Messiah

Matthew 1v1,17


This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…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.

This might seem like a rather dull opening to a book.  When you are writing you usually want some kind of bang, or hook to draw people into the story you are telling.  Something that will get them to turn the page, invest in the story you are telling.

But here in Matthew’s account of the coming of Jesus we begin with a long and lets be honest a slightly dull list of names - a genealogy.

Ok, time to be honest - who here has got to Matthew, looked at the names and just skipped over them?  I know I have from time to time when reading this part of the story.  But the truth is these names are important because it ties the birth of Jesus into a bigger story - one that has been working itself out over a very long time, and one which God has been invested in for ages.

This “boring” introduction reminds us that 

• the birth of Jesus fulfils the promises to Abraham
• the brith of Jesus is the birth of the son of David, the eternal Saviour-King
• the birth of Jesus signals the end of exile and our return home to God.

This is BIG news - this is GOOD news and today I invite you to remember that the birth of Jesus is part of God’s plan to bring you home. This Christmas you are invited home…will you come in?

Jon

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Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash