha, sitting at Jesus’ feet & listening to His teachings irked her sister so.)
D. But the gen honors women by placing them in Jesus’ family tree: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba (“wife of Uriah”), &
Jesus’ mother, Mary.
E. Clearly, Jesus didn’t come just for the men, but for all of humanity.
2. The Gospel is for All Nations
A. Certainly no self-respecting Jew would want to admit it if his ancestry were not thoroughly Jewish, but included Gentiles as well. - But Jesus’ family tree includes both.
B. Represented once again by the Women:
(1) According to Jewish Bk of Jubilees (41:1), Tamar was an Aramaean, not an Israelite.
a. In fact, her husband, Er, was only part Israelite, b/c his father Judah had at first married a Canaanite woman & had 3 sons by her, of whom Er was the eldest.
b. So the twin sons Tamar bore to Judah were not fully Israelites by birth either, so neither were any of those who descended from them.
(2) Rahab was a Canaanite, a resident of Jericho, one of those people Israel had been instructed to utterly destroy when they took possession of the land. - But she was also David’s great-great-grandmother!
(3) Ruth was a Moabitess, married to an Israelite man whose family had moved to Moab to escape a famine.
- Later returned to Judea, where eventually married Boaz & gave birth to Obed, who was David’s gr’father.
(4) Bathsheba - called here “the wife of Uriah” - was an Israelite herself, but married to a Hittite man.
C. Now if all these nations - even the despised Canaanites - were represented in the ancestry of the Messiah, surely the salvation He would bring would be “for all nations.”
D. But, not just “for all nations,” but. . .
3. The Gospel is for All Sinners
A. I said that Jesus’ gen hasn’t been “cleaned up,” & there is ample evidence of that fact w/in it. - Just a few EXS:
B. Judah & Tamar
(1) 1:3 - “Judah the father of Perez & Zerah by Tamar.” - Sounds innocent enough.
(2) But when read the story in Gen 38, learn that Tamar wasn’t Judah’s wife; she was his dau-in-law!
(3) And the twin sons she bore to him were conceived b/c she posed as a prostitute.
(4) A pretty ugly story! But it’s in there. So is. . .
C. David & Bathsheba
(1) V. 6 - “David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” - Genealogy just admits it! David fathered Sol
by someone else’s wife!
(2) Not only that, but he had the “someone else” deliberately killed so he could marry Bath.
(3) And this was Israel’s greatest king - the one whose name is mentioned 6 times in Matt 1.
(4) See how realistic & honest the Bible is, even about its greatest heroes!? - But that’s not all. . . .
D. Solomon
(1) Remembered as “the wisest man who ever lived” - but that’s only part of the story.
(2) Later in his reign, after God had blessed him with wisdom, riches, & military victories, & given him the honor of building the Temple (denied to his father),
Sol married numerous foreign wives.
(3) Forbidden to Israelites, b/c these foreign wives were all pagans, idolaters!
(4) Thru their influence, Sol himself began worshiping idols, & even built temples for them!
(5) So, yes - he was the world’s wisest man - but that was before he turned dumb!
(6) But he’s in the genealogy of the Son of the One True & Living God.
E. One more - Manasseh
(1) Here’s what the OT says about him: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the
despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.” (2 Ki 21:2)
(2) What did he do that was so bad? - Rebuilt the pagan places of worship his father (Hez) had destroyed),
built altars for Baal, even in the Jeru Temple itself, & burned his own son as offering to pagan gods.
(3) Amazingly, before he died, he repented, & God forgave him (2 Chron 33).
F. Now I could go on & on, but there’s no need, b/c in fact -
everyone in Jesus’ gen was a sinner! Some worse than others, but every one a sinner.
4. Do you get the message? Jesus didn’t come for the
“cleaned up” people - He came to “clean people up”!
A.. All of the Judahs & Tamars, the Davids & Bathshebas, the Solomons & the Manassehs, & all the rest.
B. And thank God He did, b/c that means there’s hope for you
& me!
C. If Jesus only came for the cleaned-up people, where would we be??
D. But His gen says He came for all, so that the Gospel IS for all - & what amazing Good News that is!
E. Does that mean that all of this sinful stuff is okay? Not at all. It just means that everyone sins, but that everyone
can be redeemed from sin.
F. And we need to tell that Good News to all of the other sinners we can. Matt. 28:19-20.
Do you know who has the longest family tree in history?
A. Wikipedia says it’s Confucius, the 6th-Cent B.C. Chinese philosopher. - According to a study done in 2009, his
family tree spans more than 80 generations & includes more than 2 million people!
B. But Wikipedia is wrong. Confucius doesn’t have the longest family tree in history - Jesus does.
(1) Gal 3:26-29. “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male & female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Ab’s offspring,
heirs according to promise.”
(2) So you see, spiritually speaking, that gen in Matt 1 just keeps on going, & it now includes every person
who has ever put their faith in Christ & been bap’d into Him.
(3) It even includes you - or it can, if you’re willing to follow Jesus today.
(4) Then He’ll put YOU in His family tree.
Tommy South
Glen Allen Church of Christ - December 12, 2021