Matthew 1:1-17
1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b]the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 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.
Who are you?
Perhaps you would say about your nationality. Perhaps the first thing you thought of was your career or status in society. Did you think about your relationships or one of the different hats you wear?
For Jews the answer to this question would be, we are sons of Abraham. They look back at their forefathers and would see their identity through them. They would receive the blessings and would feel shame from the mistakes. They were the sum of their ancestors and this would show them where they fit and how they should be living their lives.
In Romans 10 it says that we are ‘grafted into Israel.’ That means that we have become adopted into the family of Christ and that this is our genealogy as well. It doesn’t matter who your family was, now we are part of Christ’s family. So, we are children of Abraham who receive the blessings that he was given from God to be fruitful and to bless then nations. We are sons and daughter of King David and so we have royalty in our blood. We are part of a nation of slaves that has known its freedom to be removed and to have been oppressed by powerful nations. We are also part of a people that God chose to make a home with, to set apart from the nations and to be holy. We are part of the family of Christ.
Who you are shows you how to walk through this world. We are part of a people who are chosen by God to bring him glory and to transform the world with his goodness. We are good news people in a bad news world. Bold and humble. Full of the Spirit of God and relentlessly hopeful. We are not the beginning or the end of what God is doing but we have a vital duty to continue his work and to fulfil our part until he returns.
