Matthew 1:1-17
Amen. You can be seated. Turn
in, if you will, in your copy of God’s word to the book of
Matthew. Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 through
17 will be our passage for today. We’re making our way through
the Christmas season, the characters of Christmas. Last week, we looked
at Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.
Today, Mary and Joseph. Then we’ll carry on with the
angels. The shepherds, the wise men,
and then Simeon and Anna will meet the little one, Jesus, when
he’s presented in the temple. All these passages teach us the
great truths of Christmas, the great truths of Advent, the great
hope of Jesus as our Messiah. And so what a wonderful stretch
of time for us to think on these things. and to have our hearts
warmed by the love of God for us in the coming of Jesus, our
Savior. Before we read Matthew chapter
one, let’s do look to God in prayer. Pray with me. Lord, holy men of old, inspired
by the spirit, wrote these things down for our instruction, wrote
these things down that the church might be built up in our faith.
These things were written for our edification, our growth in
grace. So let your word do its work, let it run the errand it
was sent upon, and let it accomplish its work with great success. Open our minds, open our ears,
open our hearts, and open our hands so that we might receive
the treasures from your storehouse this day. We ask it in the name
of Christ, amen. Matthew chapter one, beginning
at verse one, it says, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father
of Isaac, and Isaac, the father of Jacob, and Jacob, the father
of Judah and his brothers, and Judah, the father of Perez and
Zerah by Tamar, and Perez, the father of Hezron, Hezron, the
father of Ram, Ram, the father of Amminadab. And Amminadab,
the father of Nashon. Nashon, the father of Salmon.
Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab. And Boaz, the father of
Obed by Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse.
And Jesse, the father of David, the king. And David was the father
of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. And Solomon, the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam, the father of Abijah. Abijah, the father of Asaph. Asaph, the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat, the father of Joram. Joram, the father of Uzziah.
And Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Ahaz. Ahaz,
the father of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was the father of
Manasseh. And Manasseh, father of Amos. Amos, the father of Josiah. And
Josiah, the father of Jeconiah and his brothers. at the time
of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to
Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel the father
of Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad and Abiad
the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. Azor the father of Zadok and
Zadok the father of Achim. Achim was the father of Eliud
and Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar, the father of Mathan,
Mathan, the father of Jacob, Jacob, the father of Joseph,
the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called
the Christ. So all the generations from Abraham
to David were 14 generations. And from David to the deportation
to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon
to the Christ, 14 generations. Amen. The word of the living
God for us. Somebody put me on to a little
video series in recent months called Lutheran Satire. Maybe
some of you have seen a couple of those videos. And there’s
this one that has Martin Luther, the great reformer. And Martin
Luther meets these two Anglicans and the two Anglicans say to
Martin Luther, let’s write a Christmas hymn together. Well, Martin Luther,
as you know, was the great theologian of the Reformation and he stuck
to theology. And so he looks at these two
Anglicans and says, all of your Christmas hymns, they’re about
stars and sheep and snow. He says, my Christmas hymns are
about Christ and him coming to redeem the world. Now, I got
to watching this video and thinking of maybe four years or so ago
when we got our new hymnal. And as I was flipping through
it the first Christmas, maybe Christmas of 2018, and looking
for some hymns, they’re not in here. And I began to realize
all of the hymns that we have maybe come to know and love that
speculate You know, about how many sheep there were. You know,
we all have the manger scenes at home. You know, is it three
camels or two? And is it a two hump camel or
one hump camel? And just where was the star?
You know, we got to arrange our manger scenes. But it really
made me think and really challenged me. We should read and preach
and sing about what we know and not about the things that we
speculate about. So much of our Christmas season
can be about, well, how many sheep there were, how deep was
the snow in Bethlehem, that’s probably summer too, and all
those sorts of things. You begin to see what goes on
in one’s mind when these things are presented to you. And so
our hymns, our manger scenes can fill us with all kinds of
details that are really not relevant to the point. And the point is
simply this, isn’t it? Jesus Christ, the eternal son
of God, was sent into this world by the father, this sin sick
world. He came into a crooked and depraved,
a dark and dying generation to redeem them. from great loss,
eternal loss. And as we see from the genealogy
in Matthew’s gospel, we stretch back to the story of Ruth and
to the story of Rahab, who hid the spies in Jericho. And we
think of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite and the offspring, Solomon and others after him.
How God comes into this dark and dying and messy world And
he comes and he upends it. He comes and shakes it up. He
comes and makes all things right again, all things new again.
And here in our passage today, as we think of the Christmas
characters of Mary and Joseph, God really comes into their world.
He comes into Joseph’s life and upends it, a righteous man with
a, well, a pregnant fiance. And boy, he really comes into
Mary’s world, the holy one of old enters her womb and she will
bear the Christ child. And so I want us to think about
these two Christmas characters, this righteous man and his young
pregnant fiancee and how significant they are in the life of our faith. Our shorter catechism asks this
question. How did Christ, the son of God,
become man? And the answer is this, from
our Shorter Catechism number 22. Christ, the eternal son of
God, became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable
soul. He was conceived by the Holy
Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, yet without sin. This passage we look at today,
Matthew chapter one is often called the begatitudes, right? You know the beatitudes, Matthew
five, blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourn, the meek and
all the rest. Well, this is the begatitudes.
This is the life of Jesus all the way back to Abraham, all
the way back to Isaac and Jacob and all those stories we read
of in the book of Genesis, the begatitudes. of Matthew one established
the person of Jesus. Now we understand there are four
gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, each written by a different
author with a different emphasis. Matthew is writing to Jewish
people and he’s saying to them by connecting them all the way
back to Abraham, Jesus is Jewish. Jesus is Messiah. Jesus is son
of David. Now Luke, which we’ve studied
a good bit because we’re making our, we made our way through
Luke and now we’re most of the way through the book of Acts.
Luke’s emphasis is a little different. Luke connects Jesus all the way
back to Adam, the whole of mankind. And so for Luke, his presentation
is not Jesus as Messiah or the son of Abraham or son of David.
He’s the second Adam. He’s the one to come repair the
ruins of the first Adam’s fall. Now ease into the book of Mark.
There are no birth narratives. The book of Mark just gets on
with the life of Jesus. It’s just quick, Jesus, Jesus
did this. The word immediately is there
very often. Mark presents Jesus as a servant. And then there’s
John. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. It presents
Jesus as the second person of the Godhead without beginning,
without creation, present in eternity past and present for
eternity future. In our passage today, in this
begatitude, as we want to call it, we read there at the end
in verse 16, and Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband
of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Now we have to go to some of
the other places in the gospels to pick up the details of Mary
and Joseph. But we find from our reading
in the gospels that Joseph was a just man. He was a carpenter
and he was unwilling to put Mary to shame when he found out that
the one to whom he was betrothed was with child. You can imagine
he tossed and turned at night in his bed. at his workbench,
had great turmoil at all the decisions that must be made regarding
his upcoming marriage, and then for it to be revealed to him
that this young woman, this young gal, Mary, his future wife, was
with child. His heart turned, his prayers
before God were something different, a tougher time. And he had resolved
in his mind and in his heart, I’m going to I’m going to put
her away. I’m going to divorce her quietly, not bring public
shame on her. You understand that a gal in
her position could have been stoned under the old covenant,
under the laws of the land. And so he was a kind and gracious
man. And his resolve was to put her
away quietly. But there was the resolve of
the greater one, God Almighty, who sent his angel sent the angel
of the Lord to Joseph and said, look, it’s going to be fine.
This is how I’m working this out. Uh, you’re, you’re, you’re
not just engaged to this woman. You’re now betrothed to her and
soon you will be married to her. She is with child. That child
is the child of the most high. The Holy spirit has overshadowed
her and the child conceived in her womb, though it is not your
child. It is the child of almighty God.
You were to take her as your wife. If you were to raise this
child who you are to name Jesus or Joshua, Yeshua, he will save
his people from their sins. Think about Mary, probably a
good bit younger. I just said something earlier
about we shouldn’t speculate, right? We’ve got to be careful
not to count sheep and camels and humps and snowflakes and
all the rest. So we know a little about Mary
and Joseph, but not a whole lot. but likely because of custom,
she was 13, 14 years old. Joseph would have been a tad
older and there are some traditions that believe maybe he was already
a widower. His first wife had passed away, but whatever, those
details don’t matter. This young gal was engaged. No, she was betrothed to Joseph
the carpenter. She would soon be married to
him. And remember, she gets this visit from Gabriel. Startles
her, but she feels quite honored. You’re going to bear a child.
This child will save Israel. This child is the redeemer of
God’s people. This child is the one that we
have been looking for, for centuries, for millennia. Greetings, old
favorite one, Gabriel says to her. The Lord is with you. Do
not be afraid for you found favor with God. And then the angel
gives a list of what you will do, Mary, and what this child
will be. Those are for another time and
another place. But she asked this big question.
How will this be? How will this be? I’m a young gal. I’m not yet
married. Life events have not taken place.
And the angel says, The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. Now
you got to stop there and pause. And you got to think back to
the language of Genesis 1.1, how there was nothing. Everything was chaos. It was
formless and void. And the Holy Spirit hovered over
the face of the deep. And God said, let there be. And
he formed and he filled the creation that he goes on to explain in
Genesis chapters one and two. That same Holy Spirit met and
visited Mary and put into her body the Christ child, the eternal
son of God who became man, the eternal son of God who would
come to do what Adam failed to do. You know, the story of Adam
in the garden, Adam in paradise, Adam, Had everything he needed
in the garden. One thing God said, don’t do,
don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The
day you eat of it, it’d be the day you die. Fast forward to
Jesus in the wilderness. Mary’s son, 40 days and 40 nights,
no sleep, no food, no comforts in the desert, scorpions and
all kinds of dangers and difficulties. Then worst of all, Satan comes
and he tempts them in three ways. And on those three occasions,
he says, the word of God says, and in a sense, he says to Satan,
go away, buzz off. I must do the will of God, the
father, that same Holy spirit that overshadowed creation, overshadowed
the womb of Mary and brought the second Adam who would come
to redeem us from all our sin, all our shame, all our hardship. How will this be? So, well, it’s
by the power of the Holy spirit. She knew her creation story,
but he gives her another confirmation. This is the Bryan translation.
Your Aunt Lizzie’s with child. Elizabeth was old. Elizabeth
was barren. Zacharias was old. Zacharias
was barren. And what is? What is Mary’s response? Behold, I am the servant of the
Lord. Behold, I am the handmaiden of
the Lord. Let it be to me according to
your word. And we read that Joseph took
Mary to be his wife as the angel comforted and told him and commanded
him to do. And the time came, they made
the journey to Bethlehem. And you know, the rest is history.
We’ll cover it another Sunday or Christmas Eve in the coming
weeks, as we think on Christmas. But I wanted to zero in on the
character and the obedience of Mary and Joseph. You know, we’re
a reluctant bunch these days. And we’re even reluctant Christians. You know, some of you watched
a little football yesterday. Some of you were sad, I think.
Some of us are happy. Anybody but the Tar Heels, right?
I think back to some of these football teams and their mottos,
all in. Are we all in for Christ? Or do we say, hold up, God, I’m
in the middle of something. I mean, think if Mary had said
that, look, I’m a teenager, God, I’m on TikTok. You know, I’m
13 years old, I’m 14 years old, I haven’t even gotten married
yet. I’m on TikTok, I’m on Facebook, I’ve got school, I’ve got cheer
squad, I’ve got, I mean, think about all the things. No, what
does she say? I am the handmaiden of the Lord.
Let it be to me according to your word. A lot of times we’re hesitant.
Lord, save me, but don’t make me your servant. Lord, save me,
but don’t make me come to church. Lord, save me. Give me all the
benefits of heaven. Give me eternity without hell
and in the arms of Christ. But don’t make me keep the nursery.
Don’t make me lock the doors or do communion or serve other
people. Do save me though. And I think about how Mary and
Joseph must have thought back through their Sunday school lessons,
their teaching, their upbringing in the faith of Almighty God.
Redemption always leads to service. In fact, that word popped up
so many times in the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was her Redeemer. In a small way, the way Christ
is our Redeemer. Boaz gave Ruth life. And if you
were paying careful attention, Boaz gave Ruth life, which gave
Naomi life. In her old age, her daughter-in-law’s
redeemer, Boaz, gave her life as well. And that’s how we are
to think of Christ. He has bought us at a great price. We are not our own. Think of
the 10 commandments. I am the Lord your God who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,
out from under the tyranny of slavery, therefore, commandment
one, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and
seven, and eight, and nine, and 10. Why do we obey the 10 commandments? Because God redeemed us to obey
the 10 commandments. Why do we serve the church? Why
do we do anything that we do for God? It’s because he saved
us in order to do them. We speak of this in the new Testament
as the, the indicatives and the imperatives, you know, indicatives
in the English language, they tell us things, facts. And just
take the book of Ephesians, for example, Ephesians one, two,
and three, tell us how great God’s love and mercy for us is
in Christ. It is by grace you have been
saved through faith. You were once walking in darkness
and God in his mercy has brought you into his kingdom of light.
So chapters one and two and three of Ephesians tell us the indicatives,
all that God has done for us. And then chapters four and five
and six, give us the imperatives of following Jesus, how we worship,
how we’re married, how we raise our children, how we please our
bosses, how we fight the spiritual warfare that comes to the people
of faith. Think of Mary and Joseph’s willingness
to obey the voice of the Lord. And it’s encouraging, isn’t it?
It’s challenging to think that in our moments, in our days,
God may perhaps use us in more significant ways than we know.
But are we yielding ourself to him and say, you have bought
me Christ. I am yours. Whatever you need from me, I
will do. Wherever you send, I will go.
And I think fast forward to Mary’s life. Mary had a lot of heartache,
lost Joseph at some point, but she stood at the cross. She stood
at the cross and there’s that tender passage where Jesus on
the cross says to his mother and to John, this is your son. Son, this is your mother. and
he immediately brought her into his home and took care of her.
But she had to see the death and the suffering and the hardship
of her own son, the Lord Jesus. It reminds me our duty before
God. Love so amazing, love so divine
demands my life and it demands my all. Let’s go to God in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
the obedience of your saints, to hear your word and to do your
word. It’s by your grace, it’s for
your glory. And boy, it sure has brought
great good for generations to come. We thank you for the willingness
of your servants in our midst to teach and proclaim and to
tell the generations of the coming of the Lord and all that he has
done. Lord, bless us in our labors.
whether they be in the church or in the home or in the community,
give us fruit from the work of our hands so that we can serve
you and so that we can bring glory to your name and Christ
to the nations. This we ask in the name of your
dear son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.