The Upside-down Kingdom: Matthew 1

Matthew 1

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Let's be honest off the bat shall we? This was likely the part that made you question why you in the world you even tried to read the book of Matthew in the first place, but there really is a lot of good stuff going on here.

You see, Matthew's intended audience was the Jewish people we referred to earlier, they were no newcomers to Scripture or God for that matter. Matthew immediately starts off his gospel by calling Jesus “the son of David” and “the son of Abraham,” both of these men were common figures in Judaism. In ancient Palestine, your faith wasn't just a weekly ritual thing but an imbedded reality of life: it affected what you wore, celebrated, ate and who you hung out with, so these men were icons. Abraham was the spiritual father of Judaism (read about him from Genesis 12) and David was their great and powerful king (read about him from 1Samuel 16). So what Matthew does here is give Jesus major credibility with the people, something he'll need to present him as the expected Messiah, or king.

Matthew also uses it to introduce the running concept of the Upside Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, where once conventional wisdom doesn't cut it any more. Women, once regarded as second class citizens, are here, given equal footing with men...and not necessarily the best of women. Of the five women mentioned, two were harlots (Tamar and Rahab), one an adulteress (Bathsheba) and one was a Gentile(non-Jewish,worldly) (Ruth). Matthew chose to associate them with Jesus, the Son of God

Questions

1. Grace is God's undeserved favor and forgiveness. How does Matthew's genealogy demonstrate that?
2. Answering that, think of a current or past sin and struggle in your life(only mention it if you feel comfortable), do you ever find it difficult to accept God's concerning it? How so?
3. Though Abraham and David are held up as godly examples here, the Bible also shows that Abraham lied regularly and David not only lied, but had an affair and had the woman's husband killed. What implications does this have for our own sins?

 Back to home page