this sermon kicked off our "Advent Surprises" preaching series. I have always found Matthew's genealogy fascinating, so this sermon has been talked about by me in different settings through the years. I thought of it as a creative approach to an advent sermon, but then my daughter in Richmond, VA, called to tell me about the minister's sermon at the church she visited - it was the same text, although his theme was about the generations, not the surprises.
As I preached the section about the specifics of the five women, I realized that for us, we do not recognize the women as "sekeletons in the closet" for Jesus' genealogy because we have told their stories through the years and highlighted their good qualities.
It felt like a good start to the preaching series!
“Surprising History” November 27, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Mathew 1: 1-17; Richard B. Culp
Matthew 1: 1-17: An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Introduction: During Advent, we will spend our sermon time looking at surprises in the stories leading up to Christ’s birth (You already may be surprised that I was able to pronounce all those names!).
As we reflect on surprises, perhaps you can remember a surprising gift you received one year?
Or a surprising visit?
Or a surprising moment you have had through the years as you move through Advent to Christmas.
We reflect on these surprises and are reminded of the surprising God we follow and how God continues to surprise us.
So listen to the stories this Advent and look for the surprising ways God is engaging you.
Move 1: We begin with a reading of the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.
a. Our first surprise comes if we compare the genealogy in Matthew with the genealogy recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
1. they do not match.
2. I am not someone who has spent a lot of time tracing my family’s genealogy, but I do remember a school project years ago when we had to trace our family’s genealogy for about three or four generations.
3. I remember that as the third Culp child to have that teacher, it was a pretty easy assignment - all I had to do was fill in the chart with the work my two sisters had done before me.
4. The genealogy did not change.
It traced back through the same people each time. there was only one genealogical path.
b. But Matthew and Luke record different genealogies.
1. Different names (go home and read them and compare).
2. Lukes traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Noah.
3. Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham.
c. Matthew’s genealogy tells us something important about Jesus (so does Luke’s, but that’s another sermon)
1. by tracing Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham, Matthew ties Jesus’ identity to the Israelites, the people of God.
2. Jesus is the “chip off the old block” of the Israelites.
3. Jesus, intimately connected to God’s people.
4. jesus, showing God’s ongoing desire to be faithful to God’s people, instead of God just tossing away the old, failed relationships and starting anew.
6. Surprise - God is not going to give up on God’s people however flawed they might be;
surprise - God is not going to give up on the world, however failed it might be;
surprise - God is not going to give up on you or on me, but God is going to connect to us and redeem us by coming to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who is already connected to us by his birth.
Move 2: Another surprise - Jesus’ genealogy traces itself back through women.
a. Most of the names mentioned are, as expected, men.
1. that is how genealogies in that time were t4raced.
2. that’s how Luke does it.
3. But surprise, Matthew begins with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and then mentions four other women.
b. Not only does Matthew trace Jesus’ lineage through women, but the women are not ones we might expect to be mentioned.
1. If you are telling your family’s history to all the world;
If you are tracing your genealogy and leave the path to include certain women,
you might do so to clean things up;
hide the skeletons in the closet
to make your family look its best.
3. Surprisingly, Matthew does the opposite.
He seems to make a point of listing women whose stories are scandalous.
(Here is the summary of the women as provided by Rev. Nanette Sawyer on her blog "Question the Text," http://www.questionthetext.org/2013/12/15/when-is-righteousness-scandalous/, and from Harper’s Bible Dictionary, plus my own working knowledge of the five women)
1. First, there is Tamar, the Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah, who after her husbands died, is denied the protections under Jewish law marriage, so she tricks her father-in-law into impregnating her with twins, one of whom was Perez, an ancestor of King David.
2. Then there is Rahab, a prostitute, who is not one of God’s people; but she lives in Jericho and saves the spies from Israel by hiding them from the Canaanites and helping them escape in the night. For saving the spies, the Israelites spare her family. Rahab was the mother of Boaz, an ancestor of King David.
3. The third woman is Ruth, who follows her mother-in-law back to Israel after the death of her husband. Ruth is a Moabite outsider to the Israelite tradition who marries Boaz and becomes the mother of Obed, an ancestor of King David.
3. The next woman mentioned is Bathsheba, although she is not called by name, but referred to as the wife of Uriah, the husband on whom she cheated with King David, which led to David having him killed; Bathsheba eventually married King David became the mother of King Solomon, the next king in David’s lineage.
5. This brings us to Mary, the young woman who is pregnant when she shouldn’t be, appearing to be unrighteous by conventional standards.
c. Joseph Phelps reminds us that during Advent, “We proclaim this truth to “an oblivious world.” We announce that “we detect God's presence in our midst “(Journal of Preaching, "Preaching Advent Hope," Joseph Phelps, 8).
1. What does God’s presence look like?
2. The genealogy in Matthew tells us some surprising things:
To include Tamar means that Jesus is connected to people who have been left outside and powerless, and who might be desperate enough to use trickery are invited to be part of Christ's story.
To include Rahab suggests that Jesus is tied to people with a shady history, but are willing to risk themselves are invited to be part of Jesus' story.
To include Ruth means that Jesus comes from outsiders, strangers in our midst, particularly those who understand what it means to stand with others,
Bathsheba's presence means that Jesus is related to people who have a history that is less than glowing.
The inclusion of Mary ties Jesus to the young and fearful who step out in faith.
3. To include the names of those women in the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew opens the door for us to see ourselves as part of God’s ongoing, surprising story in the world.
move 3: Finally, the genealogy makes a surprising claim - Jesus is the Messiah.
a. Maybe no one should have been surprised that the Messiah finally arrived.
1. God’s people had been clamoring for generations for God to send the Messiah.
2. The prophets had promised a Messiah would come.
3. Now, Matthew boldly announces that Jesus this baby born to Mary, is the Messiah.
b. a surprising claim, made even more surprising by the circumstances of his impending arrival.
1. as we move this Advent toward the manger in Bethlehem;
as we look for Christ to come again;
as we look to the world around us to see signs of God’s continued work in our midst;
as we seek to link our lives to Christ;
Prepare yourself for a surprise or two.
For that is the history of our God. Amen.
Conclusion:
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